Tuesday, October 30

We are tired tonight. We've had a gruelling day on the phone trying to figure out what is going on with Bruce's mother. Where we are right now is in the "wait and see" mode. The nurse from the assisted living center is going to do an evaluation tomorrow to see if they will be able to provide the kind of care Doris needs when she is released from the hospital. Hopefully tomorrow the doctor and the assisted living center will let us know what they are thinking so we can decide what we need to do. Other than that we had a good day. I went back to water aerobics and Bruce went back to work. Tomorrow morning I'm going to start a "morning exercise" class. We'll start with a yoga video. I'd like to do three days a week of walk aerobics and two days of yoga. We are trying to do whatever the residents want. Maybe I'll be leading three classes a day! We finished our shopping for the Halloween party and we've made the list of things to do for tomorrow. Now all we've got to do is get some sleep tonight!

Monday, October 29, 2007

This morning started with a 6 a.m. phone call about Bruce's mom. She has been having some fairly significant confusion. After the first call, Bruce called the assisted living center nurse to get her opinion. An hour or so later he received another call saying that his mother had fallen and they had been taken to the hospital via ambulance. Bruce talked to the nurse at the hospital this afternoon and she told him Doris has a possible broken vertebrae in her lower back but they aren't sure if it is a new break or an old break from the osteoporosis. The radiologist is in Iowa City so they sent off the x-rays and will get the results later. There is nothing to do about that injury so they are going to keep her in the hospital tonight and then take her back to the assisted living center Tuesday. According to the nurse she wasn't in any significant pain and was resting comfortably. We are thankful she didn't have any other injuries and we are hoping some of the test they did will tell why she's been so confused. Bruce is still waiting for the doctor to call. Between all the phone calls this a.m. we had a good walk. Then I went to water aerobics and Bruce went to work. After aerobics I made Bruce a good lunch and did some reading that had to be done. This afternoon I took a nap and played on the computer. Now, this is living! I am not sure Bruce would agree with that assessment but I'm doing the typing and not him.

Sunday, October 28

Wow. I'm finally back on line. We've been out of commission since Friday afternoon. We've had a great weekend and have been living like real people. What a pleasure. Friday we went over to our old park in Coolidge for a fish fry. We visited old friends and had a great evening. Saturday morning was our first pancake breakfast. Bruce and I did nothing but eat. Our workampers did a very fine job. The turnout was smaller than expected but we made money so it doesn't matter to us. Saturday afternoon we went for our first swim and decided we needed to go back for more. Saturday evening we went to a costume party at the Arizona City golf course. We ate, drank, danced and had fun. One of the gals in our group won the best female. She was dressed as a mermaid and she was a very fine mermaid. The judge was a 17 year old boy that could not take his eyes off of her. Anyway, a good time was had by all. This morning we went to the park church service and then back to Coolidge because our friends Charles and Myrna arrived yesterday from Canada. We all had lunch at the Greek restaurant in Florence and we will definitely be going back. This evening we went for a walk with some fellow workampers and then all of us sat in here and talked. Bud and Shelley worked in a GM plant in Michigan and Rick worked in a Ford plant in Ohio. They can tell work stories that are just unbelievable. Bruce is happy he wasn't a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant. We both have a whole new appreciation for autoworkers. Now we are ready to settle in for some good tv. Tomorrow morning Bruce is going to work and I'm going to water aerobics. We've got a whole new attitude about work and it doesn't include both of us working 12 hours a day, 6 days a work.

Thursday, October 24

Another day in paradise! Today my day started about 2:15 a.m. I spent 3 hours playing on the computer and then went back to bed for about 2 hours of sleep. Tonight I'm taking some Tylenol P.M. I am going to sleep. The day was stressful for me but Bruce did well. We are planning to take off tomorrow at noon. We'll see. Tonight is our tv night.

Wednesday, October 24

The newspaper has been printed and is in the mailboxes of all the residents. The manager is thrilled with it and we are thrilled it is finished. While Bruce was in Casa Grande getting the paper printed I was busy trying to find someone that would buy our aluminum cans. That was interesting. It seems that the state or the feds have shut down all the local recycle centers. Someone has a bunch of new regulations that the little guys can't follow so they are gone. If we wanted to haul our cans to Phoenix we could sell them. Let's see. It is 120 miles round trip. The big pickup used to haul them probably gets 10 mpg. Diesel is $3.05 per gallon. I don't think we'd get rich off of that ordeal. We are going to give them to the prison that picks up the rest of our recycling. Maybe we'll save a few tax dollars by donating them to the prison. Ha! This afternoon we met with a lady that runs a tour bus company that wants to take our residents on day trips. She's got several fun looking trips on the list. Tomorrow I'm calling yet another company to see who can offer us a better deal. The first woman wants to take us on a free trip so maybe if I call several companies we can get ourselves several free day trips. This is sounding promising! Another business I called invited us to be their guests for their dinner theatre. The rest of the afternoon was peaceful and we accomplished many things on our list. This evening 43 of us went to A&M Pizza in Eloy, AZ. YUM!!

Tired Tuesday, October 23

I am starting to feel like a broken record. Today we both went to work early. The day started with our monthly "all hands" meeting. Unlike most FAA meetings, we actually accomplished a few things. We are set for our first pancake breakfast and our Halloween Party/Dance. As soon as that meeting finished, Bruce went back to work on the newspaper. Everytime he thought he was ready to go to press, someone had something else to add. He worked on the newspaper the rest of the day and has the blessing of the former editor so he's ready for press. I had the great pleasure of meeting with the cook for 2 hours right after the all hands meeting. We now have our menus planned for the rest of the year. I've decided Bruce is a smart manager. He has successfully passed everything off on me except the newspaper but I am NOT going to do that! I'm going to ask for a raise. Oh yes, I forgot I'm not getting paid. This afternoon we had another pumpkin event. WAHOO!! We've paid the pumpkin bill and have cleared some extra with a week to go. I'm thinking about peddling the rest of the pumpkins on the corner - kind of like a lemonade stand. Tomorrow we are going to sell our first load of aluminum cans so we'll get more money. This is all just so funny to me I have to laugh when I read about our day and can hardly believe this is us. One of these days I'm going to write about all the fun we are having being retired!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Wow. I am finally successful at getting on the internet. I'll get us caught up. Saturday we finally had to go to the grocery store. I fed Bruce hot dogs and beets for lunch and he does NOT like beets. By the time we got back, we needed to set up for the 3:00 happy hour and pool party. We had another successful event with about 40 people in attendance. A good time was had by all in spite of the fact that it was 105 on the thermometer. Sunday we didn't do anything except taste test the pumpkin pancake recipe we are going to use for the pancake breakfast next weekend. I don't like pancakes but I liked these! I think I took three naps while I was trying to read the newspaper but I finally did get it read - cover to cover. What a treat. Oh I almost forgot, I had to call my Mom to find out how to set up my bookkeepping system. I didn't like bookkeepping class 35 years ago and I still don't but I don't have any choice now. After a quick refresher class from my Mom, I am set. Bruce doesn't want me to get too into tracking money because he's afraid he won't EVER get a penny then. Today was another work day and we both worked all day. Bruce learned how to use Microsoft Publisher so he can publish a monthly newspaper. I wrote the majority of the articles and he's formatting the newspaper. In fact, he's over there tonight trying to get it finished up. When we leave here we are going to be highly skilled! No day would be complete without a visit from the park manager and this day was complete. We actually finished up several projects this afternoon so we are feeling pretty good tonight. About 5:00 we drove over to Eloy to check out the local pizza joint because we are taking 50 people there on Wednesday and we didn't want any surprises. The food was good and the place was clean enough to meet Bruce's white glove test so I think we are set. After dinner we went to Casa Grande to finish the grocery shopping for tomorrow's pumpkin painting and carving party and Saturday's pancake feed. Who would have known that two slugs that haven't done anything for nearly 4 years would be working 12 hours a day??

10/19/07

Friday was an interesting day. I worked at the office and Bruce worked around the motor home. We went to dinner at a local place called Eva's Mexican Food. One of the other workampers was kind enough to let us help her celebrate her 52nd birthday. The company was great. The food was good and the service was nonexistent. It is 3:52 a.m here in AZ and I'm wide awake. I realized today after a few visits from the park manager regarding our performance that this job (for very little pay) evokes the same kind of emotions in me as my "real" job did and that was for a LOT of pay. That leads me to think that if I am going to work, I had just as well be working for real money instead of this play money! So that begs the question: Do I REALLY want to work or do I really want to just sit back and live off my darling dumpling? I guess I'll decide that sometime after this six-month contract has been fulfilled. To quote something that I tell Amy all the time, "Tomorrow (or in this case today) will be a new day and the world always looks better in the sunlight".

Thursday 10/10/07

Today was a routine day at the Activities Office. Our little work plan went pretty well. Bruce and I both went to the office for a little while and then he came back to the RV to do some of the things he likes to do around here. I worked until 3:15 and called it quits for the day. YEA us!

I didn't get out to take pictures of the cottono harvest so hopefully they'll still be there tomorrow. I did get pictures of our pumpkin paiting project!

Wednesday 10/17/07

We just got back from a fun evening. The Central Arizona College invited local RV parks to come and preview their winter entertainment series. We toured their facility and were treated to a few songs by two original members of the New Christy Minstrels. A friend of ours from Hohokam in Coolidge was there so the three of us had dinner together. On the way to the college we watched a cotton field being harvested. Wow. That is a process. Tomorrow I am going to take the camera and see if I can get some good shots. I did get some pictures last week showing the cotton fields prior to harvest. Because it never gets cold down here the farmers have to use an airplane to spray the fields to kill the foliage before they can do the harvest. We have made a decision about how to keep Bruce from working all day every day. We are going to take turns working instead of working together. I am going to work for the next two days and Bruce is going to stay at the RV. This is going to be a real test in trust to see if the off-duty person trusts the on-duty person enough to stay away! We are quite a pair. Who would have ever thought that the two of us would be so wrapped up in trying to pull off a season of activities in an RV park??

The end of October 16

Today Bruce worked 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. He's supposed to work 21-25 hours a week so that means he's almost finished for this week - 9 hours Monday plus 12 hours today! Ha. We survived our first major event - a potluck. Are you laughing?? The turnout was great and a good time was had by most. I received my first cross words tonight so that is behind me. The good thing is that all I said back to her was "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry". I really wanted to hit her with the ice cream scopp but I didn't. Yea me! The best part of this day is that our friend's surgery went well. We are so thankful for that. Prayers were answered once again.

Very Early on October 16

I lost my wifi connection last night so didn't get anything posted. Yesterday was another day packed full of work for the Activities Coordinator and his office manager. One of these days we are going to get the hang of this and someone else will be doing all the work while we drink coffee and eat bon bons! We were up very early this morning (5:00 a.m. our time)! A very good friend of ours is having surgery at Mayo this morning. We wish we were there with them in person but we are definitely with them in thought and prayer.

Sunday

Today was another good day in paradise. We got the annual money sermon in church this a.m. and I wasn't real thrilled about that. I'm full of enough guilt without getting blasted again! This afternoon Bruce worked and I took a nap with my Jazzie Dog. 5:00 meant it was time for wine and cheese by the pool. The group was smaller this week but just as mighty. Now we are getting ready to settle in for some trash tv!

I loved all your comments and for those of you that think we have no trees - here you go!! We will be eating fresh oranges about January. Yum Yum. There will be no ice laden limbs falling through our roof this winter. The slab behind us is where our friends Jack and Cathy will be very soon.

Grand Opening of Hoover's Happenings

I decided that today was the day to set up our blog spot so here goes nothing!

We are at Quail Run RV Resort in Arizona City, AZ and plan to be here until 3/31/08. Bruce is the Activities Coordinator and I am his office manager. That really means that he does whatever I tell him and he takes all the flack! PERFECT! The other workampers are all fun people and we predict that we are going to have a great winter! So far we've had "wine and cheese Sunday", "Margaritas Monday", "pizza party Wednesday", "TGI Friday" and "Workamper Welcome Saturday". These were all impromtu activities among the workampers. Last night we had a rousing game of Catch Phrase by flashlight. Tonight was poker but we don't have any money to lose so we came home. Whew!

Jasmine hasn't been feeling up to par so she made a trip to the local vet this a.m. Her heart and lungs sounded good but she's running a little fever so she got a shot of antibiotics and will be taking amoxicillin for 10 days. She already seems to feel better so we hope she continues to improve.

We're watching K-State beat up on Colorado so better pay attention. GO K-STATE!!!