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!

Sunday, December 30,2007

I spent most of the day worrying about whether or not we would sell the additional 50 tickets that we need to sell for the New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. As you might imagine, the worrying didn't accomplish anything. This afternoon several of us gathered to take sample pictures for the party. We are going to take pictures and sell them to the residents and we wanted to give them some examples. My camera will get a good work out tomorrow evening (hopefully). While we working on the project we had the opportunity to talk to many of the new residents who have arrived in the past couple of days. Hopefully they will all come to the party. You see, I have purchased enough food to feed an army so I need someone to come and eat it!! I also need someone to buy tickets and pay for all of that food! This evening we are enjoying The Sound of Music. Bruce has never seen the movie before tonight. He said he was always too busy.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

This is our resident burrowing owl. Isn't he cute. He was standing beside the cactus sunning himself this morning when Jack and Brandy went out for their morning walk. Jack was kind enough to come and get me so I could snap a picture.

We started our morning with pancakes at the Cantina with Jack and Cathy. We didn't work - we just ate. We took Jack and Cathy on a tour of the park so they could find their way around and back to the camper. Next was a trip to town to finish the shopping for the New Year's Eve party and to stock Jack and Cathy's new camper with food. After the trip we dropped off all the goodies and had a bite to lunch. Now we were off to Sky Dive Arizona at the Eloy airport to watch the collegiate skydiving championships. The sky was full of sky divers all afternoon. A big attraction was the "indoor skydiving" adventure. It is a wind tunnel that simulates a sky dive. After I watched that, I knew that sky diving was not for me. Bruce already knew he didn't want to ever jump out of a real airplane but he sure does want to try the wind tunnel.

Here's a shot of the airplane taking off for a big jump:

This is a shot of two people doing a tandem jump.

The duo made a safe landing.

It was hard to capture the true picture but you can see that the whole sky was full of divers.

Here's a guy packing his own chute.

Sky Dive Arizona -Indoor Skydiving.

The "wind" was blowing approximately 118 mph to keep this big guy up in the air. You can see in the first picture that he used his leg to stay away from the glass. He was just floating in the second picture.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Friday. This morning we worked in the office and were BUSY. Our intention was to go to the office for a few minutes and then go do all the shopping for the New Year's Eve party. Good intentions but they didn't work out. After many delays, we were on the way to Mesa about noon. We shopped at Sam's ($375 worth), Costco ($60 worth) and then Basha's ($60 worth). By now the poor little VW was overloaded AGAIN. We got back to the park at 6:00. We unload with the help of Bud and Shelley and then hurried home to find Jack and Cathy parked right behind us. They have a beautiful new fifth wheel. It is so good to have them here. We went to the golf course for seafood buffet. It's still cold here and we are ready for some warm weather!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

I woke up feeling great this morning and am so thankful for that. We both went to work and got started on our daily tasks. The "blue team" and I worked on New Year's Eve plans. Bruce updated the park tv channel to reflect all of our upcoming events. The White team set up for Bingo, ironed table clothes, collected aluminum cans, washed champagne glasses and did everything else they could do to prepare for New Year's Eve. At 2:00 Bruce and I left for town to get ice cream and root beer for tonight plus sausage and blueberries for pancake breakfast. Then I went and got my nails done. We brought the food back to the park and then met Vince and Shirley for Chinese food. Now Bruce is trying to balance the checkbook and I'm playing on the computer. We talked to Jack and Cathy tonight. They are in Las Cruces so they'll arrive tomorrow and plan to stay for three months. We've had two days of good living and are going to try to have three month months just like these last two days.

Wednesday, 12/26/07

I spent the entire day asleep on the couch. Bruce went to Casa Grande and did some shopping for his mother and a few other errands. Nothing exciting here today and for that we are very thankful!

Christmas Day 2007

Merry Christmas! We started the day with a Merry Christmas wish from Amy so we were off to a good start. A few minutes later we received a call from Joy, Alex and Michael. I didn't feel well so I spent the day in bed and on the couch. I think I might be making up for all the sleep I've missed over the past three months. Bruce spent the majority of the day with the other workampers preparing for Christmas dinner. He said the dinner went well and everyone had plenty of food. As always, I was worried that I didn't purchase enough meat but as always, I was wrong about that. Bruce and I were surprised by many nice gifts from the Activities workampers. Besides the gifts they gave us, they took a collection among themselves and gave us a very generous sum of money. We have a great bunch to work with. They would like us to use the money to get away for a weekend so we will do that! This afternoon I talked with my Mom and Dad, Shirley Henderson and Melissa. We missed calls from Barb Ollek and Donna Rinne. We are very blessed! Bruce is up at the cantina emptying the dishwasher. He has a hard time sitting still! We have a day off tomorrow. I almost feel guilty because I didn't do anything all day today but I think I can get over that!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas Eve 2007

Christmas Eve was a full day for us. Bruce worked in the office Monday morning. The activities workampers busily started preparations Christmas dinner. I went to ton for some last-minute shopping. While I was at the grocery store I decided we needed some Christmas cheer so I bought a bunch of food, called some friends and put together a party. Impromptu parties are usually the best. It would seem that several of our friends were having the same thoughts of missing family that we were having so all of us enjoyed the time together. The sun was out and we were able to enjoy our festivities outside. After our party we all attended the park's Christmas candlelight service. The Quail Run Ensemble provided music and Pastor Don Baker read the Christmas story. After the service we all enjoyed some goodies in the Cantina. I made quadruple batch of Jeff Sturgeon's hot cranberry punch and it was a huge success. There was not one drop left at the end of the evening. Jeff is our daughter-in-law's brother-in-law and he made the punch for us a couple years ago on Thanksgiving. Thanks Jeff!! When we got home Bruce and I exchanged our Christmas gifts and called it a day.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Sunday - a day of rest and for that we are VERY thankful. We awakened to a frozen outside water faucet so Bruce went out with the hair dryer and thawed it out so we would have running water. It was 29. BRRRR. After we got up I realized the cantina was almost out of coffee cups and we still needed to shop for Christmas dinner so we went to Sam's in Chandler. After lunch we went to Vince and Shirley Henderson's house in Coolidge for a wonderful day. They've got their place all decorated for Christmas and we really enjoyed some good Christmas spirit. This evening they fixed a tasty dinner for us and we ate by candlelight on the Christmas china. The day would have been better only if we had been joined by our family. Bruce talked to my brother Mark today and we both talked to Amy. They were enjoying a wonderful family Christmas in South Dakota. The girls are heading back to Kansas City tomorrow. We are both working and I'm going to do a little Christmas shopping for the love of my life!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Val Champa, Organizer of AZ City Children's Christmas Party, Jean Borer and Jean Agnew, Quail Run Residents.

Children looking at their pictures

Santa and his elves

A very tired Santa after about 500 visitors

No snow for these snowmen

Sharon Grieves, Darlene Sutton & Arlene Duzy from Quail Run

Jean Agnew, Snookie Quinn, Nancy Reid & Carol Bowman from

Quail Run

The line to Santa

Santa and a couple of babies

A happy elf

Bruce trying to get a gift from Santa (Al Winters from Quail Run)

Today was another full day. At 6:30 a.m. I remembered that I had not taken the hamburger out of the freezer for the chili so we went for a walk to the cantina and did our first chores of the day. It was about 31 outside so it was a brisk walk. Too cold for Arizona for sure. We did something when we got back but can't remember what. Later in the morning Bruce called South Dakota to check on the Meester family Christmas. Everyone was having a good time and it would seems that my Mom and Dad were enjoying their new ceramic authentic German beer doxie. Bruce and Richard, one of the workampers, took the trailer and picked up 8 straw bales for the caroling party. I worked on the seating arrangement for Christmas dinner and puttered around the camper. By now it was time to get ready for the AZ City Children's Christmas party so we did that and headed to the golf course. There were 570 kids who got to see Santa Claus and receive their gift. During the party Bruce talked with his Aunt and then with his Mom. After that he was too sad to stay for the lunch and the rest of the party so we came home for a rest. We were delighted to find a package from Bruce and Michelle waiting for us at the post office. We needed a lift so we opened the box and all the packages inside. Michelle is so thoughtful. I know have a great pink cap from Shane's jewelery store, my own copy of Dr. Seuss' book, "Oh The Places You'll Go, a handcrafted, personalized version of "Oh The Places You'll Go" featuring photos of DeAnn and made by Michelle and our very own flip flop wine glass coasters. That ox definitely brightened our day! Thanks Michelle. After the gift opening, I slept and Bruce cleaned the RV. Val Champa, the organizer of the Christmas party, presented Quail Run RV Park with a very nice plaque in appreciation of all the residents did for the children and one of the residents brought the plaque over so we'll hang it up in the hall. George and Jo Becker called and invited us for some homemade Christmas cheer so we took them up on their offer. YUM YUM YUM. I've got the recipes! Soon we realized it was time to check on the caroling party and chili feed so off we went to the Cantina. Vince and Shirley Henderson were waiting for us. They helped us with final preparations and stayed for a bowl of chili. They got to experience first-hand what our lives are like. The workampers had everything under control and the cantina smelled great. The evening went off without a hitch and a good time was had by most. One of our workampers pointed out that about 80% of those in attendance were workampers. Hmmm. Let's see, workampers busy planning parties for other workampers. It just doesn't seem right but that's the story.

Friday, December 21, 2007

The newsletter went to print and was distributed to all the residents. The workampers were busy planning the New Year's Eve party. Final preparations were made for the caroling party and the chili feed. The minutes from the resident meeting were typed and delivered to the manager for approval. The main office staff were scurrying around preparing for their annual Christmas open house. Many chocolate rum balls were consumed and life was good. Then all of a sudden I remembered that we were taking dinner to friends and the meat had not been marinated. I ran home and threw the food together and stuffed it in the oven. We were only 20 minutes late and dinner was good enough. The girls arrived safely in Watertown for Christmas with the Meester family. Alex and his family traveled safely to Iowa for Christmas with his Mother's family. Winter arrived in Arizona and it is COLD outside.

Thursday, December 20, 2008

Here are the pictures from Arizona Opry. One guy played everything you see. Look at this contra bass saxophone. It weighs 90 pounds!! I bet it takes a lot of wind too.

This is some kind of an alp horn. The guy could hardly talk when he was finished playing.

Very tired love birds!!

DeAnn and LaVon Baker. LaVon is the chaplain's wife and is just a hoot.

Another day in paradise! The sky was blue and the sun shined all day and was around 70. Today Bruce worked on the newsletter all day and is still over there working on it. I went to town and retrieved 6 turkeys and another whole car load of "stuff". Other than that I didn't accomplish much of anything. I enjoyed a fun conversation with my sister-in-law, Lori, this afternoon. That was a treat for me. It's hard to believe it is almost Christmas. You would never know it by our actions this year. Today we received a package from Bev Henning, my parents and the Whites. Now we have something to put under our tree, well ok, now we have something to put around our tree!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

This day started at 6:00 a.m. We got ourselves ready for the day and headed over to the kitchen to get the breakfast in the oven. I had visions of the egg casserole being spilled in the fridge or green from the pan so I needed to see it for myself. Of course, everything looked great. I put the egg casseroles in the oven and got everything else ready for the volunteer breakfast. From 6:30 to 8:30 we enjoyed the conversation of the "regulars" in the cantina. The same six guys come to the cantina every morning for coffee at 6:00 a.m. I'm sure they solve all world problems on a daily basis. Four of our workampers joined us to help serve. The breakfast was very well received. We made good brownie points this morning!! After the serving was finished I went over and opened the office and the guys cleaned the kitchen. That was a perfect set-up for me. Everything was going along nicely when the manager called and said she needed to talk to us and that she was coming over. It turned out that one of our workampers didn't want to be a workamper any longer because she wanted to become a regular paying resident. OK with us. We went back to working on the park newspaper. I came home about 3:00 and Bruce stayed at the office to work on the newspaper until 6:15 when I went over and got him. Now we are working on some paperwork of our own and are going to relax for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

It's been almost a week since I've had time to write. We haven't had a moment's rest since we "acted like real people" last Wednesday. Thursday we were working along nicely in the office when we had a visit from the manager. She was VERY angry at us and voiced her displeasure. I voiced my displeasure with her in a really loud voice. Things have been great between us since then. Thursday night we were scheduled to go to a new steak house but we didn't go. Friday morning I worked in the office. Bruce and one of the workampers went to town to retrieve the Christmas tree for the Children's Christmas party. Two other workampers were over in the hall getting ready for the preschool children to arrive. The manager told them that we were supposed to be feeding the kids cookies and hot chocolate after the performance. We didn't know that until then. Luckily Bruce had taken his cell phone with him to town so I called him. He raced to Fry's and grabbed 60 cookies. The workampers made hot chocolate. The kids sang. Bruce and Oscar arrived just in time to throw the cookies on a plate and serve the children. Whew. We survived that one. The kids spilled the hot chocolate all over their pretty Christmas clothes and I would imagine that their mommies were not very happy about that but oh well, the manager got her way. Bruce, Bud and I went to the golf course for a nice lunch and to set up the Christmas tree. After lunch we worked in the office without any incidents. After work we drove to Sun City West with Bud and Shelley for Evita. The singing and dancing was good but not as good as we had hoped. It was a nice diversion though. Saturday morning Bruce cleaned the carpets and I did something but can't remember what. After lunch we went to Coolidge to see Aunt Delores and Uncle Roger. We enjoyed a good visit. That evening we enjoyed the Country and Western dance at the park. I got to practice my line dancing and Bruce and I practiced the two-step, waltz and the rumba. We had a good time. Sunday morning we visited the Lutheran church up the road from us. Nice church. After church we had breakfast with two current park residents and two former park residents. They are both from Rochester, MN and they both invited us to stay with them on our next visit to Mayo Clinic. Nice people. Sunday afternoon we cleaned the RV and did way too many loads of laundry. Sunday evening we attended the workamper Christmas party hosted by the manager and her husband. We again danced all night. Bruce asked me if I was the energizer bunny or what because he was worn out from all the dancing. Poor thing. Monday we both worked in the office all day. At 3:30 we headed off to the Arizona Opry. We arrived was too early so we got to sit in the parking lot for a few minutes. It was all worth it because the show was GREAT. One gentleman played 18 different instruments. One of my favorites was the 90 pound contra bass saxophone. He also played a Bavarian alp horn, one of Herb Alpert's trumpets, one of Doc Severance's trumpets, one of Boots Randolph's saxophones and many many more We enjoyed every minute of the show and arrived home about midnight. This morning we were off to facilitate the resident meeting. One of the residents told us they thought the meeting would be a blood bathe. Several residents wished us luck. Well, luck was with us. Bruce set the ground rules. The manager made a few remarks. I made several announcements concerning upcoming activities and we waited for the Sheriff's deputy to arrive as he was to be the main event. Well, he never showed up. When we got that call, the manager started taking questions from the floor. People were very business-like. The meeting went off without a hitch and the manager has suggested that we do it again every month. I stayed after the meeting and attended line dancing. Bruce worked in the office. After lunch I prepared egg casseroles for tomorrow's volunteer recognition breakfast. At 3:00 we tried to head to Coolidge to see Vince and Shirley who arrived today. I got caught by the manager and we talked until 3:45. At last we were off to Coolidge. We had a good reunion with Vince and Shirley. We all went to KFC for dinner and then to Safeway so we could get the food we need for the chili supper on Saturday. I've got pictures to post but I'm going to bed so I can get up early and get ready for the breakfast.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Wow. We acted like real people Wednesday. I stayed in bed until 9:00 a.m. Bruce was so sweet, he got up and sneaked off to work so I could sleep. When I got up I cleaned the RV and did a few loads of laundry. I even fixed Bruce a decent lunch and that hasn't happened in a while. After lunch we both went up to the office for a few minutes and then about 1:15 we both took off the rest of the day. We had a few errands to do so we did those and also purchased a couple of the hams for Christmas dinner. Spiral cut hams are on sale at Safeway for $1.48 per pound but you can only buy 2 at a time so I started the process yesterday. Thursday night we met several other workampers at the golf course club house for a little Christmas party. We had a white elephant exchange and had a great time. By 9:15 Bruce was on the computer and I was in bed! Great day.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Another big day in the RV park! Today Bruce and 12 other people from Quail Run wrapped 479 toys for the Arizona City Children's Christmas party. The residents of our park donated 55 toys and $529! Bruce and Richard (one of the workampers) will deliver the Christmas tree for the party tomorrow or as soon as it stops raining. I worked in the office while Bruce took the gang to wrap gifts. He is a much better wrapper than I am. This evening we had a surprise birthday party for two of the workampers. Buddy and Shelley downloaded a bunch of music Sunday so we had tunes all night long. We ate, drank, talked, laughed, danced and had a good time.