Still in AZ

We started off the month of May by going to Chompie's with Vince and Dawn and then went shopping.  The food there is always good and we had leftovers, always good.

Larry took his BMW to Scottsdale for his 600 mile 'check up' and left it there while we went to Prescott for more cleanup.  We ordered new carpet and set up an install date of May 19 then visited briefly with our friends, the Guthries who have returned to AZ from Medford, OR. We also talked to another realtor who recommended we do something about the landscaping and gave us the name of the fellow who does his landscaping.

Larry working hard to clean off the putty that kept this door closed for 20 years

On the 7^th of May I had a delivery pizza shop which is really nice since I didn't have to go anywhere, they came to me.

Delivery pizza that was extra good

For Mother's Day, we met Dawn, Vince, Colby and Krista at Red Lobster.  Bethany had to work but we had a great time and stayed longer than we should have since it was a busy day for Red Lobster.

Krista and Colby at Red Lobster for Mother's Day

Dawn and Vince at Red Lobster

Larry at Red Lobster

We again went to Prescott on Monday (trash day is Tuesday) May 11 and met with Julio, the landscaper and were a little disappointed as nothing more was done inside with the painting. Doyle assured us he would get it done by the 19^th when the carpet was to be installed.

Sunday May 17 we celebrated Vince's birthday at Chompie's with Vince, Dawn, Bethany, Colby and Krista.   We had the back room to ourselves and had an awesome evening, laughing and enjoying each other's company, leaving after they closed the doors at 9 PM.

Larry and Bethany at Chompie's

Us at Chompie's for Vince's birthday

The birthday boy and his cake

Colby and Krista at Chompie's

Since we needed to be in Prescott on Monday and Tuesday we decided to take the MH and spend the night. When we drove up we were pleasantly surprised at how good the landscaping looked! It completely changed the 'feel' of the place.   The inside painting was done and we finished getting everything ready for the carpet fellows.  Both the carpet cleaner and installer came Tuesday and got the carpet done. We decided we needed to spend another night, leaving the windows open to make sure the carpet dried properly and made an appointment with the realtor to list the house.   Everything was done including the outside repair and painting and we left Prescott at 6 PM Wednesday night May 20 hoping we will not have to return anytime soon.

The new landscaping in Prescott

Where we had to park for two nights, very unlevel!

Larry doing the finishing touches to the porch in Prescott

For Memorial Day, Dawn and Vince joined us at the clubhouse for the annual pulled pork BBQ and then joined us on our patio while we looked at pictures we brought back from Prescott.

Our Jet Pack died on Memorial Day and we were unable to get on the internet. The battery expanded to double in size so it didn't work anymore and it would not work without the battery installed. We added a 'hot spot' to Larry's phone for two days while we waited for a new Jet Pack that didn't cost us anything since we were eligible for an 'upgrade'. We are back in business after a few false starts. We still have not decided when or if we are leaving AZ this summer.   We are needed here for a while longer so will be staying.   May, weather wise, was very nice with 100º the first of May and then not again until May 29. That made it easier to stay in AZ during May.

The heat is on

Our church gave us a Easter lily after the service on Resurrection Sunday which was really nice.  It lasted over two weeks.

Easter Lily with eight buds

April was a very stressful month as we made many trips to Prescott cleaning up in preparation to get it ready to be painted and ready to sell.   We thought the auction would get rid of everything in the house but many folks bought the lots and then took out what they wanted and left the rest. 

Some of what was left from the auction that we gave to The Salvation Army

It was very frustrating to say the least.  We made appointments with carpet cleaners and painting fellows as well as realtors to try and figure out the best way to go with the least amount of outgo.  We also rented a cargo van one week to bring back all the boxes of personal items we missed the first few times we went before the auction.  One week I spent 38 hours going through all the boxes we brought back, sorting out which relative got what and boxing them up and sending them off.

Some of the boxes we brought back for me to go through and sort out to send to relatives

I have learned there is a silver lining to all this since they saved EVERYTHING including letters I wrote years ago with information I really don't remember.  My niece commented one of the letters I sent her was written when she was 10 weeks by her mother that said she looked like our son, ate like Larry's brother's son and had Larry's brother's daughter's disposition.  She said it was still 'right on' even after all these years.

Larry has been working on re-modifying the bike rack for the back of the MH to fit his new bike. It has been more of a challenge than he first thought but he has just about finished after welding and re-welding when the first time didn't fit right.

How we get the bike on the bike rack, I crank and Larry holds the bike to guide it on the rack

The bike on the rack after Larry modified it.  (We tested it on the ground first)

We had planned to leave Phoenix now but since the Prescott property isn't ready for us to leave just yet we will be staying around another two weeks.   Hopefully then we can at least go to Cottonwood for a few weeks where it is a little cooler than Phoenix.

Last night we went for a bike ride and then stopped at Sonic for a malted milkshake.  It was a nice night for a bike ride after reaching 99º during the day.

Moving right along

We started off March with Colby and Krista’s wedding reception.  Rain was predicted but God is good and there was no rain during the celebration.  A good time was had by all.  They are quite excited as they signed up to have their first house built with move in sometime in August.

Photo shoot at Japanese Friendship Gardens for Colby and Krista's wedding reception

Krista taking off the top layer of cake for later

Colby and Krista dancing their first dance by the pool

Larry had a VA appointment to be fitted for a knee brace Mar 4 and he rode his bike.  He really is enjoying his bike.

I had a ‘to go’ pizza shop and I went by myself while Larry was working in the man cave.  It is always fun to go to different restaurants and have someone else pay for it!

'To go' pizza I brought back while Larry worked

Vince had a childhood friend visit for a week from Chicago and he had never been to AZ before, so Vince gave him the grand tour.  Even though he is from Chicago he is a ‘gun nut’ too so Larry went with he and Vince for some practice shooting.   God again, showed how good He is by placing them at point where they met the owner of 85 acres of land and he allowed them to shoot on his land and told them they were welcomed to return anytime.  They had to fjord the Agua Fria river to get to the property and the water was going over the hood of Vince’s truck but they made it both ways.  The owner told them the river had been a foot higher the day before because of the rain we had a few days before.  Normally it isn’t a big deal since AZ doesn’t get much rain.  They had a great time and want to go back again soon.

We went to Red Lobster for Colby’s birthday and we rode the bike.  It was a nice evening and great for riding plus we had a good time and were able to see pictures of the model home Colby and Krista are building.

March 28 was the auction for Mom Clark’s personal things and we spent the entire day there as the auction ran from 10 AM until 4:30 PM with an hour beforehand for “look-see”.  I have never been to an auction before and it was quite an experience.  We had thought we had all the personal items removed (like pictures and records) but two different buyers gave us things they found in their buys.  One was a box of old letters dating back to 1953 and as I since have been going through them I found a letter I wrote in Oct 1960 when we lived in San Diego which told of the gal who lived in front of our apt., her baby and I walking 11/2 miles to Balboa Park pushing a grocery cart with the baby in it since she didn’t have a stroller, to see then President Eisenhower take off in a helicopter after visiting the area.  I had forgotten all about that but after reading about it, memory of it is slowly coming back.  Wow! that really dates me that I saw Pres. Eisenhower.

April 1 we went to a Seder and had a fabulous meal.  It is always good to look back and remember where we came from and how God has supplied and protected us through it all.

Bethany and Dawn enjoying our Seder meal

Larry and Vince chowing down at the Seder

Enjoying warm AZ

Our AquaHot was acting up again and by process of elimination, Larry decided the thermostats were bad and ordered new ones. On Feb 5 he put them in and we are back in business again. We didn't realize how bad the AquaHot was getting until he installed the new thermostats and now we have HOT water all the time. We were planning to go to San Clemente, CA to visit Girard and have them put new awning fabric in and try to figure out why we go through awnings so fast but the fellow we need to see has been out since November for shoulder surgery and is so far behind he did not want to deal with us so the company sent us the fabric (to put on ourselves) for free! That arrived Feb 14.

I did another pizza shop on Sunday Feb 8 after church. It is always fun to have our lunch/dinner paid for. This pizza place, although the same 'chain' has a much nicer décor than the other ones of the same chain we have visited before (two others) and so it was really more enjoyable.

Larry took possession of his new BMW bike on Feb 10 and so far is really enjoying it. He looks for excuses to ride it as much as possible.

Larry's new BMW

The park had their Valentine dinner on Sat Feb 14 and we enjoyed it very much. We sat with new to us neighbors and had a very nice visit with them. We had yummy birthday cake to celebrate Jan, Feb and Mar birthdays too.

Stacy from Awnings R US came out on Feb19 and put up Larry's new awning on his Man Cave and put the fabric in our Girard awning so we are all set with new awnings all the way around.

Stacy measuring for the new awning on Larry's Man Cave

     

The new awning done on Larry's Man Cave

               

Stacy putting in the new fabric for our Girard patio awning

We made another trip to Prescott, now that Larry and his brother are official personal representatives of their mother's estate. We have an auction of her personal things tentatively set for March 28.

A former customer is now a resident of our park and she is a Tweety lover too and gave us a collectable plate that is 3-D and really cute. It is Tweety looking for four leaf clovers. She has the complete collection and had an extra one of this plate. I thought it was really cool to see her again after so many years AND that she shared a Tweety plate with us!

The cute 3-D Tweety plate my former customer, Cindie, gave me

                           
     God is good all the time!

Busy Month

We started out Jan. with a birthday party at Chompie's for Dawn and then on the 4th I did a shop at a new to us sub shop.  The food was very good and fresh but I like more "goodies" to add to my sub.

Dawn and Vince at Chompies

Dawn's cake at Chompie's

Larry began welding for his next project, protection for the skylight over the shower.  There is not a lot of room to maneuver around on the top of the coach with the satellite dish, four solar panels and the skylight so he wants to protect it from getting stepped on.
He also put a Genturi on the AquaHot exhaust to get the diesel smell away from the coach, one of the items we purchased from Camping World when we returned from Prescott.  Larry also put up our flagpole on the trailer and has a new antenna for our wifi.

The rack Larry welded together over the skylight(it is stainless steel) and showing the top of the Genturi he added

The Genturi at the Aqua Hot exhaust outlet

The flagpole on the top of the trailer.  We added the solar flag light that we purchased at the Redmond FMCA rally in Aug. 2014 so we do not have to have any other lighting.  It works well in AZ!

We decided to take the coach to Prescott to get some items to bring back and figured it needed to be moved and the cost was about the same as renting a van.  Besides, we like sleeping in our own bed.  We had a glass company coming out Monday Jan 12 to replace the back door glass so we had to be there even though it turned cold and rainy.  What a surprise Tues morning to wake up and find 3" of snow on everything!  No pix as I was too sleepy to go outside at 8 AM and by noon it was all melted.  When we returned to Phoenix we filled up with diesel at $2.33 a gallon.  I looked at our records and the last time it was that low was June 2, 2005 in Caldwell, ID!  Nearly 10 years ago.

Dawn and Vince treated us to Sweet Tomatoes on Sunday Jan 25 for my birthday and we closed the place down.  Then on my birthday we went to Valle Luna so I could have some good Mexican food.  It didn't hurt that it was 'Senior's Night', buy one get one free and we had enough for another meal at home.

We took the AARP online Senior Driving Course to get $92 off our insurance for the next two years since our insurance is due to renew Mar 1.

Our latest 'happening' is the AquaHot is not working AGAIN.  We have been awaken to cold air blowing because the heater is not going on.  Larry has been working on it, replacing the control box, (that fixed one issue but not the no heat issue) but he thinks it is a thermostat malfunctioning so now we need to order new ones.  So far we have found them only at AquaHot for $200+ which seems like a big rip off but what has to be done, has to be done!

Out with cold 2014 and in with cold 2015!

We started out the month of Dec with a delivery pizza shop which is always good, pizza delivered and getting paid for it to happen!

We have been to Prescott twice and paid to have the yard cleaned up so it looks much better now.   Only trouble is the back patio door glass 'somehow' got broken so we need to contact the insurance company and get it repaired.

Larry had a VA doctor appointment and labs with everything looking good. His knee problem is arthritis and again he has the option of 'waiting', surgery or doing nothing so for now he is 'doing nothing'.  He realized he was stepping into and out of the 'cave' wrong so has changed that and is doing better.

Christmas we met at Dawn and Vince's home and had way too much to eat. She found some table decorations when they cleaned out her house that they sold in early December so she used them and set a lovely table.

We saw their vacation pictures from Germany, Italy and France and then watched a really funny movie from the late 70's or early 80's with Bill Cosby. “Laughter really is good medicine” Prov 14:13

I had a doctor appointment the day after Christmas and a dexa scan which showed my osteopenia had improved in two years which is good. I have been working on it so I was pleased.   Now if I could just get my cholesterol under control without drugs I would be really pleased!

We ended the year again by going to the Marty Goetz concert in Scottsdale. We joined forces with a friend who has a hard time driving at night. Larry drove her car and she was thrilled to let him, especially since it was raining and spitting snow when we came out at 9:30 PM.  It was a great concert and a wonderful way to end 2014 and start 2015!

Another tough month

We started the month off with taking three pairs of shoes to the repair shop and were surprised the bill was only $46. We also stopped at Sam's for some items only they carry. Nov 4^th Larry started repairing the skylight that we discovered was damaged in the hail storm in July 2013, only to find the replacement we had ordered wasn't correct. What a nightmare as the correct one is no longer made so it took several tries and Larry finally just 'making do' to get the hole in the roof covered after two weeks being 'open'.

Larry cutting the plastic piece to replace the inside liner that is no longer made for our skylight

Larry putting the finishing touches on our new skylight over the shower

Larry's new i-Phone arrived November 6^th and boy, is it big! He is happy with it though so that is what matters. I did a pizza shop after church on November 9 ^th at a new location. It is so nice to have our meal paid for! We were supposed to go with Dawn and Vince to Olive Garden for Veteran's Day free vet meal but Vince was sick so we went to lunch at Chili's for a free meal. Larry had fajita's and I had quesadillas which were wonderful.

Larry's  new i-Phone beside his old one

On November 17^th we went with Vince and Dawn to Golden Corral for their free Monday Veteran's meal and had a wonderful meal. We went later that last year and had a much shorter wait time which was well worth it. November 17^th we were also informed Larry's mother was found dead so we went to Prescott on Tuesday to find the will and other important papers. We went back to Prescott on Friday to sign papers for her cremation at the mortuary, get his mother's rings from another mortuary and take the original will to the attorney. The death certificate was not signed until Friday so nothing could be done before. Her cremains will be buried with her husband in the VA National Cemetary in Phoenix and we will transport them to Phoenix when all the arrangements have been made.

God blessed us again when the air filter for the MH that we bought in 2005 and later discovered was the wrong one, after many years was replaced for free! A very long complicated story that involves three deaths but the final outcome was we now have the correct air filter and they even gave us kits to renew it and it will outlive us. God is good all the time!

November 22 the park had their annual free Thanksgiving dinner and had 66 folks present with 8 shut in dinners delivered. It was wonderful as usual and included all the usual food, turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, cranberry, roll, corn and pumpkin pie.

November 24 we took the Smart to Mercedes Benz in Chandler and had several things done including changing the oil, new wiper blades, special side emblems replaced, and an 'idiot' light put out (why we made the appt. in the first place) and the bill was only $62 which we thought was great. They also washed the car. On the way home we stopped at Honey Baked Ham for our turkey breasts for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day we all met at 4 PM at the clubhouse in our park, had a great meal, good conversation and didn't get home until after 10 PM. It was great seeing the family all together again after almost a year. Millie is walking and is a real cutie.

Our 'cold' buffet table for our Thanksgiving dinner

Cere't and Grandma at Thanksgiving

Feeding our faces

More Thanksgiving  talk

Millie with her Aunt Cere't

We ended the month with another shop after church at a Mexican place in Scottsdale. Always nice to have our Sunday meals paid for!