Joe, Sue and Charlie's adventures

Summer Catch up

2010-09-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted anything. Mostly it has just been summer. We have done the usual summer stuff. A trip to Walla Walla Golf and Country club in June got a couple more polo shirts. The last two shots of the weekend got us in the money. We didn't do Longview this, so the next up tournament was in Richland at Meadow Springs. We did not do very well and got shut out. We did have a great time. Meadow Springs is always a lot of fun. they put on a really good party.

The only bad thing about the trip was that our hose AC decided to not work and it was 95 degrees outside. We left all the windows open for Charlie. We were parked under a tree that made some shade. We got by. I did some checking around and found that the only place to get it fixed was in Portland, Oregon. Seems with the economy that they don't make replacements anymore. So fix is all you can do. The AC in Snuffy is built in the back so it takes some work to get it out. Here is the process.

After it came out they took the top off and the problem was evident. There is copper tubing running all around and where it hit the compressor it broke. You can see it in the picture. No wounder it quit. Most likely from the fact that a motor home is best described as a rolling earthquake.

So I left the AC in Portland, came home, we loaded up and headed to Moses Lake. We played with Joann and Jerry Burbank at Moses Point on Thursday and again Friday for the practice round at Moses Lake Golf and Country Club. Friday night was Speed golf. We talked Joann and Jerry into playing. It was a bit slow this year. Took 18 minutes and 30 seconds to play 18 holes of golf.

Speed golf puts teams of four on the first few holes. How many holes depends on how many sigh up to play. Each team sets up with one player on the tee, two in the fairway and one on the green. When the whistle blows the tee ball is hit. The players in the middle of the fairway break their butts to get the ball to the green anyway they can. Hit it, throw it, Kick it or any thing they can think of. Once on the green that player gets it in the hole and blows their whistle and the next player tees off. Those players then jump in their golf carts and drive like maniacs to their next assigned hole and start over again. This year we were assigned 2,8,and 14. By the time we got to 8 the ball was already coming up 7. That's Speed Golf the way we play it. There are really no rules. Pay off is who predicted closest to the final time. You don't have to play to win. Everybody buys their times before the contest. $5.00 per time or $10 for 3 times. The winner gets ALL the money.

Joann and Jerry Burbank

Saturday afternoon was the gold old Horse Race. I got partnered with Judy Rodia and Sue got a guy form Glen Acres. It was a big circus as usual with something like 38 teams of golfers. As opposed to speed golf the first couple holes took over an hour. Judy and I made the three hole cut but only lasted two more holes. We had a lot of fun.

A horse race puts boys and girls together. The lowest handicap guy plays with the highest handicap gal. So that puts the low gal with the high guy. Then we play alternate shots to the hole. Boys tee off, gal hits and on to the hole. As opposed to Speed golf the fasting moving thing on the course is the bar cart. After three holes they start to cut players until the get to the last hole with two teams left. Competition is for wining the tournament and para mutual betting in the pro shop before the event. I only betting you do not have to play.

Judy Rodia my pardner

Does anyone recognize that golf swing

As always we stay at Suncrest RV Resort just up the road. We commute by golf cart to the course. Charley has all the sniffs down pat.

So that's a summer catch up. Sue has been playing lots of golf with the girls as I have with the guys. Business is lousy so I have played a lot more golf this year. I have also been doing a lot of ratings with the WSGA. I have spoiled the rating committee by taking them there in the motor home. Its been fun. Doing Tumble Creek at Suncadia Monday. Sorry for not putting anything up for so long. I'll try and do better in the future. As usual Charlie was exhausted.

Getting up to date

2010-04-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

As I guess that most of you know that we are back in good old Federal Way. Sue is very happy. She has been going around the house saying "Hello Washer and Dryer", Hello Iron. On to the dish washer and says the same. As for me, well I would like to still be in Arizona. That is mostly because I now have to work again. The only thing saving me is that there isn't much work. That is good because I don't want to work, but bad because I also can not get any money. Terrible thing to happen. Actually I have had a few jobs, thanks to people needing surveys for insurance. Nothing going on boat sales.

We had our first family get together with Monica and Kelsey. We had a nice after noon dinner and visit.

Sue has been on a rip since we got home. She had the hot tub fixed. She is getting the left sliding door fixed.(We can't see out as the seal broke). She has new drapes and blinds on order. As I mentioned before we are back as Twin Lake members. I can't keep up. Oh yes we also have a new bed with all the new covers and such. I think there are 12 pillows involved now and a dog blanket. Only proble with new bed is it is tall and Charlie can't jump that high.

So I guess we are all back in to the swing of things around here. Sunday before last we had all the kids over. Tony and Kristy, Jeannie, Monica and Kelsey and Jeff and Trish as well as one of Trishes sons Caleb. It was a late event so I never got any pictures. We all had a good time visiting and catching up on the last 5 1/2 months.

Our trip south was a great experience. For blog readers you all know what we were doing. Sue sort of started getting home sick about the middle of March. She says 5 1/2 months in the motor home is too much. In some ways I agree as it is a little hard to do much entertaining. Still no decisions on when or where to move. I'm still for Arizona but Sue isn't. We will figure something out. So for now we are back golfing and moving along. As usual posting gets sort of slow when I home. Keep checking I try and keep everyone posted thru the summer.

Welcome home well almost

2010-04-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Past blog readers have seen my little calender that I put on my laptop. I mark an x every day we are gone. I put O on the days home at Christmas. It's hard to believe that after about 5 1/2 months we are about back to Federal Way. There is no more room for and X.

When I last left you the next day was up in the air. It turned out that with my cold, I decided to stay home for the day. Sue and Elaine went out to lunch and did some shopping. I went over in the afternoon and we all went to dinner for the last time in California. It was sad to say good by. We will see Elaine in a month or two back in Federal Way.

Thursday we headed north. I Wanted to get a little closer to the Napa Valley so we drove a bit past Bakersfield to Pixley RV Park in Pixley California no less. It was a good place to stop. A neighbor had a dog that looked like a twin to Charlie. His name was Charger. The moon was nice as well.

Friday we headed north again. We got to Calistoga in Napa Valley about 6:00. We stayed at the Calistoga Fair grounds again. This is the fourth year for the Fairground. It was late so we went out to dinner. After dinner I watched Star Trek again, then we hit the sack. I was glad as my cold has slowed me down. Saturday morning we got up had breakfast in town and went to Cakebread winery. Remember, Sues favorite place. After Cakebread we went to Mumm for Champagne. We rejoined the club. That means we get a couple bottles of Champagne every other month in the UPS truck. We then headed back to Snuffy. Sue needed to do her last laundry on the road. (She wants here own machine at home) There was no laundry at the Fairground so we decided to hit the road.

Now the original plan was to head out of Napa to I-5 and up north with a stop at the Lake Shasta area for some sight seeing. Only problem was that there was this late season storm coming in, so we went the 101 route up the coast. Which got us to last nights stay.

Last night we stayed at a spot called Redwoodriver RV Resort I found this place thru Trailer Life RV parks. Lets just say that the place did not meet up to the advertisement. It was a place to stay and that's about all you can say. I did not take any pictures mostly because when we woke up this morning the monsoons had arrived. Sue got her laundry done, but she was really upset about the cleaning of the place. We were glad to leave this morning.

After a long drive thru lots of rain and snow. Yes snow. The reason for giving up I-5 was because of snow in the Sisques remember. Yep we got snow along the coast. Not too bad, but it was snow.

Anyway after all this we have ended up in Brooking Oregon at the Port of Brookings RV Park. This is one of Sues favorite places. We are about 100 feet from the ocean. It is raining and the wind is blowing. I have talked about this place before. There are a lot of cats that like to live in the rocks of the jetty. Just click on this (Sue is in heaven) for a review of the area. The weather was a lot better that day.

So today is Easter and Sue made a really great dinner. We had ham, Scalloped Potatoes and Carrot salad. Charlie hoped for spillage. Tomorrow we should be in Lincoln City to visit the casino and home Tuesday. Just hope the weather is OK. So as you see today was our welcome back to the Pacific Northwest. Rain snow and oh yes a lot colder. Happy Easter everyone.

Indio

2010-03-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

A final comment from Happy Trails. I was reading the rules for the Hot Tub a couple weeks ago. I found it was really funny, the people that were not suppose to use the hot tub. The only rule that is most likely not broken is the Pregnant Women clause. With the average in the tub being over 70. That would be a good one. Some of the bobbers. I miss the pool already.

So we are now in Indio, California visiting Elaine, Cuz and Bonnie. We got here Sunday afternoon. We ended up parked right behind Gary and Janice Herring. They are members of Twin Lakes and next door neighbors to Ken and Elaine. We did a little visiting in the afternoon.

Monday we went to Elaines with Charlie of course. The girls made potato salad and a key lime pie. While they were at that I went out and picked up some supplies to bring home. The liquid kind. Now I'm ready. I took this picture of the entrance to Heritage Palms. It is really pretty going in there. Their gardeners really do a bang up job.

Monday night was a hamburger cook off. Neighbor Jim and Ellie were there as well. I got to be the cookie. Potato salad and pie were good as well.

Tuesday we played golf with Elaine and Jim. There course is always a pleasure to play. The maintenance is great. After golf it was cocktails for a bit then we went down to the club for dinner. Ray, Bonnie and Bonnie's mom were guests as were Gary and Janice Herring. They put out a very good meal. Charlie was guarding Elaine's house while were were gone.

Not too sure what is happening today. I have a bit of a cold so and not too ambitious. Elaine wanted to go the the General Patton Museum south of town. We are suppose to go out to dinner tonight. Tomorrow we leave to start the trek home.

Last Days in Arizona

2010-03-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

With Steve and Mad in town we had to show them how classy we are. While we were at it we invited some of our other friends that are here. Where else should you take someone go for a touch of class. Why Roman's Oasis of course. So that's what we did.

Here are a few. From right to left Carolin Nelson, Jan Holt, Sue, Linda Abbott, Ellen Edwards, Elvis Presley and Mad. They posed the group photo. Also around besides Steve and me was Kent Nelson and John Ward.

Jan and I beat John and Carolyn on the shuffleboard. I forget how came next but we beat them too. Jan and I were killers. We all order lunch along with a few drinks. Everybody had a good time. We might make this a regular event.

That pretty much took care of Wednesday. I'm going to miss the tough days down here. Anyway, Thursday was just a hang out day. I was going to play golf but didn't quite feel up to snuff so I just sat around. About 3:30 we went to the Brookside Sports Bar and Grille to have some food and watch the Husky game. As I'm sure most know the first half was good while the second half was not. We had a good time even thought they lost. It was apparent that there were quite a few Husky fans in the room. As they say, Better luck next year.

Friday morning we got up and met Steve and Mad at the Enterprise Car rental place. They dropped off their rental car and we took them to the airport. They were flying to Las Vegas and then driving to the AVI casino in Lughlin to meet friends. We told them that we should have planned differently and all driven in the motor home up there. That would have been a real gas. See you guys when we all get home.

As things are down here we had the next stop. We had been invited to Mary Ann and George's house to see it. We had talked about this when we at, where else "Roman's Oasis" They have a very nice home in Pebble Creek. Pebble creek in about 12 miles south of Happy Trails. They have a home on the end of a Cul-d-sac which makes for a huge back yard. It is beautiful. They have so many Cactus some of which were blooming. That is one cool thing about being down here this time of year is the Cactus bloom. After a beer and checking out their place we went to Wadells Longhorn Salon. We were there last with John and Linda during a Cardinal play off game last year. We good to see them. Again more plans for next year.

So here we are on Saturday. Sue has some laundry, going to clean house, is at the store now and generally READY to go home. I on the other hand am not excited about that plan. I already have WORK (A nasty 4 letter word) scheduled at home. Tomorrow morning we pull out for Palm Desert for a few days. We will be seeing Elaine and Cuz and Bonnie. I'm sure I will make more reports from there.

Seeing the sights

2010-03-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

We have been doing the tourist thing. Monday we took Steve and Mad out to Scorpion Bay and Dillons restaurant. The weather was in the 80's so it was a really nice day to go. We had lunch and then went for a walk on the docks. I got a shot of the fire boat testing the equipment.

I don't know if you can see them or not, but there was a swarm of bees inside this boat. We didn't want to get to close.

On the way back from Lake Pleasant we stopped at Richards house. I had taken my cooler with some wine and stuff for a picnic at the park. We decided to do it at Richards instead. Sue gave a tour of his house. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the day.

Yesterday Steve wanted to check out booze prices. So we went the the Adult Candy Store (Totl Wine and Spirits) We also went to Cosco. Costco ad a coupon for &3.50 off on Absolute Vodka, That made a 1.75 ltr bottle less than $20 bucks. It's $54 in Washington and most likely going higher thanks to our Governor and her spendy friends. On the way back home we stopped at the Desert Palms for lunch.

Later in the day Steve and Mad came over here and we went to Virginia's for a visit. We sat around on her patio for a couple hours before we came back here for some cheese and crackers. So far we have had two great days.

Today will be the biggest adventure. We are going to Roman's Oasis. We also invited some of the Twin Lakes gang and Traditions gang. We will have a crowd, I'll report on all that tomorrow. Sadly our time in Arizona is coming to an end. We will starting home Sunday. AHhhhh............

They are here.

2010-03-22T09:20:00.001-07:00

Steve and Mad are coming, so we had to get ready. We made a trip to the adult candy store. "Total Wine and Spirits" I have talked about this place before. They carry 8000 different wine brands. On the way we were hungry so we stopped at In and Out Burger. We watched a Documentary on this place a few weeks ago. We decided to try it out. They are a family owned burger chain that started down here in 1948. Still family owned. Their burgers were really good. There posted menu is short, but there are lots of secret things you can order.

Total Wine. This place is about the size of a super Safeway store. It's all booze. The prices are very good as well. They have lots of customers.

Sunday we got up and watched the NASCAR race at Bristol. We didn't get to see the end because we went to pick up Steve and Mad. They got in about 3:00. We drove to their hotel in Surprise. They are about 5 miles from us. They have an nice room with a little deck outside overlooking the pool and a small lake. We took advantage of the time a for a little splah.

After our splah we drove over here to check out Charlie. We all went for a short walk and the went out to the Olive Garden for dinner. Did a lot of catching up over dinner.

Today we are going to pick them up and take them to get their rental car. Then I think we will go to Scorpion Bay for lunch. The weather today is suppose to be 85. Suppose to be cooler the next couple days so it looks like today would make a good Lake Pleasant trip.

Dinner with friends

2010-03-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I commandeered Virginia's house for a party. It all started at JB's restaurant. Janet Swanson was in town and wanted to know if I had any spaghetti. I said well I can make some. So I invited Janet, John and Linda, Jan Holt and her sister in law and Virginie and Bo to dinner at Virginia's house. Virginia said cool. She likes my spaghetti too. It was fort of an ASGA (American Single Golf Association) reunion. Again. I cooked some Sweet Italian sausage along with salad and the sauce. Not to brag, but I think I out did myself this time. Everybody liked the food. A good time was had by all.

Looks like we will be gathering again this coming Wednesday. Steve and Mad will be in town and we will be taking them to Romans. Looks like most from the party will be there as well. Watch out Romans.

On Thursday they had a big dog day. I went and played golf with the guys from the ranch, so I will let Sue tell you all about the event. We will see if there are any Sueisms. :):):)

Sue speaking.... We had a pet expo at Happy Trails. Below are pictures from it.

This was the pet contest. It consisted of cutest costume and obedience training. Charlie won't wear clothes, and he doesn't mind..so Charlie and his friend Toby didn't get entered.

This is Cocoa..one of Charlie's friends

This is Suzy wearing her doggles. She came in 4th place

The Mariner girls came in 3rd

Waiting to go before the judges

They also had lots of girl dog clothes for sale. Below is the pet Psychic. She gave a talk that was really amazing. She really talks to the dogs. Made me a kida believer..

..They also had a k-9 unit come in and do demonstrations. The dog was a gorgous german shepard.
The big great dane and little Suzy. He was worried...

Back to the pet contest and Katie, another of Charlie's friends who has an apointment with the Pet Psychic because she doesn't like people!!!

Seaking of Steve and Mad. They are arriving Sunday. Steve said there should be beautiful weather in the Pacific Northwest and that if Arizona still has a drought he will fix it. Blog readers might remember the last time Steve came to visit us during a trip we were in Maui. The day he got there it snowed on the mountain for the first time in forever. They even let the kids out of school so they could go see what snow looked like. Typhoid Steve always brings bad weather. So far he is looking OK for next week. At least according to the weather man. We will know more then.

A day with Peggy and Karl

2010-03-13T07:43:00.001-08:00

Friday was a fun day. We took Karl and Peggy to Lake Pleasant. When we got there we went to Dillons at Scorpion Bay. This is the place where Sue and I went last November. It's a beautiful marina. The lake was much fuller this time. This is a picture from last November. The stairs by Sue down to the lake had 161 steps then. Friday there were 67 steps. That's what all the rain down here has done.

We had lunch at Dillons. Everything was good. Karl had a 1/2 rack of ribs and ate them all. We had lunch on their floating dock right on the water. Really nice place to visit. They have a wind curtain by the tables. You can see the lake in the background.

After lunch we went for a walk out on the dock. At the far end of one of the fingers is a big aluminum houseboat. Just before you get to it there was a group of people siting on the dock visiting. The were there last November as well. I guess they gather there daily.

Anyway back to the big boat. We sort of looked in the windows as the owner was sitting on the front deck. Karl got to talking to him and he invited us aboard. This boat was built by Sumerset in Tennessee in 2001. (I found it on the Internet) It is 87 feet long. It was really nice inside. the owner lives aboard at various times. It was nice of him to show us around.

We walked out another finger just looking at the boats. Lots of Sea Rays. Most of the boats are under 35 feet. There are a few 40 footers and another Somerset 87 on another dock. After our walk we headed back up the steps. Karl and I took the tram and the girls walked.

We then explored the park a bit and looked at their campgrounds. Looks like it would be a nice place for a couple of days camping. After the exploration we headed back and stopped at another of those kind of taverns. Wild Horse West Beer Burgers and Bait. From the looks of the crowd it must be a good burger place. While were were there we played some pool. Karl beat me and Sue beat Peggy. Both were marathon games as our pool skills have slipped.

After all this we headed back and dropped Karl and Peggy off. They were going to drive down to the airport Saturday and fly home Sunday. We all really had a fun day. Saturday I built my box for the oven. It was neat using all the tools in the Sawmill . I was trying to figure out how to nail it together without splitting the plywood. One of the shop guys says why not use the nail gun. Like I said they have everything to make a job easy.

Sue did dog park duty and the laundry. Full day. The evening we went over to Virginia's for a drink. Today it is golf at Great Eagle. It's hard to believe we only have two weeks left here before we start the trek home.

Party and Baseball

2010-03-11T08:15:00.001-08:00

I'm really behind in my posting. Back to last Sunday. This was Oscar night. Ellen Edwards had us to her house for an Oscar party. Kent, Carolin, Mary, Ellen, Sue and I were at the party. There was enough food to feed about 100 people. Sue bought tiaras for all the girls to wear. We all voted on the winners. I think Sue did best. It was a good evening and I think everyone was happy with the winners. Thank you Ellen for a great evening and good food.

Now on to Monday. The party Monday was for the arrival of Karl and Peggy Stahl. They have been south for a week or so in Parker and Yuma Arizona. They got in about noon Monday. Peggy came right over so she and Sue could walk Charlie. They do this back home a lot. I took Karl for a tour of Happy Trails in the golf car. Monday evening we all met at Mary's house for a barbecue. Kent got pressed into cooking duty. A job he does very well,, I might add. We all had a good visit. It was good to see Karl and Peggy again. Thank you Mary for another good time and more good food.

Mary had to show us here new bed and the ladder for Dan. There was a story behind the ladder but I forgot what it was. I think that is most likely good.

Tuesday I went up to the Happy Trails Wood Shop. This is a large building with just about any tool you need for woodworking. It cost $25.00 a year for membership. I had to go thru a hour and a half orientation. Now I get my pass card to use the place. I have a thing I want to build to carry our electric oven we bought to use outside. I'll show pictures when I get it done. The rest of the day we just sat around because the weather was not too good.

Wednesday was baseball. We had bought tickets to the Mariners Texas Ranger game a couple weeks ago. We had been lucky and got the last two seats right behind the Mariners dug out. We were two rows up.

As we were going to the game, Peggy called and said that they were going to go also. We knew that there would be lots of seats available, but figured that the closer ones would be gone. So we get to the ball park and run in to Peggy right away. She says that she had sent Karl to get tickets. Well Karl heads for the ticket office. Some lady grabs him on the way and asks if he is looking for tickets. Well Yea !!. She takes him by the arm over to her husband that was trying to get rid of two tickets. Karl buys them not knowing where the were going to sit. Turns out Our tickets were section 109, row E, seats 13 and 14. Karl are section 109, Row G, seats 13 and 14. Yep right behind us. Two rows back.

It was a good game Ichiro lead off with a hit and scored a bit later. I got a picture of him while he was hanging out at 3 base. Griffy was not there. This game was at the stadium in Surprise which is the home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City. The Mariners play out of Peoria. We picked this game because it was close to home. It is a pretty new stadium that appears to seat maybe 20,000. They only had about 6000 yesterday.

As I said our seats were right behind the dug out. We were right in the area between the ball players you see standing in the dug out. Good seats really. No foul balls our way. Which was good as were were close. The game ended with the Mariners winning 6-3.

After the game we all came back here and Peggy and Sue washed some of their cloths while Karl and I went to the store and chatted. I cooked spaghetti for dinner. We all chatted after dinner while Sue did the dishes. Peggy offered to help but our kitchen is kind of a one person place.

Today (Thursday) I;m going golfing with the guys from the ranch. Sue will be home playing in her Happy Aquarium. She and Charlie are currently at the dog park,

Hanging out and a little rain

2010-03-07T15:19:00.001-08:00

Friday was another quest day. So sort of hung out in the morning while Sue got ready to do some laundry. We decided to head out for lunch before laundry. Our quest was the other Romans bars. This one is Roman's County Line. We found it, but were disappointed that they did not have any food.

We decided to have a beer and check out the place. This little card was the menu. A nacho or two and a 3 inch pizza. There other place is better. We stayed for a bit then moved on.

We tried another bar called The Light House Bar and Grill. We were thinking two sleazy taverns in one day. They however did not serve food either. They had a kitchen but no food. Might have been closed for health reasons. So we moved on again and ended up at Mc Donalds. We then finished the quest and found the place Sue needed to go to get some stuff for her hair. We came home to a pouting dog. Don't leave me alone...........

Today (Sunday) has been a soggy and cold afternoon (They just said that on the TV) Yes it has been raining. I cooked breakfast this morning. It was good.

We have just sat here all day. I watched the NASCAR race and Sue played on her aquarium thing on Face Book. The dry wash behind us turned into a small river. Yesterday was birds and bunnies and today it could have been fish. It is suppose to get back to normal in a couple days.

Charlie didn't like the day as he didn't get to go out a lot. We did finally get in a short walk later in the day.

Tonight is the big night. We are going over to Gene and Ellen Edwards house for the Oscars. There are bunch that are going to be there. I'll have to get some pictures. Charlie has to stay home. Ellen has two dogs and a cat. I'm looking forward to meeting the cat. More tomorrow, Karl and Peggy get here so that will start another adventure.

Dog Park

2010-03-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

One of the nice things they did here this year was put in a dog park. They fenced an old amphitheater for dogs. Charlie loves it. I tried to take a movie of him running but all he wanted to do while I was there was stand around and let the other dogs run. Here is just a little bit. Hope you all enjoy the movie.

The big Move

2010-03-03T08:09:00.001-08:00

Monday was the big move. It was an exhausting trip of maybe half mile. As I have mentioned before when we decided to stay thru March we needed a different place to park as I had not made provision to stay where we were. So now we live in 335 instead of 1141.

This site does not have any cover, but it is nicely landscaped. It also has a nice empty space behind the lot. There is a little pool for the birds. There are a few cactus. Seems more private than the last place. It is sandwiched between to houses, which probably makes the difference.

So we are here until March 28th. that is the day we have chosen to start north. Sue says she is home sick. I'm not really. Home means more work. We are just hanging out today and enjoying the weather.

More golf and friends

2010-02-28T10:32:00.001-08:00

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 :):)

2010-02-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-10T18:10:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-05T16:51:00.001-08:00

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.

2010-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Las Vegas and a Surprise

2010-01-30T09:56:00.000-08:00

One of the things I have not been able to mention on this blog is the surprise. Yes were are here to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday, but there was another BIG reason. One of Sues best friends is Donna Clark. She is one of the Brothel Housewives. Anyway Donna will be 70 on Ground Hog day and they had a big surprise planned. Brothers, Sisters, Family and friends flew in from Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Washington and us from Arizona. Donna knew Sue and I were coming to Vegas when they were here. So Sue was the sneaky one. She has been lying to Donna for a couple months. Her nose has grown :). It all worked. Everybody got into the Reo Hotel All American Grill. Sue and I met Donna and Dick out front and sort of walked them into the dinning room where everybody was sitting. "SURPRISE" It worked. She had no clue. The party was on. More on the evening in a bit.

The day started out with breakfast here at the Oasis RV Park. They have a small restaurant in their bar. Was a very good breakfast. After breakfast we took Charlie for his walk. They have and interesting dog run area here. There are individual fenced areas for dogs. His own private bathroom.

After all that we took off and made our run the the local Camping World for some motor home supplies. We then drove up the strip to Caesar's Palace where we were to meet Sharon and Mary. they were flying in from Seattle. We gambled while waiting. Sue did great made about $80 bucks. I however lost $30. Sharon and Mary arrived hungry so we had lunch in the food court.

After lunch we did more gambling. We stayed the same as before. Sue gave Sharon some pointers. I don't think they worked well. As we were leaving Sharon was digging in her pocket,

We came back to the motor home and walked Charlie again. Then just sort of sat around until we went to the Rio for the above surprise. I got a real cool moon picture as were were waiting.

Back to the party. We all had a really good dinner. Dick fed us all. thank you Dick. Every body had a card for Donna. They were quite funny. Missy, Donnas daughter had a small game. Things you knew about Donna. Sue was first with 10 points. Here are a few pictures of family and friends.

After the dinner party we all ended up on the top floor of the Rio in a place called the Voo Doo Lounge. It is a Steak House and Lounge on the 50th floor of the Rio. It was quite a place. They had an indoor area and an outdoor area. Both with music. The outside had what can be best described as a spectacular view of the Las Vegas Area and especially the Strip. They had all the seating blocked off for I guess private parties. I don't know what drinks cost as Sharon bought. (Thank you Sharon) When we got there, there were not too many people. By the time we left it was full. As more people arrived the volume of the music went up. The boys just talked. The girls talked and wiggled. Here are a few pictures.

Today is Saturday. Another Saturday. All my retired friends say everyday is Saturday. I don't know what we will be doing yet today as we are just getting started. I'll report tomorrow.

On to Las Vegas

2010-01-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

We got everything ready this morning for our trip to Las Vegas. After all the routine stuff of dumping the stuff, putting the chairs in the compartments, pulling in slides and unhooking all the other stuff we were ready. Sue took Charlie up to the dog run for a last blast while I moved Snuffy to the street to hook up the car. Happy trails being what it is, I visited with a lot of neighbors as I was hooking up. Sue finally came back with Charlie and we were off.

Trip to Las Vegas is 260 miles from Happy Trails. We chose the US 93 route which took us north across Hoover Dam. We just cruised north until we came to the road construction for the new road and bridge across the river. I think most people I know have seen the stuff on the Internet of the bridge they are building across the river just south of the dam. I would say that this is a big project. We had a few stops for road stuff and the we crossed the dam. Be sure to click on the Hover Dam Link. Good Pictures.

I would guess that a lot of my blog readers have crossed that dam before, but this was my first trip. They have some parking places to stop. We didn't take the time. The guy at the inspection place (Security for the dam, all motor homes have to stop and get inspected....we passed) told me to stop at lot 13. Maybe on the way back.

So, after crossing into Nevada which happens halfway across the dam we went up the hill into Bolder City where we got lost for a little bit. Computer failed. After refinding our way we finally got to Las Vegas and the Oasis RV Park.

The Oasis RV park is very nice. I don't know how I did it but we are just across the street from the pool. Charlie went for a long walk with Sue and liked the place. We went out for dinner at the Rio Casino which is just up the street. I must admit I was in a lot of shock at the price of spaghetti. It was a Italian restaurant inside the Rio named Cafe Martorano. After dinner we went down and donated to the local economy. It was a pretty night.

Now we are back in Snuffy watching Greys Anatomy. Tomorrow will be another day. We keep trying to decide if we are celebrating my birthday again or our anniversary. Anniversary should take pretence. Sue said she was worried that she forgot something when we left Happy Trails, but then remembered that we had everything with us. When we got here we said nice to still be home. That is one of the nice things about and RV. Charlie agrees...

Friends and a Birthday

2010-01-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

Monday we met Sue and Jim at Macayo's Mexican Grill for drinks and dinner. They are friends from Sues past. Sue use to work for Sears and Jim was from the baseball team. They are staying in a different RV park near Sun City West.

After dinner we all came back to our place for more visiting. They also wanted to meet Charlie. They have a dog named Lu Lu. We are going to go over to their place and visit so Charlie and Lu Lu can have a play date.

Tuesday was my birthday. We decided to play my favorite golf course. Las Sendas. It is across the city out in Mesa. Was about a 60 mile drive, one way. It was worth the trip. I played this course in the 90s when I use to come down here for a Pro Am tournament. It was just a golf course then with no houses. Now there are houses everywhere. They don't interfere with the course. I had to take a picture of this poor cactus. It was in front of the tee box and full of balls. It is really a beautiful course. Tough too!

After golf we got back home, Virginia, Jan, Beau and Ron came over to wish me a happy birthday. We all sat around visited for a while then went to dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill. Being as it was my birthday I got to pick the food. It was a good end to a good day.

Today is project day and getting ready to go to Las Vegas. We head up there for the weekend on Thursday. It will be the first long drive for Snuffy since when we got here in October. We will be back here Sunday. It looks like we will be going to Indio in Palm Springs for Kens southern Memorial on February 7th. That will make another trip.

Good party and Doggles

2010-01-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday night was a gathering at Jan Holt's house. The people there were from the days of the ASGA. There a few that live in the area. Adrianne came from Tuscan. Ron Voss was in town visiting. The rest live in the area for the winter. Jan had Chicken which Ron cooked. There were various h'dourves salad and baked spuds. All was good. Everyone had a good visit.

Today is another day of rest with a bit of football thrown in. We took Charlie for a walk a few minutes ago and ran into his friend Suzy. Suzy is an older dog, 12 years old, that goes to nursing homes and hospitals and gives comfort to those there. She is trained to do this work. Her and Charlie have become friends from walking around the block. It seems that she has eye problems so her mom bought here some doggles. She doesn't like them, but we told her she was cute.

This week the weather is suppose to get better. Thursday we are going to Las Vegas for a couple days to celebrate our anniiversey, which was December 31st. Should be a fun weekend.

The Monster has passed

2010-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

The great storm of 2010 in Arizona has passed. It was really a rainy week. Tuesday was stormy to get things started. I already mentioned that. But Thursday did it rain. It was just a day to hang out and stay inside. This called for a puzzle. We did a 500 piece this time. Much more easy to handle on our table.

So, it rained and rained and more of the same. Our street out front became a lake for a while. I found it interesting yesterday morning when I went out side it looked like the tide had come in. There was actually a line that showed the water level in the street.

I also have a garbage bucket outside by the motor home door. Now there might have been some run off from the motor home. The can is about one foot from the it, but I doubt there was. There was about 6 inches of water in the bottom. Officially the news says we got about 3 inches in the day. Anyway you put it it was wet.

The most interesting part was the EBS (Emergency Broadcasting Service) that thing that they test on the TV all the time. You know "this is a test of the ....and so on" They actually activated it because of tornado warnings. We have never had that happen to us before. Mostly what the weather did was screw up all the shows we were watching with the cut in reports. So the puzzle got finished.

But all ended up well. Today, Saturday, it is nice and sunny again. Sue is doing the laundry, Charlie is resting and I'm blogging. tonight Jan Holt is having a party for a bunch of old ASGA (American Singles Golf Association) people that hang out down here. I'll report more on that tomorrow.

A rainy day in Arizona

2010-01-21T08:18:00.001-08:00

"QUACK"

The last time I put a picture like this on my blog was about two years ago when we were in southern Oregon. It said, like this one "Monster Storm coming" That was the time when we got stuck in Cannon Beach for four days because of the Hurricane that hit. It blocked I-5 for a few days. Now we are waiting to see what comes with the big storm here. It started raining last night and hasn't stooped since. We are comfortable in our rig, but we won't be doing much for the next couple days. This must be payback for a couple weeks ago when we were the only place in the United States not freezing.

Yesterday we played golf. It was between storms. A really nice day. The first two of the three storms had already gone thru. On the golf course there are what aree normally a dry gully areas on the sides of the fairway. Yester day they were lakes. This left the course with a whole more water hazards. We played with Linda Abbott and here friend Kay. Kay was a kick. We all had a good time. After golf we came back here for a drink or two. John came over to pick them up.

As these thing go dinner came up for discussion. They chose Chinese. For those who know me, I'm sure you all know how excited I was. The place we went to was sort of a cross between a restaurant and a Safeway deli. You could sit and eat or take it out. Me knowing nothing of Chinese food told Sue to order. I got a chopped salad. It was good. The pot stickers were a bit overdone. I sampled some of the other folks stuff. We all had a good time. Kay's husband was also there. After dinner we came back and waited for the rain to start.

This morning we woke up to the rain. So as I said before it will be a slow rainy day at home. I'm just watching the TV and they keep running stuff across the bottom. "Flash Flood Warning" and the a list of what amounts to most of Arizona. At least I don't have to water the Orange tree. So Quack Quack for now. Say goodnight Donald.

Football with friends

2010-01-19T09:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday was suppose to be the day the Arizona Cardinals moved on in the football season. Richard had us over to his house to watch the game. We all gathered and thought we were watching a Seahawk game. They got blown away. So much for Arizona football this year. Even through the game was not up to our hopes the day was good.

Richard barbecued Brauts at halftime. Everybody helped themselves at the kitchen table. Only problem I had was I had eaten more h'dourves than I should have. Wasn't much room for dinner. But I managed to eat my share.

Susan (Richards girl friend) had here grandson there. He was a cute 18 months or so toddler. It took Charlie a little while to get use to him, but he did alright in the end. He also figured out real fast that you hang out around little kids as they spill food a lot. Charlie spent most of the day grazing on the floor.

We all had a good day. After we got home it was Saturday night as usual. Some TV and some computer stuff. Charlie had a long day so he took a nap on moms leg.

Sunday Sue and I played golf here at Great Eagle. Was a really slow day as we were a two some in a field of four somes. We had a chance to play thru on 10 and didn't take it. That was a mistake. At least the weather was nice. Weather down her has changed as we are getting hit with the big west coast storm. They are expecting up to 5 inches of rain in the valley by the end of the week. Now by Seattle standards that's not much rain. But, it will be more rain in one week than they had all of last year. They are predicting flooding and all that sort of stuff. Will be interesting to see if it all happens as predicted. Right now, Tuesday, it is nice and sunny. Suppose to get bad tonight and OK tomorrow. Hope so we have a tee time. Today Sue is dragging me to a movie. Let you know about that later.

A Sleaze Tavern and more golf.

2010-01-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

Her is what has been going on in the last few days. Sunday was a big day down here as the Arizona Cardinals were playing the Green Bay Packers in a play off game. Now I have to be a Seahawk fan, but alas they are history. So I did grow up a Packer fan but I'm currently sort of an Arizona resident which means I guess I had to root for the Cardinals. Anyway you look at it, it was a really good game.

We watched most of it at Waddell's Longhorn Corral. This was a find of John Ward. He stumbled on it after a golf thing. John has a good sense of nice sleaze bars. This was a good find. We enjoyed a late lunch early dinner. Good food and beer. We kind of rushed back and watched the end of the game here in Snuffy. We all had a good time. Only picture I got was of Linda. I'm slipping. I'll try and do better.

Tuesday we got together with Virgina and Jan Holt. Jan just got down here last week. We played at Arizona Traditions in the afternoon shotgun. We had a good round and a lot of fun. Traditions is a fun course and I like it because its short which helps my ego.

After golf we went in to the Traditions club house. Traditions is a gated community. We have looked at houses there last year and this year. The major difference between Happy Trails and Traditions is Happy Trails is an RV life and Traditions you own a home. They both have just about anything you want available. They have a nice town center with pool, shuffle board and even a small beer and wine bar. They have the pool and all sort of things. What is interesting is at Happy Trails they want about $150,000.00 to $170,000.00 for a lot like we are sitting on right now. Cement a cover and a small shed. For $179,000.00 you can buy a 1500 sq ft house at Traditions. Here Happy Trails you get water, sewer, garbage and maintenance for you about $110 HOA fee. Over there you don't get water, sewer and garbage for your $109 HOA fee. This picture of Virginia, Jan and Sue in the bar at Traditions. Remember to click on the highlighted stuff.

After our golf event and a trip to the bar we went to Babbo. an Italian restaurant down the street. They had a special on Spaghetti and meat balls. Guess who ate that.

It was a long day as it started out with a hair cut for Charlie. He is so happy now that he has shorter hair. Thursday I played golf with some of the guys from the Ranch. That's the area of Happy Trails we stayed in last year. Weather was great. They are a nice bunch of guys. Friday was lunch and bobbing. Few friends for drinks later. Today, Saturday, w are going over to Richards to watch the football game. We have to be Arizona Cardinals fans. I'll try and get some pictures.

Today was a really sad day

2010-01-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

The day started out like most days down here. Weather was warm and all that stuff. In the back of our minds was our friend Ken Bailey back home, When we left last October he was having problems with his stomach. We left on the 20th of October and Ken and Elain were to be about a week behind. Us to Phoenix and them to Indio. When we got down here we got a call that Ken had a Cancer in his stomach. Now Ken is a really tough old fart. He has not been able to see his golf ball for a couple of years, but could still out shoot most of us. We always wanted to putt like the blind guy. But this report was not so good.

We have spent a lot of time with Ken and Elain in the last few years. They have become one of our best friends. Charlie was always welcome at their homes. Federal Way and Indio. He has been one of my best golf friends. Saturday with Ken , Ralph, Al and me was the best.

Sue and I also spent a lot of time with Ken and Elaine across the state in some of the various golf club Chapmans. It was always our goal to beat them. We did this last year, but I would sure like to be able to loose to them next year. I'm still catching hell because Ken felt Charlie was getting cooked in the motor home without the air conditioning being turned on at Moses Lake last year. Ken gave me a saluted from behind the money he had to give me at Moses.

In our travels with them we shared many meals. Some inside but a lot outside. The days golf would be discussed as well as all our traveling. Ken was a good counselor of where to go and stay as he and Elaine had been most everyplace across the country. Ken always said "we were there"

Today we lost Ken to cancer. He fought it as best he could, but this time he did not win. He will be greatly missed not only by Sue and I, but all his friends at Twin Lakes in Federal way and his friends at Heritage Palms in Indio, California. God bless Ken. Get those greens ready up there in heaven and keep the tempature just right for Charlie.

Yes, this is the warmest place in the USA

2010-01-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, according to the news this the warmest place in the US. They even said it was freezing in Florida. It makes us feel guilty that we are in the warm belt. There has not been a whole lot of stuff going on. They just opened up a new dog play area. It is all fenced in with gates to enter and everything. Charlie loves it. He can run his legs off. There is a little mini dachshund named Peanuts who is 7 months old that can do in Charlie and three or four more dogs. He is the little thing in the picture to the right. All the dogs just have a blast running. That is after the usual hand (sniff) shake. Charlie was exhausted the rest of the day.

Here is an interesting thing about Happy Trails. The place right behind us is owned by a guy named Phil. His place and or place use to be twins. He has added on a lot as have a bunch of people around here. Like he has two storied, two bedrooms and a whole lot of other stuff. So I guess the two pictures are before and after.

Wednesday we had dinner with John and Linda Ward at Dillon's. This restaurant is the same chain that we went to at Scorpion Bay last November. This one was in Sun City Grand. I think they have four or five places around the area. Scorpion Bay is on Lake Pleasant Really nice for a lunch on the water. Both were really nickel (Thank your spell checker. The word was suppose to be nice. Sue laughed so hard at another Joeism that I decided to just explain) . Another good dinner with good friends. Afterwords we went to John and Linda's house. They have rented a nice home in Sun City Grand with lots of room.

Thursday we went the driving range and hit some balls. That is what golfers are suppose to do. Two large buckets and we were tired. Afterwords we then went over to Richards place for a couple of drinks. He was getting ready to head down south with Susan. He wanted us to go to Quartzite but we decided on not doing all the dust. We had a good visit and came home to scrambled egg hot dogs. A new invention.

Friday we played a little golf. We got paired with Peter and Ann. They are from Canada, just north of the Omack. They were a blast. Peter and I bet a nickle on a couple of KPs. Good thing I won the first one ans I did not have a nickle to pay off. I lost the second so we were even. He paid me in funny money (US him being a Canadian). They were really fun. got their number hope to play again.

After all this activity Charlie showed us how tired he was.

Today Saturday, we went back to the dog park again. Charlie got run into the ground again by Peanuts. We came home and Sue did laundry while I went to the range and hit some balls. We are now trying to find a place to stay for March as the spot we are in is not available and we have decided to stay another month. I went bobbing this afternoon and now we are watching football. We are also sad as we hear our friend Ken Bailey is not doing well. Everybody needs to send Ken prayers. He is one of the nicest guys around, We love you Ken.........

Tuesday Update

2010-01-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would make an update. Its been really nice lately. The temps during the day have been around 70 to 72. So we have been outside a lot. We even went to the golf range and hit some balls. That was Saturday. We golfed on Sunday here at the Great Eagle Golf Course that runs thru Happy Trails. The driving range is just behind the Ranch where we stayed the last three years. Gads, does that mean we have been down here four years. Anyway, the course is in good condition. We played with a local couple. He is an attorney, they were both really nice. Should have taken a picture or two.

After golf when we got back to the Motor Home, Mary and her sister came to visit. Mary was going back home the next day. We all had a drink or two and a good visit. Mary's sister Dodie it turned out was afraid of dogs. Well, nobody can be afraid of Charlie. He won her over. He must take after his parents, one of them at least.

So currently Sue is up line dancing. I'm computing and Charlie is waiting for his mom to get back. We had the carpet and upholstery cleaned yesterday. It's amazing how nice the stuff looks now. The couch looks new. We had to get out while things got dry so we just ran errands. I would guess that after lunch we will take Charlie to the new dog park. They just enclosed an area for dogs to run off leash. It is really a pretty good sized area right next to the town center. I have been bobbing the last couple days. The bobbers had to move to the Town Center as NC2 is under repair. They are resurfacing the pool deck. Other than that stuff, we will see what comes next. Maybe go hit some more balls.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 !!!! We got to bring in the new year with good friends. Kent and Carolyn were the hosts. Snacks/Diner was heavy hors d'oeuvres. There was lots of visiting and a game of LCR. LCR is a fun game that does not require concentration. You start with $3.00, and three dice. Dice have 1-L, 1-R, 1-C and 3 dots. Each person rolls the dice. Get an L pass $1 left, get a R pass $1 right, get a C put $1 in the pot. Other option is a dot which means you get to keep what you got. As the game moves on more and more money ends up in the pot. You can only roll as many dice as the dollars you have. You can have no money but get back in the game with a pass. The last dollar standing gets the pot, which last night was around $36 bucks. Fun game for a party.

Last night was a Blue Moon. Yesterday was also our anniversary. 6 years she has put up with me. I tried to take a couple pictures. Needed a tripod.

So today is the first day of the year. Also the first day of the next decade. Wounder if Tiger will end up athlete or fool of the decade? We haven't made a today plan yet. We just walked the dog and had breakfast. Everybody have a great New Year.

Settling In

2009-12-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-12-28T18:27:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

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 !!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-11T09:23:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-04T16:40:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Getting ready for Thanks Giving

2009-11-25T18:02:00.001-08:00

Today was getting ready for Thanksgiving. It started out with Sue going to the pool for water aerobics. I stayed home and answered the phone. I called all the people with the boats that Boats US want me to look at while I'm home. I think I will be busy. Anyway after water aerobics Sue wanted to get a Taco and a Margarita. So we found Las Mariga or something like that. A Mexican restaurant down Bell road. The service was great as was the atmosphere. Me being me I had a hamburger, which was very good. Sue had the local food and loved it. The Margaritas were good too. We had a choice of Small, Medium or Large. We went for Medium. Was plenty.

After lunch we got to the Thanksgiving part. We are going to Kent and Carolyn Nelsons tomorrow for dinner. That's the gang of 22. Our part is to bring Key Lime Pie. This is because we have a Key Lime tree in our front yard. It belongs to Jeanne next door. Now that she is back in Tacoma for the holiday, I get to pick up the limes every day. It drops about 25 a day. Sue found a great receipt for Key Lime Pie on line from Emerald Lagassi. Its GOOD. I even like it. So two are requested for Thanksgiving. I squeezed the lime this morning with our new lime squisher. Really works good. Key limes are about the size of a golf ball. This thing gets a couple cups of juice in about 10 minutes. Charlie helped with the picture.

While I went bobbing Sue baked the pies in our new portable toaster/convection oven. We can cook everything inside, but ..........well we don't need the heat inside so..............an outside oven. Really works well.

So we have the cook doing cross word and watching the pie cook. Charlie has been a good boy and hangs out on the patio with us. By the time I got back from the bobbers most of the cooking was done.

While I was outside I thought I would put in a picture of my pantry. anybody that knows me, knows I want to have food around. This is my outside storage place. If I were here too long it would get bigger as the prices are so good. Also some of the extra Key Limes we have.

Tomorrow will be a fun day with a bunch of our friends from Twin Lakes. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Just heard we get our golf car tomorrow. Then I can get better pictures for the Happy Trails Bog.

Short update

2009-11-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would give a update. We haven't really done any thing but sort of hang out. Yesterdays quest was a new bathing suit for Sue. The word is that it takes two or three suits a year to weather the chlorine in the pool down here. Well, with advice from some of the bobbers and the water aerobic folks we found "Honeys" Buy one and get the second for 50% off. Sue said it was a good deal. Mine is just faded and still works. It's really hard to find a place that sells bathing suits down here because it "Winter"... Yea sure...Tell that to someone from Seattle. End result was Sue was happy.

After the swim suit adventure I was in need of food so we stopped at a place Sue saw on the way to Honeys called the "Bent Putter" This was a small restaurant at the end of a golf course. Not a bad deal. Really well cooked Hot Dog and a beer for $3.50. Lots of golfers coming and going. It really says "Bent Putter Restaurant" in the shadow. Darn sum makes those shadows. :)

That got us back home about 2:30 so I could go bobbing. Bobbing is kind of becoming a regular thing. I've been told that I need to get a picture of the bobbers. Yes there are also girl bobbers. From there it was over to Dan and Mary Gleasons house for a couple drinks. Thank you Dan and Mary for the hospitality. Got back home about 6 and had left over soup. It's amazing how you can just sort of fritter away the day.

Today Sue went Line Dancing class and did laundry. I (UGG) had to do some work. Seems Boats US wants me to look at some boats while I'm home in December. That will keep me busy. Tomorrow Sue will be cooking Key Lime pies for Thanksgiving at the Nelsons and a gang of 22.
That will be a lot of fun.
I'm still working on my "What is Happy Trails Post" Sue and I both agree that I need better pictures to get it across. So that is still to come. For now everybody have a great Thanksgiving.

A new adventure

2009-11-21T18:31:00.001-08:00

Saturdays adventure was to find Lake Pleasant. Lake Pleasant is located about 25 miles north of Happy Trails. With the help of Google I found an address for a place called Pleasant Harbor Marina. So we plugged that into the GPS and headed out. Drove right to the place. Turned out to be a RV park and marina. They wanted $6.00 just to get into the place. I asked if there was a restaurant, as we were hungry, and they said no. So we kept our $6.00 bucks. Still no lake. So instead of giving up we took another turn and up another street. We came to a State Park gate where they wanted $5.00 bucks to get in. Same question. Only this time they said yes. So this is how we found Dillons Restaurant as Scorpion Bay Marina and Yacht Club.

As this is a man made lake used for power and irrigation there was a lot of watter missing. This made for a really long ramp down to the docks. They also have a powered tram which makes the trip much easier. This picture is of Sue after we came back up from lunch. I lazily took the tram while macho woman showed up and walked up the steps. She courted 161 steps. They are small steps like maybe 8 inches, but still 161. Lots.

The restaurant on the dock is Dillons. They are apparently a chain in the area. It was a really nice place floating at the end of the dock. Outdoor dinning at its best. They have a really nice bar. Food was good. I had a hamburger that must have had 1/2 pound of meat. Lunch and a couple drinks was only 30 bucks. I thought going down there that it would be really pricey. Waitress took our picture on the dock.

We took a walk out on the docks. Yea, like I have never seen a boat dock. I was surprised there were a lot of big boats. Met a guy going back to get my camera that had just bought a new 42 foot Carver.

After lunch we went for another drive up to a day picnic area. There were lots of Saguaro cactus around. Very beautiful country. We came back to a relaxing afternoon. I went bobbing up at the pool. Even though Jeanne next door has gone back to Washington for the holidays, the party still happens. So we went next door for a while. While she is gone I get to pick up the falling Limes from her tree. I got 35 this morning. I'll get a picture of that later.

Golf and Friends

2009-11-20T09:11:00.001-08:00

Well now that the races are over we are getting into visiting with friends. Wednesday I went to the Safeway store to get a flu shot and ran into Carolyn Nelson. We had been talking to the Nelsons via phone, but it was still sort of funny running into her in the store. Ended up with Kent and Carolyn over for a drink that evening. Then they had to go and pick up Dan and Mary Gleason at the airport. We are going to their place for Thanksgiving. I'm sure there will be more on that later.

Yesterday, Thursday we got in our first round of golf. We played at Arizona Traditions with Virginia and Beau. Sue and I both played very badly, so whats new. Traditions is a nice course and not very long. Its really depressing taking double bogies on 271 yard holes.

After golf Virginia and Beau came over for dinner. I did it right this year. Last year I brought from home what I thought was spaghetti sauce. It turned out to be apple sauce. So I had to make spaghetti from scratch. This year it was sauce. Um Good!!

After diner we just sort of sat around and visited. Needless to say Charlie got in the middle of things. He even got Wofie up on the couch between Virginia and Beau.

Today Sue is off to Line dance class. She sort of treats it like work out class. Then she is going to do laundry. I'll probably go hangout with the Bobers this afternoon. The bobbers are sort of like what I do back home. There are about 10 to 15 guys that go up the street to the last condo and visit Bill Bates. Its kind of a daily thing. We show up at 4pm and leave at 5pm. The bar is open and so is the conversation. Down here its the bobbers. These are the people that show up and the NC2 pool, with their noodles, float and talk. Here there are some gal bobbers as well. The conversation changes daily, just like home. I mentioned them a few days ago. My next project is I'm, going to take my camera with me and try and capture the essence of Happy trails. We have had some people ask what this place is really like.

If you look at the side bar to the right it says NASCAR @PIR 2009. If you double click on that you will get a slide show of all the pictures I took out there, same with Tony and Christies wedding. The pictures are much bigger. Arrow at the top lets you click thru the pictures. So until then enjoy. Joe and Sue

What a weekend

2009-11-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

What a weekend we had. We have to give most of the credit to Pat and Diana Dennen. They are the ones who got us the Hot Passes. Not only that but we were sort of adopted into their NASCAR family. They are fire fighters from California. Besides doing an awesome job as fire fighters they are really cool people. Thank you Pat and Diana and all your friends. Hope to see you next year.

While we were in the stands we got our annual "Dork" picture

Sunday was Jimmy Johnsons day. Looks like he is on the way to four championships in a row. That has never happened in NASCAR in its history. We went down to the garage before the race again. This time there were no moving cars. Well they were moving, but being pushed into inspection.

They say that one of the things that make his team so good, is that they are prepared for almost anything. Like last week when they had to almost rebuild his car to get it back out on the track. I noticed when were were in the garage that their team had a whole rear end ready just in case. didn't see that in any other of the cares garages.

Sue took a picture of me next to Jimmy Johnsons car for my friend Alan Forman. I could have touched the car if I had wanted to but I don't think I was suppose to. Sunday was just a lot of people looking around the garage. Mostly we just sort of walked around and looked. Here are the Jets that fly over for the national anthem. F-15s from Luke Air force Base.

As we were going back to the Track Side club, Diana caught us and told us where they had saved us seats. What friends..... The race was good, kind of a bit boring as it sort of ended up in a parade. Not too much action. Jimmy ran off with it. Here is one lap of the race. Remember the track is one mile around.

After the race we joined the neighbors and had the final night barbecue. Remember those steaks. After a nice night we hit the sack and got up in the morning to a lot less people around us. It's really amazing how the place goes from thousands of RVs and then empty.

We got back to Happy Trails around 9:30. Sue cleaned the inside and I cleaned the outside. Inside had been cleaned before, but outside was in need. I didn't worry about the outside because I knew what it would be like after 5 days of track dust.

We are now back settled in and watching Dancing with the Stars. Charlie is happy to be away from the noise. Overall the weekend was the best so far at PIR. Besides our friends from the past years we got to know Paul and his friend from South Africa. Every year at PIR is a new adventure. Again a really special thanks to Pat and Diana. You really helped make our weekend special. Hope to see you next year.

Another great day

2009-11-14T18:49:00.000-08:00

Success, Sue accomplished her goal. We hung out all thru the final practice for the cup drivers. We did this so maybe we could get closer to Kasey Kahne. It worked. So now Sue has three signed hats.

It was neat watching the cars practice. They go out to the right and come back to the left. We have to watch out that we don't get run over. They get really close. Seems like most of them came and went a lot. They put on new tires, go out and run a lap or two and come back in and put another set of tires on and do it again. I think they are sort of scuffing them up for race day. It has really been fun being in the garage that close. Don't know if we will be going there today. There will not be any action, just maybe an opportunity to talk to a driver or two. Here are a couple of videos of the practice. sort of up close and personal.

While we were there I got a couple pictures of other drivers. From what we hear some of the drivers grab a hand truck full of tires to sort of slide past the fans so as not to get bothered. I would think that fans are a bit of a pain for these guys. But there do really do try and spread themselves around.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. He seemed to be a bit upset.

Juan Pablo Montoya

After all the excitement of the pits we went back to the Track Side club and had lunch. Then we found our seats and watched the Nationwide Race. Carl Edwards won. Kyle Busch spun out almost in front of us. Here is a picture of a bit of the race, all the motor homes out in the lot and our friend Pat.

Pats Wife Diana had left to go back to their motor home, but before she left I took a picture of her nails. She is a real NASCAR fan. She and Pat had been to a breakfast thing with Jeff Gordon on Friday morning so she had her nails done up for the event. Hope the picture does them justice.

After the race it was back home to visit with the neighbors. Everything around here is very friendly. Sat out and visited before dinner. Today its the big race. I'll surly have a report on that one tomorrow.

!!!!!WOW!!!!

2009-11-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

All we can say is WOW !!! What a friend Pat Dennen turned out to be. In case you don't recall, he is the Fire Chief of San Bernadino County, California. He also knows lots of folks from NASCAR. His crews do a lot of work for safety for the Fontana race. Anyway he got us Garage Passes. We thought they were going to be what is called cold passes, but when they handed them to us they were HOT. The difference is that with Cold passes you have to get out when the cars are moving. But with the Hot passes you just get to stay there. Cars come and go right next to you. You have to be careful to stay out of the way. Check out the video and you will get an idea of how close we really are.

We checked into our race site at the Track side Club about 11 am. Little more about the club thing in a bit. Anyway they provide regular pit passes and also a golf cart ride to the pits. So we jumped on the cart and were off. We then went into the garage area. They have sort of a dress code. No shorts, No open toed shoes and must have shirt sleeves. I'm sure this is for safety. Other than that in you go. Sue and I sort of went AHHHHH!!!!!!. How did we get this lucky. These passes are really hard to get. So we walked around and watched. Here are a few of the drivers we say. Most notably was The King himself Richard Petty. He is one of the first five in the new NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Richard Petty

Greg Biffel. a Washington guy from Vancouver

Ryan Newman, He ended upside down at Talladaga two weeks ago and had to be cut out of the car.

Kasey Kane

Kasey is Sue's target. Kasey being the local boy from Enumclaw, Wa., besides being a great driver is also too good looking. Up close he seems really small. Sue has some #9 hats that she is trying to get signed. One down two to go. Its all a mater of timing. We were there just before practice, so they were in a hurry to get into their cars. Today we will try and get there after practice and hopefully the drivers will be more available. Here a few pictures of the track and stuff.

Phoenix International Raceway

No 24 Jeff Gordon

Don't know who this guy is but the car belongs to Kurt Busch

The Track side Club. That is our home base for racing. It is located on the backside of the track between turn tow and three. Its basically a big fancy tent. They have redone it this year with all new tables and chairs. There is even a lounge with couches in the center. Outside in the front are nice seats. The back three rows even have a counter in front of the seat. The front ones have nice theater type seats with cup holders and all. We are about 50 feet from the track so it is really loud. That's why we have our head sets. With those we can talk back and forth and listen to the NASCAR radio broadcast of the race. If I push the right buttons on the radio/scanner we can listen to the drivers. This is the view from our seats last night looking at turn two with the trucks starting.

So, its Saturday morning. We are snug in our traveling home. Charlie is still traumatized from all that has happened to him in the last few days. We will head up to the track around noon and have lunch at the Track side Club. (By the way, if forgot to mention, with the tickets we get breakfast, lunch and dinner and beer and wine for the weekend. ) Head for the pits and the watch the Nationwide race this afternoon. That starts at 2:00 pm. So, I will leave you with the number three race fan in the house.

Here we are again. Pheonix International Raceway

2009-11-12T17:47:00.001-08:00

So here we are at the track. This is year four for us. It is also the forth year in the same spot. Our neighbors are the same, the dirt is the same and the fun is the same. If you could hear outside you would hear party everywhere. We got here about 10:30 and parked in our space which is 20 feet by 40 feet. Enough room for a good time, Here we are all set up and a picture of the guys behind us. Same dudes from all the last years.

We went over to the NASCAR credentials area to get our passes for the garage, but they were closed until tomorrow. So we went for a walk down thru the haulers. As we started our walk we saw one of many moving ice chests. Yes, these are motorised Ice chests. Great idea.

We walked on toward the track. They have these really big trucks that they call haulers. They back in, in rows and park the hauler then open the doors. They have all sorts of things NASCAR for sale. Only thing about this time of year is they are really running out of stuff. They plan for the season which is about over. Didn't get a picture of them as they are not all here yet.

So as a reward for all this walking we stopped at the Speed Cantina for a drink. Cool place but the prices are a bit high. Two 16 oz beers $14 bucks. We will be happy when the Track side Club opens the drinks are complimentary.

On our way back to Snuffy and Charlie, we stopped by Bashas Super Market. This is the place that has everything inside the track. I bought some Cheerios. I was out. Even got them on sale.

Back home we settled in and visited with the neighbors for a while, then sat and watched TV on the outside screen for a bit. When we came in this is the view from the front window.

So here we are. The worlds biggest tail gate party. Generators running, fires burning (smells good), lots of people having a good time and getting settled in. There is a constant stream of RVs coming in as I type. Tomorrow we will pick up or garage passes and then head for the track. We need to get in there around 10:30 or so to get to the drivers in the garage. Practice and qualifying start after that. We will get back to the RV and head to the track for the Truck race that starts at 6:00. I will do my next posting Saturday morning.

Some things never change. Charlie is doing much better this year and is really good at begging.

Reved up and ready to go....NASCAR

2009-11-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

We are getting in gear. Been putting things in their place so we can head out in the morning for the track. Today we just sort of hung out again. (You do that a lot down here) Sue did some more laundry and I went to the store for some nice Sunday steaks. Love it down here. I was going to buy two Porterhouse steaks on sale $5.77/lb, but decided to get a couple filet mignon instead. The were 13.50/pound. Two porterhouse with bones about $16 bucks. The filets were $13.50 total and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Sunday night dinner after the races.

We went to the pool this afternoon for a bit of bobbing with the pool folks. They say they are there every day all year. Charlie is still a bit traumatised from his hair cut. He found a new place to sleep today. The shower. Next post will be NASCAR. Hope I don't bore you too much. :):)

A dog day and a new noodle.

2009-11-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

It has been great to sit around and do nothing. Things around here move slow. Today we spent the day getting Charlie a new haircut. This process took most of the day. We got up this morning and took Charlie to get his "Fluff and Puff". Up Bell road and a right on Grand. Dropped him off and went to breakfast. The same spot I reported on a couple days ago. Two Eggs, Hash Browns and Bacon $3.49. Still can't beat the price. A hairy dog before "Fluff and Puff'

After we got back, without dog, we went for a walk, or should I say a journey. We walked to NC2 and back. It was sort of my fault as I took a lot of side trips. More about NC2 in a bit. Anyway we got back to the home pad and waited for the call to rescue the dog. Picked him up about 1PM. He is so handsome with his new SHORT dew.

After all the business of the morning. I went shopping. Needed to stock up on some stuff for the track. We move from here on Thursday morning for a few days at the races. While I was out I picked up our own personal noodles. You know those things that you float on in the pool. We needed these so we could join the bobbers in NC2 at 3 in the afternoon. NC2 has a group of people who show up at about 3 and just sort of float on their noodles and chat. The thing around here is there are the walker and the bobbers. The walkers walk back and forth across the pool and talk. The bobbers just sort of float and chat. What ever you name the event, it is just a bunch of folks soaking in the pool and talking. Kind of friendly.

At any rate we bobbed and came back for dinner. After a bit of a flutter next door at Jeanne's place we came home and had a really good dinner. Now we are just sitting here looking at the Biggest Looser. Charlie is still being a really good dog and just hanging around the patio, He hasn't been on a leash in a long time. He also still holds his place as the guard dog.

Tomorrow we get ready to head for the races. We go out Thursday at about 9AM. Guess what blog posts will be about for the next few days. NASCAR Sue and I are ready are you.

A slow day and good news

2009-11-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

I'm sure glad to be feeling better. I even got ambitious to day and put up an new make up mirror for Sue. I did all this while she was doing the weekly wash. Yep those things have to happen where ever you are. Other than that we just sort of enjoyed the weather.

We went to get the mail this afternoon and stopped at the Ranch. That is where we have spent the last three years. CW and Linda were there again with Charlie's friend Putter. I should have taken a picture of them playing. Next time. Tonight we just hung out, had dinner and now relaxing. Tomorrow my friend Richard is coming over and we get to get a golf cart to use for a few weeks. More on that then.

!!!!*****OH YES ****!!!!!, got a note today from our Friend Pat Dennen. We met Pat and his wife last year at the track. I'll give you more information on Pat later. For now he and his wife are really neat folks. Well we have been approved for passes to the garage. Our passes will be called "Cold" rather than the "Hot" passes. This means we have to git out when the cars are moving for practice. They said bring a camera and a Sharpie. We should get to see and talk to a lot of the drivers. Thank you Pat and Diana. There will be much more on this next week. We go racing on Thursday Morning.

Life is better

2009-11-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

I think I have started to come back to life. I'm surprised how bum I really felt. Yesterday (Thursday) was the first day I felt like going anywhere. So we headed out to a favorite place for breakfast. Which was suppose to be the golf course, but they were closed for some reason or another. We did have a back up plan down Bell Road. Everything is down Bell Road. The Desert Palms Restaurant. Breakfast special Eggs, Hash browns and Bacon $3.49 Love it.

As I had put our NASCAR tickets on will call, we had to go to Avendale and pick them up. We also had to check out a place called "Paws of Fame" A haircut for Charlie. After all Charlie need to have a due (This word was discussed, Hairdo, due, doo, We will take a vote on this Joe Isim), Anyway we got the tickets. We also got in a drive.

As I said I am felling better so we went down to the pool at the Town Center for the first time (for me) and had a dip. The 3PM walkers were there and doing their thing walking back and forth. I mentioned this last year. That pool has a group of mostly ladies who show up at 3 PM and walk back and forth across the pool. They are really a bunch of nice gals. Walk and talk. It's really fun.

Then back to our neighborhood. As I think I mentioned the area we are in is known for being very social. Now that I am not sick and have been able to socialise. We do have a great neighbor hood. The lady next door, Jeanne, is from Fircrest, in Tacoma, graduated from Wilson as I did and even belonged to Totem Yacht Club as I did. Everywhere it is a small world. All the folks around here are really friendly and make us feel at home. Couple pictures of Jeanne's place and the party.

We visited for a while and came home. I even cooked on the barbecue. It was really nice to feel a lot better. As this is now Friday night when I'm doing the blog, there has been a gap. Today was good as well. Sue went to the pool for water aerobics. They had a big thing going on at the town center, but my friend Richard came over. After Sue got back we all visited. We went to lunch at J B s at Sun City Grand. Sue wanted a Hamburger. I went for the salad bar. We came back and Virginia and Bo were here with someone offering to fix the roof. ????. Went for a walk and had T-bone steak for dinner. So we are now sitting watching TV. Gosh it is sure nice to feel better. Now Sue will be making sure I exercises.

Oh, yes, We went to look for NC2. (Neighborhood Center #2) One of three pools here. They have a big room where the apparently do exercises. They also have a bunch of folks who gather around 3 called the Bobbers. In other words they sort of bounce up and down instead of walk. Funny. While we were there we went into the building and there were bunch of guys playing in a band. They have all sorts of things do do here. I might bring my horn back after Christmas. Might be a lot of fun. Not sure if I can remember how to read music or if my old horn still works. Tony will figure that out. So I have been wordy tonight. Nice to be feeling better. See you all later.

This is getting old

2009-11-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

I'm getting tired of this cold. I even went to the doctor yesterday. She thinks I have strep throat. I think it's maybe sinus. What ever it is it is a pain in the you know what. Haven't gotten to the pool yet. Sue is walking the dog 2.1 miles every day. I been sitting. Now that I'm on drugs maybe I'll get better. I sure hope so. Otherwise nothing to report. Even the dog feel sorry for me,

A cold in the desert

2009-11-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

Yep,I'm blaming Sue for it too. Just get here and get a cold. I think I might be on the recovery end. Sue hopes so. (I'm a bad sicko) so I have spent most of the last two days just siting around and doing nothing. I brought my office flat screen TV and have it hooked up outside so I can sit back and watch the TV shows I slept thru the last night. Thank you Internet.

Sue has been doing her long walk with Charlie every morning. She has a route that she says is 2.1 miles. I haven't gone yet but will soon. I did solve my news paper problem. Remember last year I bought a bike and drug it all the way down here to only ride it twice. It was easier to drive to get the paper. Well this year we just subscribed. It was on the drive this morning. Love this retirement. (Even if Sue expects me to work next year) She also has been reading.

All this walking Charlie has been doing has made him a dirty dog. It's the only time Sue ever gives him a bath. The desert makes her do it. He is a pretty good puppy and enjoys his baths. The shower works just fine, although there is a dog wash up the street. All that exercise and baths make him a pooped puppy.

Today I might go pick up our race tickets. I had them put on will call. I didn't trust the timing and .the mail. Mostly I just want to recover. Sue is still hanging to a bit of her cold. See ya all later.

Home, Southern style that is

2009-11-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well we enjoyed our time in Laughlin, Nevada. I didn't get to post anything because the Internet service was not too good. We actually stayed in Bullhead City, Arizona. Just across the river from Laughlin at Ridgeview RV Park. This was an RPI park (Resorts Parks International) They are kind of nice as because we belong the cost is only $10/night. It was a nice park with full hookups and TV.

Gambling at the Riverside Casino was not good. For the first time this trip we both lost our $20 bucks. However the main reason we go there was another big success. This time we got to see Mel Tillis. He is 77 years old and has been playing for years. His band was very good. Most of them had been with him for 30 years or more. The steel guitar player had been there 41 years. He made it a point of telling us that he keeps his band in coat and tie. Don't see many bands like that these days. Here are a few pictures of the show. The first on is a video of a song. Click the arrow.

We had payed for three nights at the RV Park, but decided to head out a day early. Mostly we were getting excited to get to Arizona home at Happy Trails. We had not seen the spot we were to stay. It all turned out great. As you can see we are in a great place. The whole pad is covered. There are table and chairs for us to use. According to the plan we were not to get use of the casita. We did however find out there is a washer and dryer in there. I sent a note sort of begging. Here are a couple pictures of the new place.

After we got in yesterday and got set up. We meant some of neighbors. The place on our left side appears to be the neighborhood meeting place. They had a bunch over last night. We were invited as well. Looks like this will be a lively place to stay. I went over for a bit but had to come back as our friend Virginia Hessler, who lives at Arizona Traditions, and her guy Bo. They visited for a while and then Bo went and got pizza for dinner. We will see more of them over the next few months. Was sure nice to have a nice patio to entertain on. The weather is such down here that you mostly live outside. Charlie likes his new hang out. Sue took him for a walk this morning that must have been more than his usual mile. He came back exhausted. He is also very dirty and will get a bath today.

Mesquite 56407, Laughlin 56585. Trip 178 Miles

Laughlin 56585, Surprise 56781 Trip 196

Total trip Federal Way to Happy Trails 1800 miles

Fixing and Washing

2009-10-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of fixing for me. As reported yesterday, we had a blow out of our roof. Today after looking at it, I found that probably it was something the factory should have done about 9 years ago. This motor home has a fiberglass roof, which is good. The edges hang over the side and fit into a channel. I talked to the factory today and they said that the edges are suppose to be, I guess glued is the best word, into place. Well there was no bonding of any sort on the edges that pulled out. All 32 feet or so of them. The good news is I was able to get the edge back into place. There is damage on the front of a tear of about 2 inches and on the back a larger area maybe 10 inches. In other words there is a major fix in the future. But as of today I got it all back in place. I put a run of duck tape all the way along the seam. The way I figure if duck tape will hold a NASCAR together at 180 mile/hour the Snuffy should be fine at 65. If you can see it in this picture the roof is loose. Second picture is my fix. A nice strip of Duck tape from one end to the other.

On a better note. After I did my stuff and Sue did laundry, we went to breakfast/lunch at the casino. The same one we were at yesterday. Last nights porterhouses steak dinner was good/ dinner and drinks were around $30 bucks. Today I had breakfast and Sue had lunch. $15 bucks. Prices are good in Nevada casinos. Gambling for the last two day. We put in $61 bucks and cashed out around $120 bucks. So if you add up the numbers we came out ahead. Anytime you can leave a casino ahead it is good. Carlie could have cared less.

Tomorrow we will head to Laughlin, Nevada. Actually we will be staying across the river in Bullhead, Arizona. It is an RPI park. We belong to RPI. This means we get to stay there for $10 bucks a night. Only a half mile from another casino. This will be year number four for us in Laughlin. This year we get to see Mel Tillis. Should be a lot of fun. Saturday or Sunday we will head out and end up in Surprise an Happy Trails.

Trip from Beaver to Mesquite Beaver 56259, Mesquite 56405 Total 148 Miles

A bummer day

2009-10-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today started out in Beaver, Utah. The place I posted last night. The weather reports were BAD, so we got going early to move south and to the sun. The trip down I-15 was just fine until we got to "Virgin Canyon" There had been a lot of wind but was mostly on our tail. Then the bummer happened, as we were crossing a bridge in a canon, we got a gust of wind that made the right side of the motor home go Opps. I thought it was the awning blowing out. Fortunately there was a quick pull off. When I looked outside at things I found that the right side of the motor home roof had come loose. I'll explain this later after I find out the seriousness of it all. So I got up on the top in the wind and did a major speed tape fix. (Duck Tape) That stuff works for airplanes and NASCAR, so it worked for us. 20 miles later we parked at Oasis Casino in Mesquite, Nevada. Here is my temporary repairs. Tomorrow I have a borrowed ladder set up an I will try to put things in a better condition.

In the mean time. We parked at the Oasis Casino where we where two years ago. Another, Opps---The casino was closed because of our economy. Guess Obama has not bailed out the casinos yet. Anyway, we just had to walk up the street to find one that was open. (Owned by the same folks)

Kind of neat. First two pictures are of a empty casino and the two pictures of a full casino. I guess they have that much control of our money. As to our gambling. We went in with our normal 20 bucks each. Currently we have $32 left. We will be here for two days. Sue sill do laundry and I will look at the roof. Any way we are parked in a nice spot.

We are settled in for the evening watching the Biggest Loser. I want to want to watch Dancing with the Stars next. Night for now. Resting in Nevada. Charlie was upset so was in hidding so he doesn't to finish the blog.

Fun and a run from weather

2009-10-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a great time in Moab. We were going to go further south down to Monument Valley, Page and that way, but they are predicting lousy weather coming around here. They say it is in Seattle now and on the way. Bad words like snow. When you are hanging around 5000 to 6000 feet things get cold fast. With all this information we decided to go a different direction. We are now in Beaver, Utah. Still at 5000 feet but much further south and west. We are 140 miles from Mesquite, Nv., warm weather and an open pool. Not to mention a casino. Our trip was uneventful as can be noted how bothered the dog was.

We picked a KOA campground in Beaver. It seems to be a nice place. Has all we need like cable TV so we can watch Dancing with the Stars. They said not to hook up the water hose because it would freeze tonight. That's OK I just filled our water tank and put the hose away.

The sunset was beautiful tonight. Suppose to be "Red sky at night, Sailors delight" Hope that works with Motor homes. Besides that the moon was out as well. Sues cold is getting better. She started to find things to clean. I'll be in trouble soon. Really, I'm glad she is felling better.

Charlie is relaxing tonight. He had his Woffie and Sock. He likes it here. There are three weiner dogs on the left and to Scotties on the right. Tomorrow it will be on to Nevada.

Moab 56017, Beaver, Ut. 56259 Trip 242 Miles

Archers National Park

2009-10-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today it was Arches National Park. Sue would not let me take her picture as she has a cold, so I had to pose. This was outside of the visitors center. From there you drive up a twisty road and get to see all kinds of cool things. The drive is about 18 miles from the entrance to the campground at the end of the trail. There are some side trips to various points of interest.

One of the sights is "Three gossips" As you can see it looks like it must be three ladies. Now how could they name a pile of rocks like this "Three gossips" It is really amazing how these rocks have just been left this way.

A little up the road is the "Balanced Rock" The sign says that the rock on top weighs 3500 tons. If you look at the rock it looks like it has been cemented in place. But if you look at all the stuff around the area you see that there is a strip of I guess they would call it the layers of the past geological times that run at the same level. Still how does that thing stay up there.

Still further down the road is the stop off point to see "Delicate Arch" There is what they call a moderately strenuous walk of about 1.5 miles with a elevation climb of 500 feet. Had Sue have felt better, I'm sure she would have dragged me up the hill. So we took a picture from the view point. Actually it's a picture of a sign. Next time we will make the trip to the arch, :)

At the same parking lot was a old homestead site called "Wolfe Ranch". The story says that a fellow named Wolfe who was injured in the Civil War homesteaded there in 1800 or something. He built a small home in the rocks with a dirt floor. Family showed up a few years later and and convinced him to built a better home with a wooden floor. The new place might be 10 x 20 feet. They had a corral for cattle. They must have been very happy. Hard to imagine in this day in age.

I didn't take any pictures at the campground. I did enjoy driving thru it as this is the place Howard ad Linda of "RV Dreams" spent last spring. They are the ones on the left of my blog. I have been reading their blog for a long time. It was interesting seeing the campground that the talked about so much. Howard takes some really good pictures of the place they are at. Check them out at "RV Dreams"

On the way back down the drive we stopped at what they call "Windows" There were three or four archers in this area.

After we left the park we stopped at a new walking bridge over the Colorado River. Now we can say we walked across the Colorado River. It was a really nice bridge just for walking. The view was also very good.

After a full day we came back home. The guard dog was waiting for us. I had to go to the store for Chicken Noodle soup for Sue. Charlie suggested some flowers so we had a festive dinner of soup, crackers and flower. Charlie felt good. Sue was happy.

Moab, Utah and a bit of back and forth

2009-10-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

As I sort of expected yesterday didn't have much to talk about, We just traveled from Mountain Home to Springville, Utah. Stayed at a place called East Bay RV Resort. We stayed at the same place 2 years ago. Nice place just off the freeway. Charlie liked it because he got to go for a long walk. There was a nice black and white cat hunting across the drive. It was a really long drive (for me) yesterday 345 miles. Elaine thinks I'm a wimp. :) :)

We left there today on the way to Moab, Utah. The drive was kind of sneaky up. We ended up at the summit at 7500 feet. Then it was slow down to here, around 4500 feet. I told Sue we should have stopped and hit a golf ball up there. Most of the drive was just driving. Utah doesn't seem to have many rest stops. Charlie was upset. We finally pulled off at an exit and had lunch.

We got into the Moab area around 1:30. The reason we are here is to see Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, as well as what is in the area. The scenery changed a lot as we drove today. It went from kind of waste land to mountains and the red cliffs. It is really amazing how the geography changes as you drive.

As we were coming into the area we saw a RV place that looked OK. I thought it said cable TV. We were headed into Moab to another place so we kept going. Well that place looked bad so we went backwards about 7 miles. Well they didn't have cable so we went forwards back to Moab. Opps.... We got stuck in a cattle drive. Yes a Cattle Drive. Seems that they had a small bunch of Cattle that needed to get from Moab across the Colorado River. There is only one bridge, so they stooped traffic for a few minutes. You could tell that the cows crossed the bridge as they left, shall we say a sign.

Anyway after we got back to Moab again we found a really nice place called Spanish Trail RV Park, Three miles south of the McDonalds in Moab. Turns out this is a really nice place. Charlie likes it. Cable TV, good Internet and a nice view. So we are now hunkered in and watching TV. Sue has a cold so she is happy to sit. Well not really. I made the mistake of showing here Solitaire on line a few months back. Now I have to fight for the computer. Even Charlie felt sad. He doesn't know how to press the key board.

He was being a good dog and watching out for Sue.

So, tonight is TV and rest. Tomorrow we will do some exploring. This is suppose to be a beautiful area to check out. The town looks like a lot of fun too. Being Utah we have not yet seen an Osmond except on TV last Monday. Charlie is on the watch.

For the Blog record and those who don't know or those who have forgotten. If you see something like This in highlight, if you click on it it leads to something different, like the web sight of where we were at or going or something interesting. You never know, it might even be a bunch of gals working hard. Another thing, and I don't know how this works. If you double click on a picture, sometimes it gets bigger. I don't understand this one, just try it some times. Lastly at the end of the post is says comments. From what I hear you have to register to do that. I don't know but it is nice to know that someone reads this thing. On the right is says e-mail Joe or Sue. If you would like to say anything click there. Other wise just enjoy. I do every night I do this thing. Also never forget the Joe-isms. This is where you get a laugh because I can't speel.

Mountain Home 55452, Springville 55799, Moab 56017---Trip 1 347, Trip 218

Day Two and time changes

2009-10-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

We are now in Mountain Home, Idaho which is Mountain time. We are watching Jay Leno on TV at 9 PM here, which is really 8 PM yesterday where we watched Jay Leno at 10 PM. We don't know if we are tired or not. Charlie doesn't seem to care.

The day started at the Casino and ended in Mountain Home, Nothing special, just driving. My butt is getting into the routine. We have been from elevation 900 feet up to 4000 feet and back to about 1500 feet. Lots of ups and downs. We stoped at a few rest stops. Charlie loves rest stops. We can not mention the word too early or he gets excited.

We found a nice place here in Mountain Home call surprisingly Mountain Home RV Park. Fairly new. They even have the sewer pick ups where they should be. There is a Super Wal Mart right across the street and a McDonald's on the way to the freeway. We took a walk around the park, well they did it all and I did half. I went out to take a picture and found the guard dog doing his job. OK, it was a slow day and I'm trying my best to come up with something to talk about.

We cooked in tonight. Sue made Turkey burger and cube steak. Guess whose was whose. Cream style corn and salad. Charlie got smiles (nothing) as he had not eaten his dinner then. He has since. Sue wouldn't let me take her picture so I substituted. I was working hard at the cooking.

Tomorrow will be another day. We are headed just below Provo, Utah. Place called Springville. We stayed there a couple years ago. I'll try and find something to talk about.

Today's drive Pendelton 55192. Mountain Home 55452 Total 260 miles

The new adventure begins

2009-10-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well we finally got out of Dodge. I have been trying to leave since last Thursday. We made it this morning. 301 miles later we are at Wildhorse Casino and RV Park. The trip was uneventful except for my butt. It needs more time in the saddle. I will be getting it in the next few days. The plan is to make it to Moab, Utah by Sunday. That's 1080 miles from home. Then hopefully we will be able to slow down and see the sights.

Wildhores is a typical Casino. they have the RV park, a golf course, a hotel and of course the Casino. At least they have Keno. My good old RCR guys (Richard Childress Racing) paid off again. I think we broke even. Any time you break even it is good. The big surprise was as we walked in the door, who do we run into but Donna and Carol. Some Bothell housewives. Wow would think in the middle of nowhere. Naturally the girls got together for a quick drink while I sort of paced back and forth waiting to go back to the Motor Home. Casinos are nice except for the SMOKE. :( :(.

Carol, Sue and Donna

I love the way they design RV parks these days. This place is very nice but the just don't seem to get the idea where the sewer outlets are. I guess if we were a 5th wheel it would be good as the car is in the front. But with motor homes the car is in the back and that leaves the sewer stuff 25 feet away. Oh well. I guess the designing planning can be summed up with where they put a sprinkler head. If you note the picture the he is right where the wheels turn in to the parking spot. Good luck

Sewer outlet is in front of back wheel of Motor home and dump spot is next to rear wheel of the car

As you can see, Charlie is very concerned with all of this stuff. Actually I think he 1) wants something to eat, 2) wants to go outside or 3) just sitting there looking at my camera.

Home 54891, Wildhorse 55192. Trip 301

On a sad note, for those or you who knew me a few years back. Margie's mom passed away last week. Tony and Jeanne were there with her as well. It was planned surgery that just didn't come out well. Emma Jean was a really good mother in law for a long time. I will always miss Roy and Emma Jean. She will be missed dearly. Some pictures and notes can be seen at www.mountainviewtacoma.com, Emma Carpenter, and if you are a friend of Jeanne on Facebook she put up some very nice pictures as well. God bless and hugs to everyone.

Send off dinner

2009-10-20T16:50:00.001-07:00

It has been sort of a packing couple days. Peggy felt sorry for us last night and invited us over for dinner. This was good as most everything is in the motor home by now. It was also very nice of her and Karl. Here is Peggy "The hostess with the mostess"

Snuffy was sitting outside in the Autumn leaves. The leaves are really pretty right now.

Karl and Charlie are best friends. Karl would really like a puppy. :) :). Anyway thanks guys for a good dinner and being such good friends.

Arizona is calling

2009-10-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, Arizona is calling. I went outside this morning and it was raining again. Sue was up in Lynnwood and drove home in a rain storm. She said the wiper would not keep up. But at least the trees are pretty. Took this picture of the rain and the busy down spout.

We will be packing Snuffy this weekend and getting ready to leave. We plan on hitting the road Tuesday. I hope to go down thru Jackson, Wyoming and then thru Utah to Arches National Park. A couple stops in Nevada, like Laughlin and then on to Happy Trails. The weather will dictate which we go. Be happy to be out on the road again. Now I'll be able to put more stuff on the Blog. Charlie will be happy to be south as well. He even needed a rain hat to go outside today.

Last golf event for the season

2009-09-29T16:23:00.001-07:00

This was the last of our summer couples golf tournaments. The Wenatchee Golf and Country Club Champagne Couples event. Wenatchee is a very nice club located on the hill in Est Wenatchee. The front and back nines are a bit different. Thier greens are *^$&()&*&^% terrible, fast with breaks that are extreme. Local knowledge makes a whole lot of difference. Sue and I have done pretty well this year in these things. We have been in the money in the first 4. When we went to Moses Lake we said 3 out of four isn't bad and we ended up 4 for 4. So our saying this time was 4 out of 5 isn't bad. Well that's the way it ended up. We scored a zero. We played badly, but we had fun. Here are a couple shots of the course. One is Jim showing us the new seat on a tee box.

While we were playing on Friday with a nice couple from Meridian Valley in the practise round we encountered a red squirrel that was in distress. Maria has apparently raised abandoned squirrels so she picked it up and moved it over to a tree and gave him water. She felt he was dehydrated. Who knows, he was gone the next day.

We stayed this trip at the Wenatchee Confluence State Park. This is a Washington State Park. It sits on the point where the Wenatchee river meets the Columbia. (Confluence) This was a very nice park. We stayed in two sites because we messed up our reservations. The rangers were very nice and fixed everything in a very full park. First spot was the best as we overlooked the Columbia river.

The second site was very nice as well. All the sites in the park are big with lots of grass and room. Charlie had a ball getting to romp in the grass. Sunday after the tournament was over we went home and got some fire wood. After a laid back afternoon we lit a fire an got to smell like smoke. It's been a long time since we had a fire. It was very nice just sitting around and relaxing.

As you can see, there are three chairs out for the fire. I laughed at Glen and Janet Olson when we were at the ocean a couple years ago when they has chairs out for their two dogs. Well guess what. Now we have a chair for Charlie.

As I most always leave with Charlie. Here he is getting ready for the BIG trip. We are planning on leaving in mid October for the sun of Arizona. We are going to go down thru Wyoming and Utah to look at Jackson Hole and Arches National Park. I want to leave on the 15th but Sue wants to do a golf thing on the 21st. I'll probably loose. Just as long as we get to Phoenix in time for the races. It will be a fun winter. We will be home for Christmas then back south until the 1st of March. I'm getting excited and ready to go. I'll get to do a lot more blogging while we are gone.

Home 54539, Wenatchee 54560, Home 54864 Trip 325 Miles

WOOF

2009-09-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday was WOOF day. Herb and Phillis invited a bunch of us to their condo to watch the Huskies game. Most everyone thought the day would end in "Well they played Ok---but" Little did we know what was going to happen.

This was the watchers. Herb and Phillis with some help for June put together a great afternoon. The bar was good and the company great. We even had a special presentation to Ron Hindman for his "Hole in One" last week on #11. As one would expect Ron soaked up the attention. Herb said he has been apart of four foursomes that have had a hole in one. Congratulations Ron.

As the afternoon went on, everybody got more and more excited about the game. We had to be careful that when something good happened that no one got hurt with the jumping.

And then it happened the Huskies actually won. As can be noted by the picture below the fans went wild as did the crowd at the Breitenborns.

Afterwords every body had a good dinner. Sue and I had to split for home to meet Jeff and his new girl friend Trish. So they all got barbecued ribs and all sorts of other stuff. Here is Phillis our hostess with the mostess. Thank you Herb and Phillis for a wonderful afternoon.

From Tacos to Sagebrush

2009-09-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Things move fast at Twin Lakes. 1st it was Taco Tuesday, that was last week. You know the weekly gathering of the clan. Just a few pictures of sum of the bunch. The subject was somewhat the upcoming weekend at Moses Lake (which was last weekend)

We had a whole bunch of couples from Twin Lakes at the annual "Sagebrush Shootout" at the Moses Lake Golf Club. They do appreciate it that we get such a big turn out for their tournament. Some of that is most likely because of Frankie Stephens as she use to hang out there a lot. In fact Friday was her birthday as well as Cindy one of the golf pros. Got Cindy's picture but missed Frankie. Happy birthday both.

The Sagebrush shoot out is always a lot of fun. We get into the "Full meal Deal" That means we pay to get into Speed Golf, The Horse Race, Tournament hone pots and all the stuff. This year the full deal was $165 bucks. If you do well you can get quite a few bucks. Just ask Tom Nolan. The staff at Moses Lake Cindy and Mike do a great job and a lot of work to make this one of the better tournaments of the year. Thanks Guys. See you next year.

We had a gathering of a few inside on Friday night after speed golf. The outside deck was full. By the way we played 18 holes of golf in 16 minutes and 40 seconds. John Ward had the luck times. He got to buy a few drinks. Thanks John.

The horse race was as usual. Like 30 some teams all playing at once. As you can see it is a bit of a gang. You have to watch out for flying balls everywhere. I was trying to get out of someones way and almost got hit by John Ward. My pardner and I were eliminated after the first cut. Oh well there is always next year.

We stayed at Suncreast RV park again. There was us, the Baileys and The Rodias. The weather was good and we spent a lot of time out side. Charlie got into some thorny things and thought he was going to die. He survived. Mommy saved him. I held him down and got bit. Not bad, he was in turmoil. Poor puppy.

I didn't get all the results, but we did have some winners from Twin Lakes. Sue and I got a third in our division. I should have gotten more results. Anyway we had a good time. We got back today about noon. Our next trip is to Wenatchee for another tournament on the 26 and 27th. Then it will be getting ready for the trip south. I will get to do a lot more posting when we leave. Keeps me out of trouble. I leave you with the dog. Happy again.

Trip Home 54,173, Moses Lake 54,351, Home 54,529--Total 356

Back Home

2009-08-19T14:08:00.001-07:00

We are back home now. After our golfing weekend in the Tri Cities we went to Portland. We stayed at the Jantzen Beach RV Park on Hayden Island just across the boarder from Washington. They have a nice park with two pools and a lot of other stuff. We just spent the night.

The reason for the trip was I had to finish up looking at a boat that was nearing completion. Sue and I saw the boat last April when it was mostly just a hull. Now it is in the water and just about ready to head to Mexico. The owners/builders Chris and Bill Brees are really nice people. Bill showed me around and Chris gave Sue a tour. This boat is a power catamaran that is 62 feet long and about 20 feet wide. All aluminum construction. Twin 200 hp John Deer Diesel motors. Generator, water maker and a whole lot of other stuff. The plan to travel to Mexico for the winter and Alaska for the summer. Sounds like fun.

After working for a bit we went back to the RV Park and went for a swim. After dinner we went for a walk around the place down to the river. Jantzen Beach is a small community. The RV Park is a small part of it. Mostly it is an old style trailer park. They call them Park Models now. There are quite a few of the trailers that sit right on the river with a great view. It was interesting looking around as I remember living in a 10 x 50 trailer a long time ago. Sue, I and Charlie liked the walk. Charlie was in sniffing heaven. Tuesday we drove home and arrived about 1 PM. Next time out will be Moses Lake for another golf tournament.

Left August 12, 2009, Start 53562 Home. Arrived at Elensburg 53680, at Pasco 53792 at Jantzen Beach 53025 and back at Home 54169 on August 18, 2009 Total trip 607 Miles

A fun weekend

2009-08-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Another golfing weekend is past. Meadow Springs is a great place to play ad the members we have meant are really a nice bunch of folks. Saturday we played well but self destructed in the last 5 holes. We went from 6 under to 3 under. (#^#&%&$%@$&%&$#). We were lucky as a lot of the scores were high. We had Net 69 which put us in the top 10 of 37 players.

Sunday was another beautiful day with the temps around 85. We played with another couple from Meadow Springs. We did better and shot a net 65, which was enough to get a tie for 3rd net in our division. I guess this makes us 3 for 3 this year.

Amy and Jerry

Not that I want to rub in in, but we bet Baileys 5, 5, and 5. $5 for the first day, $5 for the second day and $5 overal. That's a total of $15 bucks if you win it all. I really wanted to stop at the store and get them a sympathise card as they had a bad weekend. Ken was a bit upset that they had to give us 7 strokes each day. (I'm the Twin Lakes Sandbagged now since the Club Championship), but as I said they had a bad weekend. Thanks for the money Ken. You can get it back next time. :) :) :)

They really do it up good here. Last nights dinner was ummie. They have a guy who sings and does a great show, specially for the folks from the 50s and 60s. The theme was Beach Party. Look at this really cool couple.

After golf they had everything set up for lunch a a bunch of drawings, awards and all that sort of stuff. We won 1st team Saturday and 2nd team today. Tie for third in our division Net. Dan and Mary Gleason sored good in 1st division as did All and Joanne Schriber (past Twin Lakers) won low net. Twin Lakes showed up well.

Back at the homestead we watched Tiger lose. We then sat in the shad of the awning and visited with Ken & Elaine. We talked about the tournament and I tried not to dissect every hole. We did talk a lot about dogs.

As with all event, Every thing must move on. Tomorrow we will move to Hyden Island in Portland where I have a bit of a job. (Ugg Work) Then we will be home Tuesday. As you can see Charlie has a lot of sympathy. Ha..Ha...

Another Golfing Adventure

2009-08-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

We are off. This was our normal stop in Ellensburg at the Days Inn. Sue was cooking after our trip to the pool and hot tub. Hot tub was nice but the pool was COLD. Oh well still an nice break in the road. We left Wednesday afternoon and stayed there. After a nice breakfast we were off to Richland.

This time its Meadow Springs in Richland, Washington. This is our fourth trip here. Meadow Springs is a very nice golf course. Greens are really fast and the rough is like wire. It really requires a rescue club to have any hope of getting out to the short stuff.

We are staying at Sandy Heights R.V. Resort, which is a KOA Park. The facility is nice with a lot of permanent residents. A little close to the freeway so it is a bit noise. It's a clean place and Charlie likes it, so all is well. About 10 minutes to the golf course.

We did a combination dinner last night with Ken and Elaine. We all brought steaks. Sue made a salad and Elaine did corn. Ken cooked the steaks. All was really good. It was really nice to just hang out and visit.

After dinner the girls walked Charlie and Ken and I did the dishes. We of course did a bang up job. Note the quality of the finished product.

We played our practice round today with Ken and Elaine. The weather was good. A bit overcast and around 77. That is very nice for around here. It's suppose to be in the mid 80s this weekend. That will be great. Last year it was in the mid to high 90s and that was hot. We have quite a few from Twin Lakes here. Besides us and the Baileys, there are also Dan and Mary Gleason, John and Linda Ward from Twin Lakes and also our friends Darrell and Moe are . suppose to be here. They play from Willow Run. After golf we had our customary trip to the bar.

New friends Mark and Joyce Garand and Kevin and Lilah Amos, all from Capitol City) followed us around the course. They also joined us after golf as well as at the Motor Homes later in the day. All in all a enjoyable day.

As we all know the family pet Charlie was back at home with his legs crossed. I wounder how one can cross four legs and still bounce in the air when he sees you. Anyway, he was glad we were home.

Tomorrow will be the tournament. We get to start with Mimosa or Screw Drivers. 8:30 Shotgun. Wish us luck.

2009-07-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

This was our annual weekend at Longview Golf and Country Club. Another couples Chapman tournament. For those who don't know what a Chapman tournament is, Well it's where we both tee off. For the second shot I hit Sues ball and she hits mine. We then pick the ball we want to play and finish the hole. Because the forward tees are moved up a long way, we hope Sue gets a great drive and I get a great second shot. I'll tell this weekend results a bit later.

The best thing about Longview is we park Snuffy right in front of the 10th tee box. Motor home is a bid down hill in the front, but it all works and camping is free. I bring the golf cart so that saves money, and our commute is about 30 seconds. This picture is the motor home with the tee in the back.

While we were there I tried to tackle the new digital TV stuff for the motor home antenna. I didn't do well and had to finish the job when we got back home. As you can see there are a lot of wires and they are somewhat of a mess. Took me two hours at home but I finally got it all straight.

Our friends Darrell and Mo, who were at Walla Walla as well joined us for some drinks Saturday evening. Darrell just loves to get Charlie railed up. Gets Charlie into his Whoo Whoo bark. Sort of like our neighbor Karl. They stayed for a while then moved to their hotel. We will be seeing them again at Meadow Springs next month.

The tournament format besides being a Chapman is a team event. There are three couples and "A" team (Low handicap) "B" team (Middle handicap) and "C" team (High handicap) We are the "C" team. Just love those 27 strokes. Our "A" team on the left were Jerry and Darline. They were a 6. The "B" Tim and Kathy middle (We played with the at Walla Walla too) were 18. Now the results. We didn't do too well as a teem on Saturday but we did much better Sunday. We pulled up to a third place team finish. $120/couple.

As to Sue and I. We did well both days. 63 net on Saturday and 61 net Sunday. We were 2nd net of the field. This left us 1st in our flight. So we got $100 there. It's nice to win once in a while. I don't think we won much last year, but so for this year we are two for two. All in all we had a great time. Our team members were a blast to play with. I especially liked the Birdie Bottle. If someone got a birdie the would break out the Birdie Bottle and every one had a shot. It was a mixture of Vodka and what ever was in the refrigerator.

As I noted being parked right behind the 10th tee box we got to see if the guard dog was doing his job. As you can see in the front window there he was guarding. I don't think he can see that far so I'm not sure if he recognized us. But he was doing his job.

Well know its back to work for a while untill Medow Springs. See ya all later.

Home 53339 and back home 53558 Trip 219 Miles

Weekend in Walla Walla

2009-06-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post a bit on the blog so everybody knows were are still around. So here goes. We just spent a nice weekend in Walla Walla playing golf in a Chapman Couples tournament at the Walla Walla Golf and Country Club. This is the fourth time we have played this tournament. Besides us there were Ken and Elaine Bailey, Marc and Deanne Olds, and Darrell Hunt and Maureen McFadden (They use to be at Twin Lakes) We stayed in Snuffy at the RV Resort Four Season again. Very nice place with all the hookups. As usual we commuted to the golf course in our golf cart. Passed a cop this year and he didn't pull me over.

We did well it turns out. We had a 64 net on Saturday with a 71 on Sunday. The weather Sunday was bad. Even bad by Seattle standards. 50 degrees wind and rain. The whole field did bad which saved us. We ended up with a second low net in our division. Ken and Elaine got 1st Gross. Didn't see what the others had. Also we made the Saturday paper in Walla Walla. The Walla Walla Union Bulletin Darrel and Mo are in there too. All in all it was a good weekend. Next up is Longview in about 3 weeks.

Home 52748 and Back home 53112 Trip 364

A wedding Viedo

2009-06-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Tony's friend Matt put this video together. Tony has sent this to some folks, but this if for my blog followers. I really looks cool. they are back from Hawaii. Sounds like they had a great honeymoon. Chick Here. The Video

Hasn't been much blog stuff lately. Going to Walla Walla this weekend for a golf tournament. Post a little of that next week.