Moving Forward Finally

 We started off the month going to our friend Tom’s 75th birthday party. This year only 50 showed up while for his 65th birthday, there were 150, perhaps due to the ongoing Covid? We had a good time and I won one of the ten door prizes, a huge cup filled with chocolates. I ate the chocolates and Larry is using the cup as he has been looking for a BIG cup for a long time now. We both were happy.

          Big cup from the birthday party

                 Tom and his wife Adele

    Larry and some of the party goers

The furnace started giving us a three blink code saying it didn’t want to work anymore. Larry investigated and found we needed a new fuel nozzle so he ordered one from OR and then he set the bay up so he could get into it from either side so he could replace the nozzle and also clean the burner mirror of soot. He was able to fix it just in time for a cold spell where the high was only 45º and the low was 36º, the coldest we’ve been this winter. God is good all the time!  

         Larry in the drivers' side of the furnace bay

Since we are not going to be mobile anymore and have the MH up on blocks, we decided to put in a 500 gallon diesel tank and have it filled with red diesel to run the furnace, water heater and generator. It took longer than we had planned to get the tank built since the fellow who is building it for us got Covid but we should have it soon so Larry bought cement blocks and set them up to hold the tank. He also cut the RV pad so he can run the fuel lines from the tank to the furnace. He was able to widen and deepen the crack that was already in the RV pad, using a saw he bought at the pawn shop and a drill/ jack hammer he purchased at the pawn shop some time ago. God is so good at providing for our needs! 

     

 Blocks set up for the fuel tank

                           Crack for the fuel lines

    

     Widening the crack with the jackhammer drill

The next project is to put up a solar panel to power the gate opener and I helped him set the tall ladder up so he can start on that project as soon as the diesel tank project is finished. You know he isn’t happy unless he has a ‘project’!  So grateful he is doing so much better and back to nearly normal after three months of fighting Covid. God is good all the time!

Many celebrations

 We started the month of January with ‘another’ Christmas on Jan 4^th to celebrate Bethany coming home to AZ for a few days. This time Larry was there too. 

We celebrated Dawns’ birthday by going to Red Robin and back to Dawn and Vince’s for birthday cake. Since Dawn eats Keto I made a Keto Lemon Cheesecake for her birthday cake. It turned out surprisingly well and Dawn loved it eating two pieces that night. 

I had to make several appts. before my surgery on Jan 25 to remove the longest screw out of ten in my ankle. It was connecting both bones which made it difficult to walk properly but helped in healing the bang up job I did on my ankle back in July. No pain after the surgery nor none since and I’m walking fine.  I did have to wear my boot for a few days but that is a thing of the past now.

For my birthday the four of us went to Olive Garden and then Dawn baked an Angel Food cake for me.  Still my very favorite cake as it is light and fluffy and I can eat a big piece! She even frosted it with my favorite frosting.  

Dawn has been wanting to learn how to use many of Larry’s tools so he gave her a lesson on using the circular saw and she did a great job! 

Yesterday I had my ‘first fruit’ out of my garden, a radish. Dawn gave me some Miracle Grow recently and that made several of the veggies take off, finally.

Last night Larry and I went to Red Robin for my free birthday burger and Dawn joined us since Vince was gone. We had a very nice time. 

Happy New Year 2022!

December has been quite a month, nothing like anything we have experienced before and hopefully never again.

The 2nd I started feeling funky and then two days later Larry followed.

Dec 10 Larry had Vince take him to the ER because he thought he had

pneumonia and it turns out he had Covid. He came home the same night.

He didn’t get any better, but felt worse as the days progressed.

On the 18th I shared a Zoom call with all my living first cousins which was

good and informative. We learned more about our oldest cousin who passed

away in July. 

              Screen shot showing seven of my nine first cousins on Zoom call

December 20 Larry went by ambulance to the ER but unfortunately they sent

him home. He again went by ambulance to the ER on Dec 21 and this time

they admitted him with pneumonia and he was there three days, coming

home at 11 PM Dec 24 when they kicked him out with no way to get the

meds they prescribed until Dec 26 since all the pharmacies were closed

Christmas.  Prior to Larry’s coming home on the 24th, we had the family

Christmas dinner at Dawn and Vince’s. I think we all had a good time and

many talked to Larry so he was ‘somewhat’ included in the festivities.

Since coming home, Larry has improved daily but it will take some time

before he is 100% again. When he started talking about ‘doing projects’ I

knew he was feeling better!

We have had several days of much needed rain during December but I

personally don’t like gray days! I want my sunshine.

Hopefully 2022 will be better than 2021.

Racing and Growing

 The 8^th of November Todd came for a visit and we had a really nice visit. Dawn came over after the workman left her place so it was extra nice to have both ‘kids’ for a visit!

On November 13th we went to Phoenix International Raceway park for Larry

to ‘experience’ his birthday present, driving a NASCAR race car around the

track. It ended up being an almost all day affair as he was supposed to drive

at 2 PM but didn’t get to drive until nearly 3:30 PM. Thankfully the weather

was cooler than it has been but the sun was still brutal for Larry as he

rounded turn three looking directly into the afternoon sun! He had a good

time anyway and we were again with the kids.

 

Larry getting into car 24, the second car as the first one won't start

I’ve been wanting to plant a garden but with lumber prices sky high had

decided to forgo it for this winter. Then Dawn and Vince had something

delivered in wooden boxes that Larry was able to repair and I now have an

above ground garden with radishes, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots,

beets, Brussel Sprouts, and onions coming up. The celery has yet to show its

face but I still have hopes.  God is good all the time!

For Thanksgiving we went to our youngest grandson’s place and had a nice

day and dinner. There were 10 of us. The highlight of the day was seeing an

owl on the neighbor’s roof in the city no less. Not something that happens

very often I don’t think. Actually there were two of them but only Dawn saw

the second one as she heard it, turned around just in time to see it fly away.

                 Alex getting the turkey ready

        The owl on the neighbor's roof

      We had a beautiful sunset that I have to share!

Once again enjoying great AZ weather

Larry sneezed and blew out his top denture and broke a tooth.

Thankfully he was able to get in to see the dentist right away

AND his insurance paid for all of it. PLT!

I baked another Lemon cake with cream cheese frosting and it was better this

time. And still tasted good.

October 3 and every Sunday since we’ve been back to church in

person (due to me being able to walk in sneakers). Afterwards

we have gone for Chinese just like we used to do years ago.

Dawn and Vince went to CO to see Bethany so we took turns

checking on the cats making sure they had water and food. One

day the empty water cup was upside down in the sink showing us

they didn’t like it running out of water! Cats can be so funny

sometimes!!

Larry has been working on the replacement bumper and it is

coming right along. The photos show the new hitch and the

bumper after it was painted and drying in the backyard. 

                         What the bumper attaches to

    

                             Bumper drying in the sun

The new hitch he made saying he should have done this a long time ago!

                 Getting the wiring out of the way so he could weld

   I found

a neat sign that I had to get for Larry and it is now on the door of

his Man Cave. See picture for what is says. 

I found a recipe for no bake Lemon Cheesecake and that’s the

new favorite dessert now! Really good and simple plus I like the

NO BAKE!

We have charged the new car a few times (still have less than

1800 miles on it since May) and I figured out it costs us 2¢ a mile

to drive it. Considering recent gas prices, I think we made a wise

decision!

I had a nice visit with my friend Judy and she was able to see our

new set-up. Since the weather has been so nice recently, we

stayed outside the entire visit.

Today is our third great grandchild’s 3rd birthday so Happy

Birthday, Iliana!

New Beginnings

 

We started off the month with Vince and Dawn treating us to Red Robin for Larry's birthday. Then on Sept 11 we had a party for him at the Phoenix City Grill and had a great time seeing folks we hadn't seen in quite awhile. It was extra special as our granddaughter from ID flew in for the weekend.

I was given the OK to walk in my boot so I was grateful I didn't have to have my knee walker during the party. I've since graduated to sneakers but still have to be careful as my foot swells and gets sore. I use a cane just to be on 

the safe side.

The weather has cooled some so Larry has been outside finishing up the gate opener and putting a stack on the exhaust for our furnace/water heater so it goes up and over the RV cover as well as the house. He put a fan in it to help remove the hot air as well as to cool the air down. The pipe still gets to 160° so NO TOUCHING!

Larry liked his lemon cake so well I decided to try it again only this time I modified the frosting and cut the sugar in half and doubled the cream cheese and it came out much better. At least it didn't split

in two from the weight of the frosting! I also made it two layers instead of three so there wasn't as much frosting needed.

On Sunday the 26 th we had a nice nearly all day gentle rain that gave us half an inch of rain so the yearly total is now 7.54", more than twice what we had last year. We’ve also had rain go around us on all sides since then but I don't mind as it has given us cooler temps especially at night.