Thursday, January 31, 2008

Today is another sunny day in Arizona. Bruce, Janet, 65 park residents and I are going to Shamrock Farms this afternoon for a tour of a 10,000 cow dairy operation. I'll bet we are going to smell what goes with 10,000 cows as well! Tuesday was Cathy's birthday so we went to Picacho Open Pit BBQ for dinner. YUM! Earlier in the day, Donna, Janet and I went to Queen Creek Olive Mill to get some more olives and olive oil. Janet shipped a box home and Donn and I loaded the VW. Back to BBQ. We had steaks that were great. It's a little place right inside the front gate of a 70 site RV park. It reminded me of a the lobster pounds up in the NE but without the lobsters. Not much atmosphere but great food. When we got back to the RV we invited several others over to join us for dessert. Cathy had brought a big chcocolate cake home from Sam's. Shirley Witcher (a park resident) had baked Bruce a homemade lemon pie. I had baked cup cakes. We obviously had way too much dessert for 7 people so we called in recruits. The 13 of us got really cozy in our RV and ate as much as we could. Wednesday Bruce got up early and went to Casa Grande hospital to see Uncle Roger. He was admitted the day before with chest pain so Bruce wanted to go see how he was doing for himself. Janet and I went to the hospital later in the morning. Uncle Roger was feeling ok and was waiting for his 4:00 p.m. stress test. We visited for a little while and then someone came to help him with a shower. We took the que and took Aunt Delores to the Creative Cafe for a delicious lunch. After lunch Aunt Delores went back to the hospital and Janet and I went shopping for the park's craft fair luncheon on Saturday. Oh joy!! After Bruce got off work, Bruce, Janet and I went to Vince and Shirley's for a visit. Shirley made us baby back ribs that were just to-die-for. We overate AGAIN!! Bruce has been working in the office all week. He's got some things he would like to accomplish before he leave Saturday morning but time is flying by quickly. I need a few lessons on things with the RV that I have to do in his absence. YUK! I think we are both still in shock over what is about to happen to our life. Another chapter and another adventure!!

Monday, January 28, 2008

A few days have past and I haven't taken time to post a blog but here I am. Friday I spent the majority of the day working on my job application. YUK!! Friday evening we hosted our first fish fry at Quail Run. We had contracted with someone else to do the cooking. All was well until their burners wouldn't work properly. The food was great and but they finished cooking about 1 1/2 hours after they were scheduled to finish. Several of the residents brought wine to help them pass the time while they waited for their food. That helped! We got the room cleaned up and ended our work day about 9:00 Friday night. Saturday morning we both went to the office briefly but quickly left the office. We went to Phoenix and did a little personal shopping before we picked our friend Janet Nieto up from the airport. We stopped and had a bite to eat on the way home and went directly to the concert. Dave and Daphne played at the park Saturday night. Dave was the lead guitarist for the Doorights (Barbara Mandrell's band). Daphne was voted the female Gospel singing artist several years ago. The concert was a sell out! After the concert we helped pick up the chairs and we were home by 10:00. Sunday morning we slept in and went to 10:15 church. After church I actually cooked lunch. It rained like crazy all day so we just stayed inside. We watched Titanic later in the day. Bud and Shelley came over for cocktails. We talked and laughed a lot. They stayed for dinner. Today Bruce worked in the office all day. Janet and I went for a nice walk. Lounged around and then went to town to buy groceries for the park. We've now got enough Pepsi products to last to the end of the year. We also got more popcorn and several more pork loins for Valentine's Day. This evening Jack and Cathy joined us for dinner. I submitted my job application to the FAA. I also found several more jobs I can apply for if I get ambitious. I don't think I'm too excited about going back to work. I like playing!!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Another day and more changes. Bruce has his reservations to fly home February 2. We also have our reservations at Walnut Grove Campground so we'll have a place to live in the RV when the RV and I arrive there the beginning of March. We had another busy day at work. The Activities group hosted all the resident volunteers for a hot dog cookout today at noon. We made some really yummy baked beans to go with the hot dogs. I have a hot dog recommendation: Oscar Meyer XXL Premium Beef Franks. After we cleaned up the kitchen Bruce and I worked in the office. Bruce remembered to have one of the workampers check the popcorn supply for tonight's Bingo and of course we didn't have enough so we ran to town for popcorn and some more cheap pork loins for Valentine's dinner. When we got back I worked on the newspaper until 8:00. Bruce came over about 7:30 and worked until 10:00. He just got home a minute ago and I asked if he brought the car home. Well he forgot it so he walked back up there to get it. He is way over cooked! He's back and we need to talk!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

This has been one full day!! I went to town today to make a bank deposit, print some pictures, get a hair cut and buy groceries for tomorrow's volunteer luncheon and Bingo. It was my lucky day because everything I need for work was on sale. SCORE!! I even purchased the pork loins for the Valentine's Day dinner. While I was working in town, Bruce was busy putting out fires in the park. That's the mundane part. Now for the meat of the day. Bruce was offered and accepted the position of Contract Site Supervisor for the Washington Consulting Group at the Kansas City ARTCC. In other words, Bruce is going back to work full time in Olathe, Kansas. Last week he accepted a position with the same company but that was a travelling job. Friday he was called about the Olathe job and his selection was announced today. We are waiting for the written offer but everything else is finished. Bruce will fly back to Kansas City the end of January so he can report for duty on February 4. I will stay here and work. Originally our plan was to have me work until the end of March but Bruce decided he didn't like that idea. He will fly back here the end of February and we'll both go back to Kansas City in the RV. Two of our workamper couples have volunteered to be the coordinators for the month of March. All of this will afford me the opportunity to try to go back to work until I am 55 so that I can retire with an annuity at age 55 instead of waiting until I am 62. Melissa actually found me a job opening at the FAA today. I am going to submit my application and we'll see what happens. Is your head spinning? Mine is. Our life is about to change drastically. If you would have told me two weeks ago that we were both going back to work full time, I'd have laughed right in your face. We bot feel like God is directing all of this. We are simply along for the ride.

Monday, January 21, 2008

This day started with a royal chewing from the Park Manager. She was not happy with the performance of some of the workampers. I got too ugly with one of the housekeeping workampers. No excuse - just too ugly. The manager told us she hoped we didn't all leave on April 1. I couldn't help myself. I told her she better not be standing in the driveway! Then Bruce got too ugly with the Activities workampers. No excuse - just too ugly. This was not a good start to the week. We both worked in the office until 4:00 and called it quits for the day. The sun was shining and it was a whole lot nicer outside than inside so we were thankful to enjoy a few minutes of fresh air. Tonight we had a fish fry with Jack and Cathy and Bill and Donna. We ate all kinds of yummy fish that Bill White at Lake of the Ozarks before we left in September. Donna made a great batch of hot German Potato Salad and Cathy made a super duper tossed salad. That was a nice end to a not so nice day.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Wednesday - Saturday were a complete blur here and I can't really remember what went on. Work has been weird. I did take all day Friday off and enjoyed that time immensely. Bill and Donna Rinne, friends from Olathe, arrived on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning Rinnes, Montgomerys and Bruce went for pancakes cooked by the workampers and then we all went to a craft fair and car show in Casa Grande. Later in the day we had 12 people here for drinks and then we all went to the golf course for dinner. That night we all attended the Cancer Survivor's party here at the park. We danced until our feet about fell off. A good time was had by all. This morning we went to church. This afternoon Bruce worked around the RV, I good a nap, we went to a birthday party and then to Charles and Myrna's for dinner. We got home a few minutes ago and are exhausted. Tomorrow morning we have a mandatory workamper meeting at 8:00. That promises to be interesting and we'll likely have news after that!

Monday and Tuesday, 1/14-15/08

Where does the time go anyway? Monday was a whirlwind again. We both worked in the office until about 2:15. The two of us and Snookie Quinn went to Casa Grande on errands. We made a deposit at the bank, printed more pictures from New Year's Eve, went to the hardware store and finally saw the dermatologist. She removed my stitches and my nose looks great. We also had her look at Bruce's underarms. He's got some kind of a fungus and has big red circles under both armpits that itch like crazy. He's got medicine now so he should be better soon. After the doctor visit, we zoomed back to the park for a bite of dinner. At 6:15 we picked up Bob and Elizabeth Higginbothom and went back to Casa Grande for a West Coast Swing dance lesson. That was fun and we sort of learned the basic step. It was sure good exercise. When we got home we did a bunch of paperwork and finally fell into bed. Tuesday I went to line dance for a few minutes but had to leave because the RV WIFI guy that was to meet with the residents at 9:00 failed to show up. We tried to track him down but learned from his business partner that he was in California. Oops. I guess he forgot about us. He's about to get hung from a tree because the wifi service is so bad here. After we found him we met with the park manager for a few minutes and then tried to go to lunch. First, Bruce had to reconstruct a hose in the engine of the car because it was leaking antifreeze. We did make it to the golf course and enjoyed a nice lunch with the Montgomerys and the Wrights. After lunch it was back to work. We both worked on stomping out fires all afternoon. It seems like nothing ever goes as planned. I'm sure this is a good lesson in control and how we are not in control of anything! I came home at 3:00 but Bruce is still up there working. Oh for the days that we only had to work 40 hours a week and work didn't follow us home, knock on the door and hunt us down like rats!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Friday we worked and Melissa laid on the couch nursing her cold. We felt bad for her and she kept insisting that she was ok in spite of all the coughing and nose blowing. She was really a good sport. Friday night the three of us played dominoes with Jack and Cathy in the Cantina. Saturday we had a fun day away from the park. We started with a drive to Camping World. LaMesa RV is across the street and they were having free lunch so we joined them. We decided we are getting to be good "seniors". We can smell a free lunch a mile away! We spent the next 3 hours walking the aisles of the Mesa Market which is a huge flea market. From there we drove to Glendale to tour Ceretta's candy factory. The candy was good but mighty pricey. We enjoyed dinner at a little Mexican place in downtown Glendale. By now it was time to take Melissa to the airport. When she was safely on her way home we headed to Sam's to do the weekly shopping for the park. Jack and Cathy drove their big Dodge pickup so we took advantage of the room in the back and filled her up. Sunday we slept in and barely made it to late church on time. The church was so full that we had to sit upstairs in the choir loft. The singing was GREAT! We had a light lunch and then went to see The Bucket List. Good movie! After the movie we came home and started cleaning the inside of the motor home. Bruce made several trips to the trash dumpster. We enjoyed some good brats for dinner. Tonight we went to a concert in the hall. It wasn't the best one we've had but we survived. Now we are watching Brothers and Sisters. Tomorrow is the start of a new week.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Tues, Wed and Thurs have been kind of a blur around here. Tuesday we worked in the morning. Tuesday afternoon Melissa, Cathy and I went to see "Charlie Wilson's War". Great movie. Tuesday evening we went to a free concert here in the park and had a fun time. We all danced, clapped and enjoyed ourselves for 2 hours. Melissa and I had fun line dancing in front of the whole hall full of people. Wednesday Melissa and I went to Phoenix shopping. At 2:00 we picked up Charles and Myrna from the airport and took them to Coolidge. They have been in Canada for Christmas. We had dinner with Vince and Shirley, Uncle Roger and Aunt Delores, and Charles and Myrna. Thursday Bruce and I both worked all day. Melissa and I went to the outlet mall shopping after work. This evening we have been reading Christmas cards as we received our December mail today. Melissa has a bad cold so she's spent a lot of time coughing this week. She says she doesn't feel as bad as she sounds. Her time with us has really gone quickly. Work seems to get in the way of everything.

Monday, January 7, 2008

It rained today but that didn't bother us at all. Bruce worked in the office by himself all day. Today we had a luncheon and style show. The "white team" and I worked full steam ahead all morning to get ready for the luncheon. We served about 85 people and we recaeied all kinds of compliments. Bon Worth provided the clothing for the fashion show and park residents were the models. Of course we had plenty of chicken salad and plenty of tossed salad left. We got rid of all kinds of leftovers so we were happy campers. The best line of the morning was occured when all of us were dead serious in the last couple of minutes before the luncheon. Bob Timpko was going to get some water and he looked up at me and said, "Where are your jugs?" I just burst into laughter and told him it was really bad when someone had to ask me where my jugs were. After the luncheon was finished and everything was cleaned up, I remembered that the chairs in the hall had to be set up for a resident meeting in the morning. So, the workampers headed back to the hall and set up the chairs they had just taken down. I was not a good boss at that point. I went over to the office and worked a couple hours with Bruce. Bruce was in a really BAD mood this afternoon so we came home and I made him a big drink. That helped. Melissa came to the luncehon with Cathy and then spent the afternoon reading and taking a nap with Jasmine. It was a great ay for napping with all the rain. This evening we went to Pizza Hut with Jack and Cathy, Rick and Wendy, and Bud and Shelley. Seven of us piled into Rick and Wendy's Ford pickup so I'm sure we were a sight when we all got out. This evening I'm doing laundry at the RV and Bruce is up doing the bedding in the laundromat. I'm ready for BED and it's only 7:05.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Today was a rainy day in the desert. That will make for great spring flowers. We all slept in this morning and that felt really good. Shirley Henderson made us some homemade ham and bean soup the other day so we had that for breakfast/lunch. Yum. This afternoon Melissa and I went to town to get the rest of the groceries for tomorrow's luncheon. Bruce did a little work in the office. When we got back from town the three of us chopped approximately 55 chicken breasts and made a really big batch of chicken salad. One of the workampers made lemon bars so tomorrow all we have to do is make the salad and set up the hall for the luncheon. After we finished our kitchen duties we had happy hour with a bunch of the other workampers. We talked a lot and laughed even more. This evening we are taping Desperate Housewives and watching The Wedding Date. We are rested and ready for another work week. My nose feels great and looked a lot better this morning than it did yesterday morning.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Today was a fun day - the first one in a really long time. We all slept in this morning. I changed the bandage on my nose. Melissa had a bowl of breakfast food. Bruce and I went for a walk. About 11:30 Jack, Cathy, Bruce, Melissa and I left for a tour of the Queen Creek Olive Mill. We learned all about EVOO, how the olives are grown, pressed, and made into the oil. We bought all kinds of goodies to enjoy. The next stop was the Pork Shop where we again bought more goodies to enjoy. About 4:00 we finally stopped for lunch at "Cravings" for some great Mexican food in Queen Creek. We could hardly believe how the area has grown in the past two years. We made a quick stop at Trader Joes and Jack got a hair cut next door. We were home about 6:30 and now we are watching tv and enjoying a quiet evening.

This is a picture of the owner of the Queen Creek Olive Mill. He brought trees from an olive farm near Eloy, AZ and planted them on the site of the current olive farm.

Melissa by an olive tree. Jack, Cathy, Melissa and Bruce in front of the mill.

All of these olives were picked from the same tree. The dark olives were the closest to the top of the tree and got the most sun. They are all used in the same batch of EVOO.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Isn't she pretty?? Bruce says I look like I got too close to a zig zag sewing machine.

Friday was the day for the removal of the basal cell carcinoma on my right nasal bridge. We departed the RV about 6:30 in the morning and arrived at the office in Mesa a5 7:45 a.m. Much to our surprise, we joined approximately 20 other individuals who were undergoing the same procedure as me. When I first opened the office door and saw all those people, I wanted to run but I overcame the anxiety and found a seat. My new friend Barbara Howard loaned me her Ipod so I sat and listened to some very soothing music. Before long I was called in for the surgery. I sat down on the table, turned up the music and waited. The nurse shot my nose full of some deadening agent and and I continued to enjoy the music. The good doctor came in, took a quick look, showed me what he was going to remove, told me to close my eyes and enjoy my music. The first pass went quickly and I was back in the waiting room within 10 minutes. I listened to more music and read a magazine for about 40 minutes and they called me in for another pass. That was even quicker than the first pass. I was back in the waiting room with all the others who were doing the same thing as me, waiting patiently. An hour or so later they called me back to sew me up. I again turned on the music and sat with my eyes closed. After about 15 minutes my nose was sewn up and I was on my way. Bruce and I had a nice lunch at Red Robin and did some shopping at Arizona Mills. Bruce wanted to go to Beaudry RV so I sat in the car for a quick nap. The salesman wanted me to look at a couple of RVs because he thought I was the easy one to sell. He was wrong. We left there and went to the airport to get Melissa. Her plane arrived on time and we went to Unos for pizza. Yum. We got back to the RV about 9:30 and we all retired for a good night's sleep.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Greetings,

It has finally warmed up in Arizona and for that we are very thankful. Yesterday it was almost hot outside. Today it was a little cooler but I wore capris and was perfectly comfortable.

The park is filling up but we still have all kinds of spots that are empty. The new arrivals are all coming in to get their event tickets and to find out what is going on in our world.

Yesterday I worked at home all day and it was great. I completed my end of month financial reports for the manager. Bruce worked in the office all day. He was TIRED when he got home. Last night Jack and Cathy, Tom and Sharon, and Bruce and I went to Manuel's to celebrate Sharon's birthday. Manuel's is our favorite Mexican restaurant. Yum.

Today Cathy and I went to Casa Grande. We made a couple of bank deposits for the park, printed the pictures from New Year's Eve and did some grocery shopping for Monday's luncheon. Bruce worked in the office all day and I worked in there this afternoon. Tonight Cathy is making soup for us for dinner. We will go to bed early tonight so we can get up early and take off for Mesa for my surgery.

Happy New Year 2008

The New Year's Eve party was a huge and smashing success!! We have the best workampers anyone could ask for and they worked themselves right into the ground preparing for the party. We had plenty of food, plenty of drink and plenty of fun. Keep in mind that we are working at an RV park full of retired people. The party started at 8:30 and ended at 12:30. At 12:30 we still had 90% of the people at the party. No one wanted to go home because they were having so much fun. The residents showered compliments on the Activities Team. They have started a petition to ask us back for next year. Hmmm. Bruce and I are personally glad to see 2007 come to an end and we are looking forward to many challenging opportunities in 2008. We wish everyone a healthy, happy, prosperous and blessed 2008!