PieHole Whiskey

Gerry had a routine Dr appointment today and it included the usual 1 hour wait to see him.  All was well with the visit, but by the time she got out of there it was dinner time.  She drove home in a heavy rainstorm and wasn't too happy about that.  By this time she was ready to go out for dinner.

We settled on a visit to Montgomery's Bar & Grill in nearby Vail.  If you are a follower of this blog, you will know it is a favorite place of ours (mine mostly) so we ran between the rain drops and headed there for happy hour and a meal.  I didn't think it would be busy there with all the rain, however I was wrong and we just managed to snag a small table.  Shortly thereafter a couple Shocktop drafts were sitting before us and the food order was taken.  As usual we enjoyed our meals and could barely finish them due to how large they were.  

When we came in Gerry noticed they had a special on a PieHole Whiskey Pecan Pie drink.  It had hot chocolate, Piehole whiskey pecan pie and whipped cream.  Since it was a cold and dreary day, she decided to try one and loved it.   The drink arrived in a large coffee cup and she said it really hit the spot.  The bonus was she could actually taste the whiskey in the drink.

  
We've never heard of PieHole Whiskey and thought it was sort of a joke, but there really is a Canadian Whiskey named PieHole.  Yes I know there is another meaning for this, but the whiskey was great.  Not something you would want to sip at, but makes a great drink.  

It was still raining cats and dogs when we left the restaurant and I took the back roads back to the motorhome.  We went through a number of low spots where the road was covered with water and ran across a few idiots who were driving way too fast for the conditions.  The spray from them covered our car for a couple seconds before we could see the road again.  Hope I didn't pick up some dings and dents from the idiots.

It looks like there will be one more day of this rain and then nicer weather the first of the week.  We are ready for some nice sunny days but really aren't complaining that much when we see what the weather is like in the Midwest & Northeast.  At least I don't have to shovel the rain.

That was our day, how was yours?

Lucky Day For Us

We got up earlier than usual today in order to attend the 9:00am coffee and donuts extravaganza at the recreation center.  They provide donuts and rolls and if you want to get an Apple Fritter you had better be there early.  We used to get there about 10 minutes early and get one but now you have to be there earlier. It won't be long before it will be the 8:00am coffee and donut gathering.

We didn't win the 50/50 drawing once again but did win a free motor home wash at Freedom Rv and also a fleece throw.  The motor home wash will come in handy as it costs around $200 for a wash and wax job here.  Nice prize to say the least.

Gerry stayed around and worked on her quilt while I went back to the motor home and did some chores.  Once Gerry was finished with the quilting group, we hit the road for lunch.  Hotrods restaurant is very close to the park and since it was such a nice day, we decided to have lunch there on their patio.  It was a little strange getting seated and it took a while.  The host went back to check the patio and then came back and said people were smoking there.  No problem, we could sit far from them.  Then he went to clean the table and said to wait at the entrance.  We followed him rather than wait for him to make the long return trip.  It was almost like he didn't want us to eat there.

Finally, we were seated and by that time most of the smokers had left the area.  A few minutes later the remaining patrons left the area and we had the whole patio to ourselves.  I had the "large" Taco salad and it was quite large to say the least.  Gerry had a chicken wrap and could only finish half of it.  We took our time and enjoyed eating outside on the patio.  After lunch we returned to the motor home and hung out.  We did have a short "happy hour" outside of the motor home, enjoyed the warm weather a while longer and finally went inside when the sun went down and it cooled off quickly.

We had a great day out here and hope you all had a great day, also.  

"American Sniper"

Gerry and I were looking forward to viewing the "American Sniper" movie and we finally made it to the theater today.  Monday is Seniors day and the tickets were $10.50 total for both of us.  It was money well spent and we enjoyed the movie very much.  I would highly recommend it to everyone.

They have two theaters showing the movie and the one we went to was 3/4 full with a big spread by age.  I was surprised to see as many young people there for an early afternoon movie.  There was applause at the end of the movie and the few people we talked to said it was great.  I can't imagine this movie not winning the Oscar for best picture of the year, but then you are dealing with the Hollywood group.  The lead actor was superb and the supporting cast was strong.  Clint Eastwood outdid himself directing and making it very realistic. 

It wasn't so much a war story as it was Chris Kyle fighting for what he believed in.  The sniper was there to help protect the Marines and provide cover in the most difficult conditions.  He was so good at his job the enemy had a $180K bounty on his head.  All in all he had over160 confirmed kills of the enemy during his 4 tours of duty in Iraq.  

At the end of his last tour he helped other returning soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and was shot and killed by a veteran he was trying to help.  He left behind a wife, son and daughter and was revered by the SEALS with whom he served.  

Now we are trying to figure out what movie to see next week and both of us think whatever one we see will be a big letdown.  Anybody have any suggestions for a good movie?  We saw "Taken3" last week and liked it, but not as much as the first two Taken movies.

We went to Sweet Tomatoes after the movie and managed to sneak in on the lunch prices or  the cashier made a mistake.  The meal this time was very good and we managed to fill ourselves up on salads, bread, soup and ice cream.  As an added bonus, we each got two cookies to take home for later.

It was a good day for us and I hope you all had a great day.  Linda & Sherwin must be hunkering down up in Maine waiting for expected blizzard to strike them.  Stay warm you two and good luck.

 

Coffee, quilting & Taken3

Tuesday is coffee and donuts at the recreation center.  Some days outside vendors like La Mesa RV or others will come in and give a sales pitch to the attendees.  We lucked out and didn't have to listen to their sales pitches today.  We took a couple chances on the "lucky buck" drawing but didn't win as usual.  We've won once in the 9 years we have spent the winters here. 

Gerry went back to the recreation center after coffee to work on her quilt.  A number of the ladies meet every Tuesday after coffee and either quilt, crochet, sew or just jabber with each other.  Gerry is almost finished with her quilt and worked steadily on it for about 4 hours.   I teased her about finishing the quilt in 2017 and have a bruised arm to show for my attempt at humor.   Ouch!

We had plans to go to a movie in the afternoon and drove down to the Park Place Mall where they have a huge complex of 24 theaters with the latest movies.  Monday & Tuesday are discount days and admission is less than $6.00 each.  Quite a bargain in these days.  We had our choice of a number of good movies and decided to watch "Taken3" before it left the area.

We have seen the two previous "Taken" movies and liked them very much.  Lot of wild action and a fairly good story.  Liam Neeson was the star in each movie and has done a good job portraying the part of a retired secret agent.   There are always car chases, gun fights and other events to keep you interested. 

There is an old saying that "fish and visitors begin to smell after 3 days" and Gerry and I both think that the saying can be applied to this 3rd movie in the series.  The first movie was great, 2nd good but not up to the 1st one and the last one was below them.  There were a total of 8 paying customers in the theater including us.  I wonder how they can make any money with attendance like that.

Neeson came out recently against the number of guns in the U.S. and other countries and has incurred the wrath of the company supplying guns to the movie productions.  “There's just too many f*****g guns out there,” Neeson told Gulf News, when asked about the shootings at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. “Especially in America. I think the population is like, 320 million? There's over 300 million guns. Privately owned, in America.”  The company has stated they will not provide the guns to any production that has Liam Neeson starring in the movie.  Since he is around 63 yrs old, his future as an action hero is in doubt and the ban of guns to his movies will hurt him, also.   It was sort of strange that he starred in movies with violent gun scenes but felt the way he did about firearms.

That was our day, how was yours?

The President Tree

Not every tree has a nickname, but 'The President' has earned it.

This giant sequoia stands at 247 feet  tall, and is estimated to be

over 3,200 years old. Imagine, this tree was already 1200 years old

when Jesus walked the earth.

What more can be said about this tree?  Beautiful!!

WIndshield Chip repair

On our trip out here from the East Coast I was a nice guy and let a pickup truck merge in front of me and was rewarded with two rocks flying up from his rear wheel and striking the motor home windshield. The pickup had an ATV in the bed of the truck and the driver must have been out riding the ATV in a rocky area and proceeded to spray rocks along the highway.  Of course, he floored it and was out of sight rapidly. 

The chips looked bad but they didn't run very much so I kept driving.  Gerry circled the chip area with a magic marker to see if they would spread.  It stayed the same since the 1st of December.  We finally got around to calling our insurance company yesterday and arranged for the windshield to be repaired.  

Safelite sent out a technician today to do the job and he arrived this afternoon.  He checked the chips to make sure they could be repaired and said it wouldn't be a problem.  He made quick work on the repair job and wrapped it up in about 30 minutes.

The first step was to attach the device shown below to the windshield and then force acrylic into one of the chip holes.  He had a template with a hole in the middle and drew a circle around the chip before he applied the acrylic into the hole.  Then he did the same thing to the other chip. 

 The next step was to cure the acrylic with an ultraviolet light device.  He applied a square of mylar over the holes before he used the ultraviolet light. 

After the acrylic was cured the tech used a razor to scrape off the plastic and excess material.  The chips are still visible but no moisture can get into the holes now and that should stop any further damage.  Time will tell.

The insurance company paid for the work at no cost to me.  Now if they don't raise my rates next year, then it really will be no cost to me.  More to come on that later.

All this work made me hungry and we decided to go to The Village Inn for dinner.  Ron K joined us and we left early to beat the rush.  Well, a horde of q-tippers had the same idea and beat us there.  We had a 15-20 minute wait before we were seated.  Each of us ordered different meals and all agreed the food was very good.   

Wednesday night is free pie night and that is one reason so many people were there.  We were so full that we took our pie home and had it later for a dessert.  My cherry pie was great and Gerry had a White Chocolate Cherry Dream pie which was even better according to her.

See how exciting it is out here in the desert.  More excitement to come in the upcoming days.

One of my loyal readers sent me an email outlining her exciting days and ours.  She has met a number of new people in the past couple months and has written to some of them.  Well, actually she has written checks for numerous home repairs.  No, we don't want to trade her our "excitement" for hers.   Plus, it's very cold where she lives.  Hang in there JC!
  

Aqua Hot Repair Pt 3 & Sky Rider Cafe

If you have been following my blog for the past month or so, you would know we've been having problems with the electric part of our Aqua Hot heater.  The Aqua Hot runs on electric or a diesel burner and provides continous hot water to the appliances & also to the furnace.  When it works, it is great.  

We returned to Tucson early to have the unit worked on and they determined it was the electric heating element, which was replaced after it was ordered, so second trip.  Nope, didn't fix it.  Then it was diagnosed as the main control board.  The board was ordered or maybe it wasn't.  When I checked, they fumbled around and said they would try and locate it locally.  That was my first clue they had forgotten to order it.  Finally, it came in and today was the day for repairing the unit.

We arrived early for our appointment and sat around for a couple hours and grew bored.  I took advantage of being at the dealer to have the Aqua Hot unit serviced as it is recommended to do this every year and we hadn't had it done in 3 years.  Hey, it still worked fine on the diesel burner.  Otherwise, we would have been out of there in an hour or so, according to our service writer. 

Normally the dealer has a free lunch for customers but the restaurant section is closed on Monday.  Note - no future service on Monday.  We at first thought we'd visit the Rodeo Museum in Tucson but decided to save that for a later day.  We had discussed having lunch at the Marana Regional Airport a number of times and decided to head out there for lunch.

 
They have a small lunch counter and also a number of tables in two sections.  We chose the larger room and made ourselves comfortable.

 The restaurant seems to be popular with motorcycle riders and there was a table full of them here today.  These are not the "Hells Angel" type of riders, but just everyday people out enjoying riding on their Harleys.  One of the bloggers I follow was at the restaurant the other day.  Retired Rod 

There was a mural painted on the wall behind me and Gerry managed to get a good picture of the mural and a goofy shot of me.  There are a number of aircraft pictures, artifacts and odds and ends on the walls of the restaurant.

 A little guy decided to drop in for lunch while we were there and arrived in an unexpected manner.

Gerry ordered a chicken bacon wrap and I had my old standby of a ham club sandwich.  I have found that it is very difficult to mess up a club sandwich and order them all the time.  The meals were filling and it was not possible to finish them off, so we left some French fries and onion rings.  We couldn't escape without ordering a huge cinnamon bun to go for eating later in the evening.  I wonder why I am so fat. 

There is some history at the airport and I didn't learn about it until after we left.  We explored down an airport road and turned around too soon.  If we would have gone another 1/4 mile we would have seen the following historical airplane.

The first Air Force One aircraft is housed at the Marana Regional Airport. The Lockheed VC-121 Constellation 48-610 was affectionately named after the columbine, state flower of Colorado, the home of first lady Mamie Eisenhower. It was used as the presidential aircraft in 1953 and replaced in 1954, when it became the backup.  Now it is rotting in the sun and heat and is being destroyed very quickly.  It is estimated that it would cost $220K to restore the plane but nobody has stepped forward with an interest in doing this.

It was time to return to the RV repair shop and wait for them to finish up with the repairs.  They work slowly and I think on more than one RV at a time.  Made for a long day for us.  The control board below was at the root of all our troubles and was replaced.  It amazes me to see all the printed circuit boards in use in computers, cars and RVs.  I can't imagine how many boards are in modern airplanes.

They finally completed the repair and service work and we were out of there just in time for rush hour.  As usual, the repair costs were enough to take your breath away.  However, we got out of there cheaply.  When we bought the RV we paid for a 5 year extended warranty and they picked up the major portion of the costs.  Nice.  Now I just hope the Aqua Hot works for the remainder of the time we have the RV.

BTW:  While we closed the bar the other night, it was an early closure.  We were out of there by 11pm and on our way back to the RV.

We took Gerry's cousin and husband to the Tucson Int'l Airport Friday morning so they could catch their flight to Las Vegas, NV.  They completed their 4 week visit to the U.S. there and left this afternoon for the long flight back to Australia.  Bon voyage you guys.  

That was our exciting day, how was yours?

Aussies visit Day 3

It was good that we went sightseeing yesterday rather than today.  It began to rain early in the morning and continued all day.  It wasn't a downpour but enough to make it nasty walking around outside without an umbrella.  We adjusted our plans and it was decided that we would visit the Arizona State Museum on the Univ of Arizona campus.

The museum is on the edge of the center of the campus and parking spaces are very difficult to find.  I managed to find a space at an one hour parking meter.  Once we were parked we walked a couple blocks to the museum and Gerry, Vivian and Patrick toured it.  I didn't sign up for the tour and waited for them in the lobby.  Since the metered parking had an 1 hour limit, I had to keep feeding it quarters.

Gerry took a number of photos in the museum and was very impressed with the pottery & display depicting early Indian life in the Arizona area.  She said some were very beautiful and delicate.

 

I stopped at a bar/cafe to get a coffee and also to find a dry place to sit down.  There was a Starbucks down the street but I don't like to spend my money on the high priced Starbucks coffee.  Well, my plain cup of coffee cost $2.50 at the "cheaper" place.  To add insult to injury the coffee wasn't any good.   Lesson learned.

This was the view from the car with the rain coming down heavier and a small river of water running down the street.  It looked like a neat area with a lot of small shops, restaurants and bars.  I think a trip down there for dinner one evening is in the cards.

Once the three musketeers returned we started further downtown to look over the "Old Pueblo" area but the rain would have made it miserable to walk around and view the buildings.  Vivian asked if there were any expensive homes in Tucson and when I mentioned the beautiful homes on the east side of Tucson, we changed course and headed for some house viewing.

There are a number of beautiful homes in the northeast section of Tucson at the base of the Santa Catalina mountains on the way to Mt Lemmon.  They are either $1 million homes or have million dollar views.  We took a number of photos but didn't want to invade everyone's privacy so limited the photos to the two below. 

 It was starting to get close to "happy hour" and we decided to take them to a local western bar.  Tucson McGraw's Cantina has a patio with a nice view looking south toward the Santa Rita mountains in the distance.  Once again the rain and cool weather forced us inside for our drinks.  It was meant to be a short visit so they could enjoy some of the local flavor and we moved on after one drink.

I think Patrick was ready to buy a 10 gallon hat and stay there but he was over ruled by the 3 of us.  He would make a good cowboy and looked ready to round up some doggies.

Nobody was ready for a large meal so we headed for another local bar/restaurant called Montgomery's.  They have good sandwiches and cold beer so it was easy to pick it.  Rueben sandwiches aren't common or available in Australia so they ordered one of them and also a fish and chips dinner.  Both were pleased with their meals and liked the atmosphere at the restaurant.  We had non-stop conversations and learned more about each other.

By this time, it was too late to do much and since they were leaving in the morning, we decided to call it time to return to the hotel.  We sat in a bar area at the hotel and enjoyed the fireplace and more conversations.  As a matter of fact, we closed the bar down and talked for a couple hours more.  Lots of catching up about the family and our lives, so conversation came easily.

We finally decided it was time for us to head home and let them catch some zzzzzzs.  It was after 11pm when we arrived back at the motorhome and we headed to bed.  Tired, but we had a great day.

That was our day, how was yours?

Aussies visit Day 2

We had made plans last night to go sightseeing in the Tucson area today and had an early start.  We met Vivian and Patrick at their hotel and started our adventure for the day.

First on the agenda was a visit to the San Xavier del Bac Mission south of Tucson.  We took a short cut through the Tohono O'Odoham Indian reservation and came in the back way.  It was a beautiful clear, sunny day perfect for taking pictures and we managed to take a number of them.

First picture up was of Vivian & Patrick standing in front of the Mission with a beautiful sky in the background.  We lucked out and were able to take the photo without a horde of people in the picture.

Early image of the Mission

We had to dodge two large tour groups in the church and patiently waited for the altar to be clear to take the photo below.  The outside entrance of the church is a replica of the backdrop of the altar.  The church is still in use after being completed in 1797.  Over the years they have added a courtyard and wall around the church and are still in the process of renovating the church. 

 Vivian, Patrick and Gerry checked out the nice museum at the mission and caught up with the history of the mission.

After leaving the Mission we continued south on I-19 to the Titan Missile site in Green Valley, AZ.  When the US and Russia reached an agreement to dismantle inter-continental missiles all the sites were closed down and many were destroyed.  The site at Green Valley was left as it was at the time of the closing, minus the warhead, and is open for tours.  Gerry and I have been on the tour a number of times and waited while Vivian & Patrick took the hour long tour.  They both seemed impressed with the site and were happy they had the opportunity to see it up close.

Then it was back toward Tucson and a visit to Saguaro West National Park.  We stopped in the visitor center so they would have an idea what was there and to read up on the park's history.   There are hundreds of 100+ year old saguaro cacti in the park and there is a dirt road leading through the area.   

Upon leaving the park we decided it was time to have an early dinner and I chose the Guadalajara Cafe for dinner.  We wanted them to have a typical Mexican dinner with salsa prepared right at the table and to be serenaded by a Mariachi Band.  Since it was also "happy hour", we enjoyed some adult beverages.  Flan was the dessert of choice and the three of them shared a large portion.

Since we were in downtown Tucson, we took them on a short tour of the area.  There has been a lot of road construction in the area and I had to keep my eyes on the road.  By this time everyone was on overload and we went back to their hotel and dropped them off.  All of us were worn out and needed to get to bed early.

It was a long day, but we had nonstop conversation on a variety of subjects.  Vivian and Patrick have traveled extensively and it was interesting hearing their views of the various places they have been.  We also were brought up to speed on family matters and daily life in Australia.  What a treat it has been to meet family from "Down Under"!

That was our fun day, how was yours?

The Aussies are in town!

I am an amateur genealogist and have been researching my family line for several years. About 17 years ago Gerry asked me if I could help her research some of her ancestors. My ancestors have been in the US for at least 140 years and some have been here since the 1650s so it was relatively easy to research them. However, Gerry's family came from Croatia & Bohemia during the early 1900s so it's been more difficult to trace them back.

She did get a break when, during a conversation with her Aunt Mary, it was revealed she had a letter from some relatives in Croatia. Of course, it was in Croatian and Gerry doesn't speak the language so she had it translated to English. She had an address of the relatives and decided to send them a letter seeking information on the family. Then she waited for a response. After about 6-8 weeks a letter arrived from a young girl named Melita who is the grand daughter of the lady to whom Gerry wrote. Luckily Melita was studying English in school and was very eager to practice her writing skills.

Gerry and Melita corresponded over the years and one letter mentioned some of the family had migrated to Australia after WWII. That was an important clue for us and since the surname wasn't that common, I got the brilliant idea to search in Australia for anyone with the surname. After all, there only about 23 million Australians so how could it go wrong. I chose to look up the name through the Australian phone books and came up with addresses for 6 possibilities.  Gerry wrote an exploratory letter to each person listed. The first letter that was answered was a miss, but they were nice enough to respond so that was fine. She hit the jackpot on the next letter and found the cousin who had moved to Sydney, Australia during the late 1940s. Their family data matched up and she communicated with him for many years, exchanging Christmas cards, letters, photos etc.

Now you may wonder why the above is important to this blog since many people communicate with relatives in different countries. Last year Gerry received the usual Christmas card and Vivian, the daughter of her cousin informed us that she and her husband Patrick would be vacationing in the US in December of 2014 and January 2015 and wanted to know if we would still be in Tucson in January. We actually had decided to not return this winter but when we knew they were coming to town, we changed our plans so we could meet them.  That is a nice feature of having a home on wheels.

The Aussies arrived on January 6 and we picked them up at the airport. Gerry had a picture of them so she could pick them out of the arriving passengers so that went well. Once they retrieved their luggage, she called me at the cell phone lot and I drove the car up to the arriving passengers area. They were standing on the curb with Gerry and I recognized them immediately.   Patrick and Vivian were finally in Tucson and we were happy to see them.

We all piled into the car and headed out to the Casino del Sol Hotel and Casino where they had booked a room for three nights. After dropping them off at the hotel we parked the car and waited for them in the lobby so we could chat and make some plans for the next few days. They are a delightful couple and have traveled extensively, so were eager to see what Tucson had to offer. After chatting for a couple hours and firming up plans for the next day we bid them goodnight so we could get an early start the next morning.

We did notice there were a number of RVs in the parking lot at the Casino and decided to check them out more closely. It was dry camping (no facilities ) and free. All in all there were around 35 RVs parked there with their slides out, jacks down, grills outside and some had their solar panels hooked up. It looked like the people were there for the duration. Since it was free, I imagine they will stay there for a long time. The local Walmart usually had 3-5 units parked overnite but they all leave in the morning so they don't take up parking spaces needed for the daily customers.

That was our day, how was yours?

Christmas is over

It's the earliest we've taken the Christmas tree down since we've been married.  Busy week ahead of us and weren't sure we would have time to take it down later.

Warning .....  Large Download!

We finally have a nice day this year with it being in the 60s and sunny.  Looking forward to many more like this.

Gerry's cousin from Australia is arriving on Tuesday and we will pick them up at the airport and take them to their hotel.  We are looking forward to actually meeting them after exchanging letters and emails over the years.  It will be a short visit but we hope to get to know them better during the time they are here.

That's about all we've been up to the first few days of 2015.  What about you?

Happy New Year 2015

Gerry and I wish all our friends and family a very Happy New Year.

This is what the new year brought us in Tucson this cold morning.  Yes, it does snow in Tucson, but rarely hangs around for a while and the roads are always clear.  Well, almost always.

Happy birthday to our good friend Ron Kukla.  I just wish he hadn't put this snow on his wish list.