January 21, 2019 Monday

Lela has gone to a quilt show at the clubhouse this morning, so I thought I would catch up on this blog. I'll pick up on last Wednesday.

Wednesday I had my regular golf league.  As well as I played last week, that is how poorly I played this week. (For those keeping score: 42/48 for 90). The league has been moved to Friday this week as there is a scheduling conflict with the course.

In the evening we attended the bible study at Desert Sands C of C.

Thursday was a day at home to patch and repair a few things.  We had discovered some water under the kitchen sink so I addressed that by tightening the sprayer hose which had loosened from use.

I also had an electrical problem.  I had added some patio lights to our existing lights.  When they came on, the outdoor GFI blew and even after resetting it would blow again. I had an electrician scheduled to come on Monday, but the neighbors told me to ty replacing the GFI as they suspected it was broken.  I did that and everything is operating as advertised.  Good advice  saved a bunch of $$$.

Friday we ventured up to Apache Junction to the Mesa Market Place Swap Meet. https://mesamarket.com/  It is quite a place, four hallways about one quarter mile each with vendors on both sides. We arrived at 10:30 and left at about 4:00 with our goodies in tow.

Saturday was the church folk's scheduled hike into the Superstition Mountains.  They had chosen the same trail I was on previously in October, the Petroglyph Trail, also known as the Hieroglyphic Trail. Lela had decided to go with us this time.  She had her struggles but accomplished the goal. We will be shopping for some hiking boots for Lela before we hike again. We had a great time as a group of about twenty husbands and wives, singles and kids shared the day.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/superstition-mountains/hieroglyphic-trail.html
If you go to that site, there is a description and photos of the trail.

We had expected to attend a hot dog roast in the park that afternoon but decided we were too pooped to pop.  It was definitely couch time.

Sunday morning found us at Desert Sands Church of Christ as is our usual habit. We had a guest preacher whose wife attended Harding College at the same time in the same dorm where Lela was back in the 60's - small world.

Last night we tried to watch the Full Wolf Super Moon (Blood Moon), which also as a full eclipse.  The clouds were not friendly as it was difficult to see.

So today I have a couple minor repairs and fixes to accomplish, but we have nothing scheduled.  Our weather is sunny but chilly by AZ standards.  Our family at home is dealing with winter temperatures in the teens.  We are happy to be where we are.

Here are some pictures from the week.

Trailhead

Some of our folks

Lela and Kevin 

Balancing Rock (at top center)

Petroglyphs

 

A view from below the pool and waterfall

longshot of petroglyph's wall

Petroglyphs

G'pa

 

An Arizona sunset last week

 

January 15,2019 Tuesday

As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Barleens Dinner Theater on Thursday evening.

G'pa and Lela

I should have had my eyes opened.

 

  Ross and Laura took us as their guests.  We had a great time as the food was good and the entertainers were very talented.

 

They are mostly all Barleens family members.  One of them was a backup for the Righteous Brothers. He sang everything from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to the Righteous Brothers. We saw some amazing instrumentals, particularly guitar solos. 
https://www.barleensdinnershow.com/

Friday, I added some outside lighting on both sides of the ranch.  Evidently it was more than the circuit could handle and blew the GFI on that line.  Now the circuit won't even handle the original lighting.  I have a call into "I know a guy" who is a master electrician, to come and trouble shoot the situation.

Saturday, we had a Buddy Holly tribute guy entertain us in the park's clubhouse.

Lighting was poor.

 

  Selena, next door, had some tickets she couldn't use so I bought them from her and we went.  The first half of the show was a very good history of Holly's roots and how he came to write the music he did and who were the big influences of his time.  Did you know that on the tour in which his plane crashed and he died, Merle Haggard was his base player?

The second half was all the great music we remember.  It was a really fun night.

Sunday took us to church at Desert Sands Church of Christ.  We had a very good and uplifting worship service.  There are several very good and knowledgeable men there to lead our service. We had lunch out at Panda Express on the way home.

Sunday was also Nicolas' birthday.  Since his family has all been sick, as we have, his celebration has been pushed off until next Sunday

Monday was a Walmart day.  We needed some essentials and we needed to get out for a little while.

Today, we are just "chillin" and watching movies.  I don't think there is anything planned today.  There is rain to our western counties and snow for the mountains to the north.  as a result we have a cool breeze and low 60's today.

We watched the channel 2 news from STL on a phone app I have.  We watched the snow pile up and worried that everyone at home would be safe.  We are happy to be watching from afar.

Gen and Ana making snow angels

Snow Bunny Ana

 

Another snow angel Ana

 

Ana, Rosie and Jared

Thanks to Gen for watching the house and shoveling the driveway.

Ana building snowman she named Olaf while Gen shoveled

 

 

Here are a few of the quail that inhabit our back yard and fence.



 

 

January 10, 2019 Thursday

Thursday Jan. 3 was Patrick's birthday.  We celebrated at home as it was raining very hard and was pretty uncomfortable weather to venture out.

We left Noel's house on Friday the fourth about ten o'clock and drove about nine hours to Van Horn, TX where we stayed at Holiday Inn Express. I don't enjoy driving at night as I can't enjoy the scenery.

Saturday afternoon we arrived at the "ranch." We were looking forward to seeing all our friends here but were delayed in that as we both were nursing head colds. We took a couple days until we were feeling better before venturing out in public.

On Monday I took the grocery list and filled it.  We had gotten by pretty well for a few days with the stores we left here in October, but they were pretty much depleted of necessities.

Tuesday was  good day and Lela and I began visiting with our friends.  We got all the "dirt" on everyone and everything.  It was a warm day so I began with the outdoor cleanup.  You can't imagine the amount of dirt that builds up here in just a few months.

Wednesday was golf for me.  The weather in the A M is quite cool, but it warms up quickly.  I am finally in shorts and tee shirts.  The weather has been a little on the cool side as we have had rain and clouds for a good part of our time here.
 
Today is a day of reorganization inside beginning with the Tupperware cabinet. Lela will be worn out this evening after going up and down the kitchen ladder many times.

We will be with Ross and Laura this evening as they are treating us to a dinner show at Barleen's dinner show theater. It is a popular showplace in Apache Junction. 

The Barleens cast will perform a variety of music including country, rock and roll, blues, boogie woogie, big band, and gospel. You’ll recognize your favorite songs and be amazed with our masterful musicians!
https://www.barleensdinnershow.com/

H. E. and Lela

Noel on New Year's Eve

 

Noel Drew and Lela

Shelby Nicole, Noel Drew and Lela

 

 

Watching fireworks New Year's Eve

 

One of our friends waiting for our return.

resident Roadrunner

 

Remember our lemon tree?

This is what it looked like in October.

We were anticipating eating our own lemons when we came back.

When we got here there wasn't one lemon left.

January 2, 2019  Wednesday

I am posting from my phone today without internet, so I’m not posting any pictures in this entry.

We left home on Thursday in rain and wind, headed to the Dallas TX suburbs to visit with Lela’s brother H. He is in poor health and battling cancer. Of course Lela did some cleaning and laundry and cooking for him while we were there. H’s son Edward and his family were away in Virginia for the holidays and we were invited to use their home while we were there. We are very appreciative of their generosity.

Sunday afternoon we headed to Dobbin TX to see Noel and her family.  Again we found rain on our travels. It seems that when we go to TX we always bring the rain.

We rang in the new year with more food and snacks than we could ever eat. We watched Mizzou blow the Liberty Bowl with terrible play calling in the closing seconds of the game. There were also fireworks involved in our celebration.

On New Year’s Day it was wall to wall football games, capped off by an unlikely win by Texas over the fifth ranked Georgia team. Again we feasted on ham, black eyed peas and cabbage, as is the traditional new year meal.

Today, Patrick went to work, Shelby went to work and we are hanging out with Noel and watching it rain.  After today the forecast is for clearing.

We are unsure of when we head to AZ, but one day this weekend.