BOXING DAY

There is not a Boxing Day in the US but we will pretend that there is and go see if any sales are on in town. I am told that their sales do not start until January sometime......
Yesterday, Christmas was a very quiet day as we did a few things in the house in the morning and then both fell asleep in out recliners for part of the afternoon. We were going to cook nice steaks for supper but then decided that we would go out for supper. I did not think many places would be open but I had heard that a place called JB's was having a turkey buffet for Christmas dinner. We got dressed and headed into town. We saw a few places like Denny's that were open and when we got to JB's we found that they were closed as the meal was at the noon time not supper time.
We thought we would drive out of town to the Franscisco Grande Hotel and see if they were open for supper. The dining room had a reserved large party there but they were serving supper in the bar.
There were only about 3 other tables with people at but we knew the food was great so we stayed.
This is the Legends bar is where John Wayne spent a lot of time, as well as a lot of legendary ball players. The room has a lot of things on display like saddles, ropes, boots and pictures, all that belonged to the Duke
You will see on the wall behind us a giant painting of John Wayne.
The meal was terrific and Harvey said his prime rib was even better than  the Beef Eater in Medicine Hat.
We did not get turkey but we also did not have snow this Christmas and all remains well.

LEGENDS Bar

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This morning as I sit looking out at the desert garden and seeing nothing but sand and cactus and an occasional palm tree, I vision each of our loved ones as they sit in their warm homes and look out at the white snow. I feel very blessed that we were able to escape the severe cold of Sask once more but also know that it is our real home and it is what makes us all strong. Spring will arrive here in the desert about March with a burst of flowers which only last a few days before the extreme heat takes over. But at home, spring peaks out a few times before it too bursts forth with a green indescribable. And it lasts 4 or 5 months.....  So as you look at the pristine white, remember what comes in a few months....

Today we will sit out on the deck and enjoy the sun, maybe watch a movie and then have steak for supper. Or we may go into town to a buffet place that is serving Christmas dinner.....we are not sure what we will do.  Many of the people in the park are getting together in small and large groups and with friends from other parks. We have been invited to some but are just staying put today but maybe go walking for a bit this afternoon.
I do not think we will be back another winter so we want to soak in the Christmas rays to store in our memories for the winters ahead.

We also will do a bit more preparation for the arrival of Shannon, Rachel and Celine day after tomorrow. They will not arrive until 9:30 at night  but will be here for the week.  It will be fun to have family here as we did last winter to break some of the tediousness of old folks lol

If you are reading this, you must be having a boring Christmas like us, but I wish you a Merry Christmas any way.
Sometimes boring is good!

HEAVEN

Yesterday we did a little drive around the park, just looking at places and doing a couple of drop offs and pickups..... I dropped off a pkg of Lefsa to our landlord whose wife is from Sweden but is not able to cook any more. I also had to borrow a prop I needed for the play from another place.  On our way home what did we spy, but a big yellow truck going around the corner and on the side it said SCHWAN'S.... Now that was even better than spying Santa and his reindeer on a rooftop on Christmas eve.  Yes Schwans is still alive and well in the US and everything looks as delicious as it was years ago when our dear Andy Corney used to sell out at the lake....and for those who know.....yes they still sell "pushups"
We hurried after him and got times and dates he is in the park and hurried home to place our order for a few appetizers etc.....We just have the small top of the fridge as a freezer so we were limited in what we could buy but we did get it all in so now no room for the baking I was going to do today.
I wonder how we did not see him last year....we were here two months....?.
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I do think we are missing something for Christmas just a little bit......This is not even cute.....
Snowmen made from tumble weeds just don't have the same effect do they?

A SUNNY SATURDAY

It is a very nice day in Arizona today..... The first day where we went into town to buy more bag chairs for happy hour outside, and we only had on T shirts and shorts and capri's  Back home to sit in the sun on the back deck until it got too hot on my face and so we went for a walk in the Deserts Gardens behind our house...... I had on sandals and of course was not watching where I was walking and a Jumping Cactus stuck into my shoe and toe.....I thought I could pull it out if I was very careful but that only made my finger bleed.... The next door neighbour saw me and came to my aid with a big pair of "pick up sticks or tongs"  He gently grabbed the little bugger and pulled it out of my foot.  

Then we were off to happy hour across the street to meet new people. Gosh we just found out you do not have to take wine to happy hour, they all had ice tea and it seemed to work well.  NOW what do we do with all the bottles of wine?  We just keep learning.......

Oh the sun is hot!

Jumping cactus plant and the little one who attacked me.



Back in the house in my chair looking at Harvey in the kitchen and the dining room

THURSDAY NEWS ON FRIDAY

None

Yesterday was quite boring.....
-- I did get my first pedicure of the season and I got sparkly nail polish to be festive.....
--Shopped for a few more things for the house
--Made cheese sausage balls for the wine and cheese at 4 pm
   ( I had bought a new cookie sheet but did not measure the oven and so the pan was too big and I    had to cook it on an angle..up on one end )
We also are having a problem with the smoke alarms going off every time I cook anything. If we put the microwave fan on high it will suck up some of the heat but even then, when ever I opened the oven to drain off the grease on the tipped end of the pan, off would go the alarms....Then, of all things the microwave just quit...We thought we had tripped a breaker but flipping that did nothing. After about a half an hour the microwave came to life again....It must shut itself off if it over heats I guess.
-- off to the wine and cheese party to sit by ourselves at a table as everyone else were in groups...
    but the wine was good and the snacks were fabulous....
--  back home to spend the evening watching TV and playing on our puters.....

Have you ever thought: 
  

If it were the other way around, would that one cat take in 80 little old ladies.

3-D FOR SENIORS

Our park calendar for Wednesday was pretty empty, so while at the mall, we stopped at the Multi Plex theatre to see what shows were running for the evening...We decided to go to Life of Pi at 7:20....
We returned home and while having some appetizers and wine, the owner of the house we are renting, arrived at our door and asked if he could show the house as he had someone interested in buying it.
We agreed and then hoped they would not want to buy it and move in right away...... We have nothing in writing that states, we get to stay for the 3 months even if it is sold....

At 6:30 we headed into town to go to the movie theatre. At this time I must tell you that we have not attended a movie in a decade so were a little naive.
First the cost...Harvey said 2 for Life of Pi please.....  I then piped in ....we are seniors.....and he said Ok  that will be $9.00 each or $18.00. .... Wow the prices have sure gone up. As we were walking around to going the door, ..it said on the wall behind the counter Life of Pi - Adult $8.50.....so my thinking is they charge more for seniors as we tend to spill more popcorn on the floor.....
We were then handed 2 pair of sun glasses..... which in a moment or two I realized they must be 3-D....Yippee....our first movie in a decade  and we get to see 3-D....The last 3-D glasses I had were those little paper ones that were red and green thin film.  

But first, we just had to have popcorn and a drink..... Surprise #2 
We ordered the medium popcorn and a large drink to share between us.  Harvey also wanted some chocolate....They did not have bars but boxes of chocolate only which were $4.00
They pulled out our cup for our large drink and we both yelled NO! It was about the size of a 2 liter bottle.....We said oh that is way too much give us a smaller one, to which she started filling the smaller one which was huge again....We figured if we drank all of that we would miss most of the show by being in the bathroom.  Then came the popcorn.......It took Harvey two hands to carry it..... The total cost for a drink, popcorn and chocolate...was $15.00  
$33.00 to go see a show .......

We then went into the theatre and got seated....the promos were already running and there was a total of 7 couples in the theatre....We certainly had a pick of the best seats in the theatre. No wonder it was empty.....$33.00 for a couple....That is 4 months of Netflix on my laptop...ha ha
Up on the screen finally popped a notice to "Please put on your 3-D glasses."
My first question, Do they go over our glasses? or do we take off our glasses.?
I put them over my glasses and it was pretty blurry... I took off my glasses and it was pretty blurry......I took off all glasses and it was pretty blurry..... I then repeated that a few times....to no better a view. I then even put my glasses over the 3D glasses....Nope!!!
The one lens was ok but the other one was black and very blurry....
So we watched awhile with one eye closed....I continued to complain to Harvey that this was not right.....People really like 3D......I am sure they can see the movie better than this.....Harvey kept reassuring me that when the main feature started it would get better.....Of course he is the ultimate optimist. 
Now the main feature started and after a few mins the man in front of us got up and went out, then a lady behind us yelled out...."Can anybody else see the screen properly" To which we all yelled NO
Soon the man returned with a worker who said we had a bad batch of glasses and they would get us new ones....We waited a few mins and more people went out.  Then 2 more workers came in and announced it was not the glasses but the projector and they would have it fixed soon.....So now we have missed the first 10 mins of the show....well, we had seen it one-eyed I guess.
Then it all cleared and we had our first wonderful look at proper 3D......It was fabulous.....

The Life of Pi was a great show, truly amazing on how they made it with the animals, and as we were leaving, they presented us, for our discomfort, a coupon for a free med popcorn next time......
Yippee more giant popcorn......to spill on the floor ........

Comment Section

If you wish to leave a comment at any time on my blog that is great but not expected....
To do so, you can just click on Select Profile and then click on Name/Url and on that line just type your name.....You do not need to use the Url ......
That is all I did to reply ......I am not sure why they make it so difficult.

WHAT'S WITH THE RAIN

We have been here 5 days and 3 of those have had rain....It poured again last night and even leaked into our place. All the time we were here last year saw a total of 20 mins of rain.
It is quite cool today and only to get up to 12 . At that temperature the Arizonians put on down filled jackets and warm gloves and a lot are wearing ear muffs ha ha
But tonight it says it is to hit minus 3.....Did we not leave Canada? What is with this coolness?

Yesterday saw Harvey playing pool again in the tournament and I went to town to shop for more of the necessities that we need. Every time I go to make something or do something I am missing something!
A couple of nights ago I tried to make a meatloaf and I had all the ingredients I needed.  I opened the Styrofoam package to take out the hamburger and then realized I did not have a  mixing bowl to mix it up. I proceeded to mix the meat, egg, onions, ketchup, mushrooms and milk together in the Styrofoam container. Thank goodness for the Dollar stores and the thrift stores.

Play practice again last night where I feel very lost not knowing how they do things here....It looks like a lot of things are done different than SCLT so I will just keep my mouth shut and listen.....Now I know you are laughing as you think ..."Cheryl ...do that???"  Well I will try my best.....Lots of great people involved so it will all fall in place soon.

I will soon find time to do some Christmas baking but first I need to make a dish for the Thurs 4pm Wine and Cheese Happy Hour and then to make a dish to take to the Pot Luck Christmas supper and party.
Oh yes I had better go to town and get more wine....I am not sure how it disappears around here......
Somehow at home I can buy wine and 6 months later it is still there, but here there must be a wine sucking road runner getting into our pantry.

TUESDAY VIEW

First I will comment on play practice on Sunday night.... It was quite interesting watching old people trying to learn their lines.....Some are needing a lot of help....and I will do what I can to help..... I did read the lines for one person that was late and then just listened and watched to get a feeling for how things work.  I will try to keep my mouth shut as much as I can lol and not step in where others are in charge.
Monday saw Harvey head to play pool by 8:40 and he did make it to the league shoot today which starts at 12:30 and includes 12 games I hope his wrist and back will hold up for that much play.
I went to wash clothes in the morning and in the afternoon off to town to get a router as our Internet antenna and hookup was being put into the house in the afternoon.
We are now all hooked up so hopefully this year we will not shut down all the time.

Last evening we walked to a lively game of Card Bingo  Harvey and I each won one of the games. It cost us each $5.00 to play 20 games and we each won $2.70 ha ha   Ohhh ..seniors have so much fun.
We played with Marg and Henry Dyck   This is the same couple who we sat with at the Sundae Social on Sunday...  It was their first year here and while eating ice cream we asked ...Where are you from? Henry said Canada,,,,,I said Yes we know Canada but where? He replied Saskatchewan. I said Yes we know Saskatchewan but where to which they replied Maple Creek....Small world....They also have relatives in SC  Deanna Peters (Bill) is Henry's sister.
.....and so the end of another non-exciting day in la la land....
I told you it would be boring this year but if you stay tuned I am sure something might happen  that is exciting.....well maybe ...

SUNDAY MORNING SUN

It is a beautiful sunny morning finally in Sunscape and no rain, so we now remember why we come here.  Harvey went out onto the front deck and said  "Yippee , no snow to shovel"
But first, back to yesterday
I was up early and off to my favourite store "In a Pear Tree".....They have moved into a bigger place and sell lots of wonderful and weird things  made by crafters and artists in the area..... Everything from paintings, jewellery, refurbished old wood furniture, clothes, shoes, purses etc etc ....
I could spend hours just browsing until I find the right things for me..... It is like going to Etc Etc at home and buying something for your home that you do not need but want.... Here you buy something for your self that you do not need but want ,,,,,,
I then went next door to the bead store and will sign up for some basic beading classes in the new year.
After another stop at the Thrift store where I picked up 10 things to use to decorate for Christmas all for $17 and a few more stores to get a toaster ($9.99), a door mat , and some sparkly things to tie onto our railing to be Christmasy like the rest of the park... I headed home and Harvey had swept, dusted and wet wiped all the floors in the house .Already it smells better.

Last night in the pouring rain we drove over to the club house to play Texas Holdum Poker . There were about 24 players where each put in $10 and at the end there is are prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
Some also bring things to eat and there was a good selection last night of sausage, hot appetizers, chips and dip (ours) and cakes and slices....
I lasted about 1.5 hours and Harvey made it to the end to win 2nd prize   He won $52 but mostly had lots of fun with some great hands....

Now as the sun is shining and it is 11 am we should get out in the sun and get some decorating done  before it is 2 pm and time for the "Sundaes on Sunday"   Like Harvey just said, "Do we really need ice cream?" and I said no but a good time to reconnect with  some friends from last year.

Then tonight is my first play practice....I am not sure what the duties they have assigned me but both the director and the producer want my help and I do have a small part with only 17 lines.. Mrs Jobe Fenney......
Now I am sure a theatre production in a senior park is waaaayyyyy different to work with when most are in the 70's than the youngins I had to deal with in Swift Current Little Theatre, so my postings on this area my be interesting..... I know there are 13 year old female triplets played by golden oldies so let the stories begin ........

ARRIVAL DAY

We left Mesquite at 9 am and headed to Las Vegas.....The weather was beautiful and as we travelled south the temperatures kept rising. The drive through Vegas on the 4-6 lanes of wild drivers was a bit hair raising but we stayed in the middle lane, kept the 75 MPH speed and gritted our teeth.  The good old GPS was so good to tell us when to stay in what lane and where we would be merging etc.  Last time we came home through the same way, the GPS took us on a residential bypass which was much less stressful but not as fast.... We drove 8 hours again and arrived at Sunscape at 4 pm to 21 C degrees.  We registered at the Welcome centre and as our land lord works there he was able to get us to our place and showed us around.  The furniture is better but no storage at all. very small kitchen, and many things we thought would be here are not.  No waste baskets in any rooms, no door mats, no toaster, a less than efficient coffee maker, no plug for the tub, (not really a tub, more a sitz bath), walls very dusty and some things need a really good cleaning.  So today we get busy.

We we very tired after unloading the car and getting things put away for now....but finally at 7pm we headed to town and to Walmart to get some groceries and then had a hamburger at the McDonalds in Walmart as we were to tired to go to a restaurant.  We were heading out when Harvey remembered that we needed clothes hangers. (Not a single one in the house)  So he stayed with the cart and I went and got a few packages of them...Out to the car to find out it was pouring rain....So much fun with glaring lights, shiny reflective roads and lots of traffic. Harvey could not tell where the lanes were and nearly got sideswiped.... Our place is 5 miles straight out from town and once on the rural road it was a bit better but immediately sirens started and we were passed by a fire truck, 3 police cars, and an ambulance heading out our way. Oh dear I thought, .....I had just plugged in my Scentsy air freshener and left it warming....Maybe it started a fire and our house was gone....lol   But in about 3 miles the lights were flashing like Vegas and another ambulance and 2 more police cars passed us . Obviously a bad accident. ( I was so glad we had gone back for the hangers or maybe it would have been us.)  There was a bus ahead of us and 4 more cars and we all were stopped. We waited for about 15 mins and then a few vehicles started turning around and going back to town.....Now we were determined to stay there all night as Harvey was not about to try to turn around and try to find a detour to our place in the dark, in the pouring rain on some unlit rural roads of Arizona.  Well soon police descended on us and told us we would have to turn around as it may be a few hours till the road would open as there were many patients to transport. We told them we had no idea how to get to Sunscape any other way but he assured that the roads were good and we should be able to go back a mile and then 2 or 3 miles north and east and back down the 11 mile corner road.  We headed off and worked our way down the roads in the pouring rain, trying to see where to turn with old eyes on unlit roads. At this point I realized my phone was dead as well...... The speed limit on the (did I say dark and scary) roads was 35 mph so that was good, We also realized that others were following us by now so we kept going and finally made it home....
The house smelt good from the hot air freshener.....lol

We were now energized again so continued to unpack , make our bed etc and finally collapse into our big leather recliners for an hour.   But we were too tired for a glass of wine ......
To bed finally to listen to the pouring rain and up at 7:30 to still have it raining. 
I look out into the Desert Gardens behind us to think how happy all those cactus must be to finally get a drink again.
I hope today we hear what happened at that accident but don't have any idea what radio station to listen to or where I would find it on the net......

TIME TO DITCH THE WINTER COAT

We put in another 8 hour driving day yesterday as the roads were perfect and the weather was great as well. We arrived in Mesquite NV to 15 degree weather.....quite nice.... Oh that is plus by the way for those back home.
We chose to stay in a resort hotel that is part of a large casino even though we knew the price would probably double.....nope ...got this one for $52 plus tax..... 
We had a nice buffet supper and played slots for an hour or so.....Harvey lost his amount and I doubled mine so still even ..........
Back to our room lovely room at 7, 8 or 9 pm.  You chose the time.
My computer said 9 pm as it is still on Lake time
My watch is on yesterday time and said 8pm
and my phone which changes to local time said 7 pm
It will be nice to get on one time and settle in to it.

Neither one of us slept very well as we had consumed caffeinated coke before bed and the room was very warm. The bed was so comfortable but the down filled blanket was too warm.....Throw that all together with beautiful white soft sheets that had obviously been in too much bleach and my chlorine allergy went into high gear....After scratching for too long I got up at 2 or 3 or 4 ??? to find my body covered in red blotches and welts that looked like blisters..... I have had this before in the summer time when exposed to chlorine but this one was a doozie .... After pacing the room for an hour, scratching arms, legs, chest and back (with Harvey's bristle hair brush) , I finally remembered I had packed Benydril and took one.....It is now starting to subside

and so the drama in my life goes on......

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We left the lake at noon on Tues the 11th of Dec and after picking up a few last min items in Swift, we headed west to Coaldale, Ab and spent the night at my sister in law Vel's home. We had planned to go out for supper but she had a wonderful roast beef supper ready for us. It was delicious and the best was the mashed turnips. I learned her secret was she boils the turnips in water that has brown sugar in it.....Ah a new trick to add to my menus....
After a good nights sleep we were up and on the road by 9 am. We always wait for light to start our trips ( its and old people thing).  We travelled 8 hours and only had one quick stop for gas and a map....So hard when one can not access maps on phone or computer unless in WiFi range , so a map is helpful. 
Along the way I realized I had left the plug in end for my phone, in the wall at Vel's house but I still could plug into car so not all was lost.

The roads were terrific and only one tiny spot with a bit of drifting from the high winds in the mountains. We always worry about the Modina Pass in the winter but all was brown and dry....How lucky for us.  We then drove to Idaho Falls and stayed at a neat little motel called Motel West off exit 118 . Now we usually stay at hotels that cost more but I had read good reviews about this place and we had a nice clean room, with our overloaded car parked right in front of our door....( Karen....No alarms went off in the car so no need for Dad to hit the panic button.)
We only paid $48 and a little cafe right with it that served our needs fine.
Gas is running about .85 a liter when converted from gallons so that helps the budget as well.

Today sees us on the road in an hour again and we will try to get to Mesquite Nevada

See I told you this blog will be boring .....well maybe the days ahead might find some excitement but don't count on it ....lol

COUNTDOWN BEGINS

We hope to start our trek south to Arizona in a few days  if the weather is on our side.  We will not drive if it is snowing, blowing, foggy, icy, or night time, so that leaves very little options when winter time in Sask, Montana and Idaho. We will give ourselves lots of time to get to our place at Sunscape just outside Casa Grande. We have possession of the park model we are renting on Dec 15th. Our phone will be hooked up and the Internet connection installed and ready for us. Hopefully with our own Internet hookup we will have a less stressful time with our favourite pass time. Last year we went south of Winnipeg and down through a lot of different states.  This year we will go the usual way .....south of Taber and through Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and cross over to Arizona.

Today we finished packing all the things we take to make the place our own . We are in a different park model that is just around the corner from where we stayed last year. This one is for sale as was the one last year so it is fairly bare and I need to Nybofy it.  And of course as we are there before Christmas, we will put up some lights and a few decorations. This place faces East so we will get more sun on the front deck and as well it backs on to the Desert Gardens which are beautiful.
We are planning on some company again this winter so we will put up the blow up beds in the living room. The living room addition is larger than the one last year so lots of room for sleeping.


But before we leave we will have our Christmas with Karen, Ken, Aiden and Mya this weekend and open our gifts and enjoy some turkey.  Then Shannon, Rachel and Celine will fly down on the 27th and we will have Christmas with them.  On the 25th we will have a quiet day by ourselves or share in anything going on at the park.

ANOTHER BLOG OR NOT? THAT is the question!

I have had a few people ask if I am doing a blog again this winter  and I said "no".  I figured that last year's got boring for the readers after awhile and became a tedious job for me as I struggled with Wi Fi that was anything but reliable.
I also don't think much more can be written than what was shared last year... as life in a senior RV park is not the most exciting place on earth. It is not Disneyland, it is not Tahiti,,,it is just a lot of cactus, sand and old people. But it is warm, we are busy, and we have met a lot of nice people.
I have started this and I will try for a month to see if anything worth writing shows up.....
Perhaps once we arrive in Casa Grande I will only write a couple of times a week instead of everyday......but we will wait and see. 
So sit back and share your winter with us as we do what we always said we would never do....be a snow bird.
Our hope for those in the snow belt of Sask,.... we hope you have lots of snow but nice temperatures to enjoy the winter splendor.