Go Skins

I waited until late this evening to write the blog since THE GAME was on tv and I wanted to write about the Redskins-Cowboys football game.  The 'Skins won 28-18 on the cold Fedex playing field.  I must admit that I wanted them to win, but wasn't sure enough to bet on it.  

What a turnaround for the 'Skins from a mid season 3-6 record and then to win the last 7 games to become the NFC East Conference division champs!  Last season they were pathetic and looked to stay that way after such a poor beginning.  The Redskins' coach lit a fire under the players and basically told them they were playing for their jobs for next year.  The surely did respond in a positive fashion.

Now the 'Skins will play the Seattle Seahawks next Sunday in a playoff game.  Even though the Seahawks have the better record, the 'Skins will host the game because they won their division.  

I still have season tickets with a friend but haven't used them for years.  I imagine it will be very cold next weekend.  It will be even colder in the stadium and it will be difficult to sit there for 3 hours.  I will be happy to watch it in the comfort of my easy chair in the motorhome.  

Gerry and I attended the first game played at the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in 1997.  The Skins played the Cardinals and won in overtime 19-13 which was a great way to christen the stadium.  Jack Cooke built the stadium with his own money and died of a heart attack before they moved into the stadium.  That was the only time we were there and I missed the old DC Stadium.  The new stadium seats were too narrow and the aisles too close to each other.  The new owner changed the name to FEDEX stadium in 1999 which I thought was a no-class act.

Jamie Asher on the run.

Who's got the ball?

 

We rented the movie "J Edgar" today at a Redbox.  The overall portrayal was interesting and his comment that we must remember history was quite appropriate.  I worked for the FBI in the late 1950s and was in Hoover's office a number of times.  There were many times I saw Hoover and his Associate Director Clyde Tolson in the hallways.  I don't ever remember seeing Hoover without Tolson present.  J Edgar had his desk on a raised platform and you had to look up at him when you entered the room.  It surely was an interesting place to work, but I wasn't cut out to become an agent and live the lifestyle expected of them.  Hoover has taken a lot of criticism, but he ran a well organized and efficient bureau that hasn't been duplicated since his departure.

Dee asked if I liked the movie and the answer is yes.  We both enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone who would like to know more about J Edgar Hoover.  I can't verify how factual it is entirely, but it was entertaining.  I remember seeing Helen Gandy, his secretary, a number of times.  She was one powerful woman and everyone knew it. 

NCAA Football Bowl Games

A number of years ago there were 5-6 college bowl games at the end of the season.  Many teams only played 9-10 games a year and the bowl matchups were usually good and the quality of the games was great.  I enjoyed watching evenly matched great teams playing and tried to watch all the games that I could.  Talk about overload.

Now we really have overload with 35 bowl games that start before Christmas and run into the next year.  The large conferences have 4-5 teams playing each year and you wind up with teams having 6-6 records in the games.  It's all about money, TV and teams that have a following traveling to the bowl games.  MONEY!  ESPN has to fill up the airtime somehow and more games seems to be the solution.

Virginia Tech played Rutgers yesterday and it was one of the most boring games I have ever seen.  Neither team gained 200 yards and they said it was good defense.  It looked more like poor offense and teams that shouldn't have been there in the first place.  VT was the 6th place team in the Atlantic Coast Conference and still made it to a bowl game.  I wonder how many fans will be worn out looking at these bad games before the really good teams start to play?

Olive Garden and Cattletown

Gerry and I had some errands to run on Thursday and were downtown around dinner time.  We both like the Olive Garden restaurant and decided it would be a good time to go there for a nice dinner.  They have a $25 dinner special for two entrees, soup or salad and choice of appetizer or dessert.  We decided on that and both enjoyed our meals a lot.  We had more than enough to eat, so took the dessert home to enjoy later.

It was very crowded there and we sat in the bar area rather than wait the 30 minutes or so for a table.  Big mistake.  The bar area is near the entrance and every time someone came in or left we got a blast of cold air.  We kept our sweaters on and managed to not freeze to death.  The weather has taken a real turn for the worse in Tucson and it feels like Old Man Winter will be here for a few days.

When I took the trash out this morning I was in for a surprise.  It was quite cold last night and the car was covered with frost.  It was still in the low 30s and chilly.  Now, this might not be news worthy to people up north or in the colder regions of the US, but here in Tucson it was.

We hung around the MH today and then went out to dinner at Cattletown with Steve & Judy.  We got there early to get seated quickly but there weren't many people in the restaurant.  In the past if you didn't get there early, you would have a long wait.  Not tonight.  We had the fish dinner and enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as in the past.  I don't think Steve & Judy were very impressed with Cattletown and didn't care that much for their meal of fish and shrimp.

 We subscribed to Verizon for our wireless internet for the past 4 years and haven't been happy with our service the last few months since they introduced their 4th gen service.  We have 3gen service and it seems that it is getting slower and slower every month.  I haven't cancelled this service, but if the new one works out, I will put Verizon on vacation or hold.  Nice to have a backup.

I finally decided to try some thing different and subscribed to Millenicom for my service.  I get 4g/3g connection which will handle 10 users at a time and receive 20gig of data for $70/month.  There isn't a contract involved so I can stop it at any time.  The jury is out but I hope it works as advertised.  So far, so good.  

Christmas Day

Gerry and I waited for the children's mass at church since we have enjoyed it so much these past few years.  The older priest is very good with the children and has them all sit at the altar and gives them a little quiz about the meaning of Christmas.  It is the same each year, but the answers he gets from the children are different and quite humurous.

They also have the children's choir perform and they sounded great with the Christmas carols.  They must have practiced for a long time since they did so well.

After church we went to dinner at the recreation center and had a very nice meal of ham, sweet potatoes and the choice of around 15 side dishes that were brought by the campers.  There sure are some great cooks in the group and it was difficult picking out what I wanted to eat.  I wound up with a full tray and managed to finish it off, but I couldn't eat another bite after that.

Many people went to the dessert table first and picked up their favorite pie, cake or whatever they liked.  I wound up with a coconut cream pie and Gerry had a rocky road brownie dessert.   Yummy!

We visited with cousin Sharon and Al later in the evening and had an adult beverage with them.  We only stayed a while since we had gotten up so early and were tiring out rapidly.

We received phone calls from out children and Darlene & Tom and managed to spend about 2 hours on the phone.  While we love it out here in the southwest, we do miss the family during the Christmas holidays.  We did live overseas for 10 years and only came back for one Christmas during that time, so we've survived it before.  

We took it easy today and hung around the motor home for the most part.  Some days are like that when you fulltime in a RV.

Gerry did manage to capture a great sunset tonight and I will finish up today's blog with a picture of it.

     

Twas the night before Christmas

Wow, it seems like just yesterday that we were ushering in Christmas 2011 and now it's a year later already.  Time surely does fly when you are having fun.  Gerry and I had a great 2012 and are looking forward to 2013 and all that it brings.  

We have our stockings hung by the fireplace with care and a few presents on the mantle.  I don't know how Santa will be able to come down this fireplace, but I am sure he will figure it out.  Christmas carols are playing, but we won't set out the cookies and milk for Santa until bedtime.

There is a fire blazing in the fireplace, but the flash over rode the flames a little and it is so warm out here that I had to turn it off.  It really does put out some heat and we really enjoy it on the cold nights.

Gerry and I want to wish all our friends and family a:

Merry Christmas

&

Happy New Year

   

Christmas Cactus and Rock Walls

Look who arrived early this year.  Yep, it is one of Gerry's Christmas Cacti which decided to spruce up the motor home.  It blooms twice a year and usually at Christmas time.  The other cactus bloomed in early November and will most likely reappear again in May.  

The US Post Office is maligned and all you hear about is how bad of a job they are doing.  We have received three Christmas cards this year with partial and incorrect addressed on them.  One card had Rhode Island as part of the address, another had 101 (missing 2 numbers) S Houghton Rd and no city or state information and the last one was so wrong I can't imagine how it even arrived here.  I applaud the Post Office for even delivering these cards and more amazing, one made it here in 3 days from the East Coast.

The weather pictures coming out of the midwest make me glad that we are out here in Arizona and far removed from the snow and cold.  We suffered through a lot of those kinds of days, weeks, etc when we grew up in Illinois and later when we lived in Maryland.  Once we retired, I made a vow to never spend another winter in cold weather.  

I was also reminded of the cold when I ran across a photo taken of our backyard when we lived in Maryland.  It was an ugly, terraced yard without grass or and shrubbery when we moved in.  Gerry talked me into building a rock wall on both terraces and the first one was a drywall about 3 ft high.  It wasn't than difficult and then she talked me into building a 75 ft long rockwall that tapered from 5 ft to 3 ft over the length of the wall.  She also wanted a curved section in the wall plus a waterfall.  She got her curves, but not the waterfall.  Eventually, she did get a fountain in the intersecting corner of the lower wall.

It took almost 2 years to build the walls since I had to haul all the rock to the yard in a pickup truck; 25 truck loads, more or less.  We started out by taking the rocks from an old house that had burned down a long time ago.  They were nice rocks that had been chisled into blocks more or less.  When that source ran out, I began to dismantle a rock wall on a horse farm.  The wall had been built by slaves long before 1850 and the farmer said I could have all the rocks.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I did take 20 or so loads from the wall and stored them in big piles in the back yard.  The nieghbors thought I was nuts.

Then came the digging out of the dirt to cut into the hillside.  That entailed more than 25 truck loads of dirt to haul out.  We dug it by hand and dumped the dirt in a church parking lot, vacant lot down the road, neighbor's yard and a friend's yard.  Most of this was done in the summer time after work and it was hot.  Looking back, if I had it to do over again I would rent a tractor with a front loader on it.   The long wall was mortared with cement and tapered back to keep it from falling over.  It turned out to be a labor of love and we enjoyed the rock walls for many years.

 

No, I am not interested in building another rock wall.  Once is enough.   

 

Mayan Calendar

Well, I waited until today to write the blog since I wasn't sure anyone would be out there to read it.  Are you still there?

We decided to go to the Wine &  Hors d'oeuvres party at the recreation center last night.  The RV park provided the wine and everyone brought a hors d'oeuvre to share.  Potluck sounds to un- French, but that basically is what it was.

After everyone was liquored up on the free wine we had to sing Christmas songs to get out of there.  They had a karoke that displayed the songs on a large screen, sort of like following the bouncing ball and singing at the same time.  I did everyone a favor and didn't sing since I can't carry a tune in a basket.  Everyone had a good time and were still there when we left after 8pm.  Nothing like free wine to get everyone get out of their RVs.  

It has turned windy and cold out here in Tucson with temps in the high 20s at night and last night there was a strong wind blowing.  The slide toppers were popping all night long and the motorhome was a rocking at times.  The wind is expected to be back to a manageable speed this afternoon.  I sure hope so.

Gerry has plans to bake some cookies today and I am looking forward to some warm cookies and milk.  She guards the cookies like they are gold and tries to keep me from snitching a couple.  You have to have quick hands around her when she has a wooden stirring spoon around.  I'm not sure how much longer I can do this since I've slowed down somewhat.  Probably because of all the calories that I have taken on with all those cookies.

There is a food bank in nearby Vail and some of the people in the park volunteer to help out there.  Yesterday they unloaded a truck load of vegetables and brought some of them to the park to be distributed to the senior citizens here.  Gerry picked up a number of peppers and it looks like stuffed peppers is on the menu for Saturday night.  I really like them on cold nights and hope she makes enough of them so we have leftovers.  Ron & Dee C will be joining us for the stuffed peppers and possibly a few adult beverages during the evening.

Remember, let me know if you are out there to read this.

I thought is was a proper time to include some photos from Tikal in Guatemala with the ruins of the Mayan Temples there.  We visited there in 1987 when we were in Antigua for Spanish language training.

Stone Mask

Temples I, II, III

Temples III, IV

Main Acropolis

      

Winterhaven Christmas Lights

We went to the Guadalajara Grill with Judy & Steve and enjoyed a great meal there.  I especially enjoyed the salsa made to order at the table.  Actually, we ordered two appetizers for dinner and took advantage of their happy hour prices on them and the adult beverages.  It was very busy at the Grill and it seemed like a number of tables were company Christmas gatherings.  

After dinner we went to see the Winterhaven Christmas lights.  They have three nights a season where you can drive through the neighborhood and see all the houses light up with lights and displays of the Christmas season.  Some of the homes were really into the displays and had put a lot of money and time into their decorations.   

They open the neighborhood up for drive through times 3 times each season.  This was the first night and they will be open twice after Christmas.  It was unbelievable the number of vehicles that lined up to drive through.  They had two entrances to the area and we were backed up for blocks waiting to actually get to the lights.  It took almost 1 1/2 hours of stop and go traffic and once you were in the neighborhood it was bumper to bumper with vehicles.  In addition, there were thousands of people walking the streets also.  Chaos!   

It was a cheerful time and everyone waited and took their turn and we didn't see any incidents.  It was mostly family groups in the area and that probably helped keep the rowdies out.  Gerry took a number of pictures and rather than show a lot of them I am including a collage of a small percentage of what she took.

   

Winterhaven History

Over 50 years of History

CB Richards was the founding father of Winterhaven Water & Development Company. In 1949 he created a cooperative water company and a modern residential development north of what was Tucson at the time.   By 1957 all but 19 of the 257 original lots had been developed.  The Festival of Lights began in 1949. CB Richards was inspired to create the Festival after visiting a similar display in Beverly Hills, California  in the 1930s.  He purchased the first set of Christmas lights in 1949 and donated them to the neighborhood. He purchased the allepo pines from a local nursery that was going out of business. They were planted at regular intervals throughout the neighborhood and electrical connections were hooked up near each tree for the lights.

CB personally judged all the displays in those first festival contests and the winner was awarded $100.00.   After CB Richards moved to San Diego, he continued to visit Winterhaven for the Festival of Lights. 

The Festival has been held continuously since 1949 except for one year during the 1970's energy crisis when the residents of Winterhaven voted to stay dark.

I can't imagine the pain of having all those people and cars taking over the neighborhood for all evening.  Traffic was worse than getting out of any football game I've been to over the years.  Steve drove and that was great for me.  I usually drive and have to watch for all the kiddies and crazy drivers, so it was a relaxing trip for me.  Thanks Steve.

It was a great way to start the Christmas season and since all the cards and presents are in the mail we can enjoy the rest of the year.

  

Kyle Busch & # 1 fan

This is part 2 of the Kyle Busch photo saga which includes our dtr Barbara, Gerry and Kyle Busch (NASCAR racing driver).  Last November 8 I posted a blog about the Hotrod Cafe in Vail, AZ.   It was a deceptive blog posting in that it didn't mention Barbara or Kyle.  

When we heard Kyle was there for an autograph signing session at the cafe, I printed a picture of Barbara on our printer and Gerry took it up to Kyle and had him sign it.   It was made out to "his number one fan, Barbara".  The only problem with this is that Barbara is a die-hard Kasey Kahne fan and therefore Kyle is down her list of favorite drivers.  We finally mailed the signed photo to Barbara and she received it today and sent us this picture.  Great sport.

Gerry waited in line to get the photo and when she left, she ran into the Snap-On tool guy staying there.  We mentioned to him that we joked about there being only one Snap-On tool guy and he was following us around.  He got a charge out of that and suggested taking a picture with Gerry.  When the photo came out you could see the signed picture very clearly in the photo.  Ooooops!

 
I had to crop the photo of Barbara out so she wouldn't see it and wonder why she was in the photo.   Sharp eyed Gerry caught this error and I managed to fix it before anyone saw it.  Close call.

Gerry patiently waited her turn to get his autograph and I was able to get close enough to take the photo.  They had a lot of security and I almost didn't get the photo since they didn't want me to be that close to the table, but I looked harmless so it worked out.

 
You can see the previous post on this by clicking on the Hotrod Cafe label on the side of this page.  

We went to Pizza night at the recreation center tonight for dinner.  It was the smallest crowd that we have seen for the all you can eat pizza night.  We managed to have a good time and were the last people to leave along with Judy & Steve.  We stopped by their 5th wheel and Gerry had a Kinky drink and I had an excellent Alaskan Amber beer.  We had a nice chat and arranged to go out for dinner Tuesday at the Guadalajara Cafe and then check out the Christmas lights at the Winterhaven  subdivision in North Tucson.   Pictures to follow.

Steve & Judy took a trip up to Alaska this summer and took almost 1,000 photos.  We looked at a number of them and they were great.  They enjoyed very nice weather and almost all of the photos had white fluffy clouds and blue skies appearing in them.  It was nice seeing some of the places they had been and also that we visited in 1995.  Alaska is truly a beautiful place and well worth the trip up there.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.
 

Rainbows & Viros Bakery

Yesterday as we were heading out the most beautiful rainbow appeared with the Rincon Mountains as a backdrop.  We noticed a woman stopping along the road and taking a picture looking west when the rainbow came into view to the east.  Since we had an unobstructed view, we could see both ends of the rainbow.  It really lifted our spirits.

We made a run today to the post office to mail the last of the Christmas cards and on the way back decided to stop for lunch.  There weren't many options along 22nd St, but we did find Viro's Bakery and Cafe.  They had some delicious pastries on display and also had a cafe area with a few tables.  They had a daily special of a 9 inch pizza, two salads and two drinks for $9.99 and we decided to go for it.  The salads were fresh and the pizza good so it turned out to be a great meal.

Gerry couldn't resist checking out the pastries but she was able to control her urges and not buy any.  It helped that she looked after the meal and not before.  It's sort of like not shopping for groceries on an empty stomach, except this time it was pastries.

 
I had a number of large files to download from the internet and didn't want to use up any of my remaining data on my aircard, so a trip to the library was in order.  They have a very good wifi system and I was able to download about 600mg in a short time.  

Gerry walked around checking out the movies and audio books and managed to find a number of each to take back to the motor home.  We watched one of them, "Wanderlust" with Jennifer Anniston and were glad that we didn't have to pay rental on the movie.  We were both surprised that she was in the movie but I guess she was trying to break away from her goodie two shoes reputation.  If you haven't seen the movie, take my advice and skip this one.

Arizona University is located in Tucson and they had a special day today with their football team scoring 14 pts in the last 42 seconds of their bowl game and winning 49-48 over Nevada.  Then, the basketball team played #5 ranked Florida and won 65-64 by scoring the last 7 points of the game.  It was a good day to be a Wildcat fan.