Sir Vezas

Gerry's old camera has a spot on the lens and it is almost impossible to remove it.  I tried to take the lens off, but couldn't get the lens loose.  I searched online for a camera repair shop and found one with very good references on the other side of town.  Today was the day to make the long trek over there to the Tucson Camera Repair on Oracle Rd.  The owner of the store looked at the camera and the spot and said it was on the sensor in the camera.  If it had been a SLR camera with removable lens. it would have been a simple repair.  Not so with the Lumix camera and they will have to take it apart.  He said it was repairable and a nice camera so we authorized the repair.  Hopefully. it will be as good as new when he finishes the repair.

We were looking for a car wash on the way back to the MH and couldn't remember the location of the one we used last season.  We did find another treasure out here in Tucson.  There is a bar/restaurant called Sir Vezas which is a play on cerveza (beer in Spanish) and stopped in to check it out.  Our intent was to just get a drink and then move on.  As they say, best intentions are sometimes led astray.  That was the case today with Sir Vezas.

They have outside seating and part of it opens onto the indoor bar.  It is light and airy there and reminded us of Costa Rica and the open air restaurants there.  The bar was quite long with a lot of seating.  They had a sign saying free beer tomorrow in Spanish.  We enjoyed our drinks and appetizers and stayed longer than expected & missed the fish fry at the rec center.  I think we will go back tomorrow for the free beer.  How do you think that will go over with Sir Vezas?   If you are in Tucson near Broadway & Swan, stop in and have a cold one.  

 BTW:  We never did find the car wash.  I hope it rains soon and washes off the dirt. 

 

This and that

Yesterday was kind of a laid back, take it easy day.  We performed some needed chores around the MH and basically chilled out.  That is, if you can chill out in 80 degree weather.  We did go with Steve & Judy to the Village Inn restaurant for dinner and took advantage of the free pie Wednesday.  They have the best pies around and we try to take advantage of the free ones when we can.

Gerry had signed up on Fry's online coupon site and selected a number of items and put them on the list.  We stopped by Fry's to do some food shopping and take advantage of the 10% discount for all seniors on the first Wednesday of the month.  Between the coupons and discount we paid $16 for a $31 bill.  I just wish we had waited to buy some items and take more advantage of the discounts.

After Fry's we came back to the motor home and visited with Judy & Steve until after 10pm and had a good time.  I turned on the tv to see what the score of the Clemson - West Virginia Orange Bowl football game was.  Ouch!!   WV won 70-33 in a rout.  Double ouch!!  

The RV service tech and his wife helper came to the site today to fix a couple problems we've been having with the furnace ( didn't work), water (leak - not serious) and low fluid on the leveling jacks.  In the past I would have repaired these things myself but I didn't relish all the twisting and turning required to do the repairs.  He and his wife jumped right on the problems and knocked them out in short order.  It sure was easier to pay them than do it myself.

Gerry gave blood for the first time at the Rec Cross bloodmobile.  I hardly have enough blood for myself, so I stayed behind and waited for the repair people.  Good move on my part since they came while Gerry was gone and if I had signed up, we would have missed having the repairs completed.

Coffee, goecaching and chili

The old alarm clock went off too early today for me.  We had planned on going for coffee and donuts at the rec center and had to be there by 9am.  Ugh!  Too early for me, but we managed to get there on time and pay our two dollars for the lucky buck drawing.  We didn't win the drawing but Ron & Dee won the money and then to add insult to injury, they won the electric grill that was the door prize.  I think an investigation is now underway how that came about.

Judy, Steve and I went geocaching after the coffee and donuts, while Gerry went to her sewing club gathering.  We had a great time geocaching and went down some roads that were almost beyond the capabilities of our Saturn.  Almost!  We managed to find a number of caches and then it was time to meet Gerry for lunch.   We picked her up and went to a restaurant with a Hawaiian menu which turned out to be pretty good.  After lunch we went geocaching some more and wound up with  9 finds for the day.  Not bad considering the difficulties of most of the caches.

Later on in the evening we went over to Sharon and Al's 5th wheel for a visit and join them for a very good chili dinner.  Al makes a great batch of chili as long as he doesn't put too many hot peppers in it.  He likes it a little more hot than I can take, but this batch was fine.  

It was a beautiful evening and the sunset was especially nice.  Gerry managed to get some nice sunset pictures.  The coyotes came out and serenaded us for a couple hours.  There must have been a large pack of them nearby and they were yapping long and loud.  We stayed and visited until 9pm and then headed back to our place, tired and with our stomach full from the chili.

It was another great day out here in the desert with temps in the high 70s and a bright sunny day.  Just before evening some clouds began to move in and provided some contrast for the pictures above.
 

Windy Day

There are a lot of advantages to living out here in Tucson, but the strong winds blowing isn't one of them.  We had wind gusts up to 40 mph and sustained winds of 20-30 mph all night long.  When it blows that hard the motor home rocks back and forth and the slide toppers over the slideouts make a lot of noise.  Given the above, I didn't get much sleep last night and have been dragging all day.

We took a drive down to Green Valley to do some shopping at the large Wal Mart down there.  It was more of a take a ride kind of day rather than a shopping day, but it was enjoyable.  They were working in the pecan orchard and causing a major dust storm in the area.  It would seem that this task could have been performed a day later and avoid making such a dust storm.

We chatted with some Oklahoma State football fans at the Denny's this morning.  They were heading for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game between Stanford and Oklahoma State.  They were decked out in their orange shirts and are somewhere in the huge crowd of fans up there.  I am watching now and there are 2 minutes left in a 38-38 game.   Another defensive struggle.  LOL  Stanford is trying to get in position to kick a field goal and win the game.   Hang on, I will give you the final score in a minute.   The pro scouts must be licking their chops with the thought of drafting Andrew Luck, the Stanford QB.  He has put up some very impressive numbers so far in the game.  Here comes the freshman kicker to attempt a game winning 34 yard field goal.  Wow, he hooked it to the left and now it will go to overtime.  Oklahoma State just won it in overtime by kicking a field goal after Stanford failed to score.  41-38   What a game.

I managed to watch bits and pieces of different football games during the day and was surprised by the high scores.  It would seem that the better teams with great records would have better defenses, but that isn't the case this year.   Maybe LSU & Alabama will treat us to another 6-3 score in the championship game.  Yawn!

Gerry heard of a proposed trip to Las Vegas, NV for three nights in February via a large luxury bus.  They will have a roulette wheel on one of the tires and when they stop the person having that number will be a winner.  I am not sure of what you would win, but it does sound interesting.  Harrah's hotel is the stopover place for the trip.  We are interested in going, but will have to get more details.

I am always surprised when I see the number of views of the blog.   Some days a simple blog will attract a lot of viewers and a more interesting blog less viewers.  I would like to know what attracts viewers, but I guess it will remain a mystery to me.  Any thoughts out there in blogland??

That was our interesting day here in the sun.

1st baby of the year

Our good friend Ron K was born xx years ago on this day.  The first baby of the year.  We went out to dinner with Ron & Dee this afternoon at a local restaurant called Buddy's and had a very nice dinner.  We got there before happy hour was over and took advantage of the special prices.  Happy birthday Ron.  I hope I look as good when I get your age.  Sorry, I could not resist that.  



After the long hours of celebration on New Year's Eve we were moving slowly this morning and took it easy.  Gerry fixed a great breakfast of a ham omlette which is a special treat for me.  We don't usually eat that much for breakfast but wanted to start the new year in good fashion.

I always take advantage of the football games on the first day of the year to watch them and at the same time, back up my computer.  I run backups regularly during the year, but like to have it backed up on the first day of the year.  It took a number of hours to finish the backups and I still have some more work to perform on the system.  

It was a windy and warm day here in Tucson with the temps in the low 80s.  Great day to open all the windows and enjoy the fresh air blowing through the motor home.  It would have been a great day to hang around the pool and have a couple margaritas.

There was only one game on tv today that was worth watching and it was between the Giants & Cowboys.  Since they are in the same football conference as my Washington Redskins, I don't care for either team and would have like to see them both lose, but it wasn't to be.  In the end, I was glad to see the Giants eliminate the Cowboys from getting to the playoffs.  Now the real football season begins next Saturday and Sunday.  There should be some great games next weekend.