What's Wrong With This Picture

I monitor weather in Gillespie, IL; Smithsburg, MD; Concord, NC; and Vail, AZ.  My brother and his family live in/near Gillespie, Barbara & Larry both live in Concord and Cassie lives in Smithsburg, MD.  We make the 2400 mile to come out to Vail to enjoy the warm winters and sun.  Well, we have the sun but the warm days/nights are avoiding us.  See picture below.

Typically this time of the year does have cold days and nights but we have been spoiled by warmer weather over the years.  It will be in the 60s during the day and possibly even 70 later this week.  We've even had a few snow flurries at times recently but nothing to even cover the car.  

When we were in Arlington, TX for Thanksgiving the 9+ inches of rain was very depressing and made it an adventure to drive around.  Plus no sun for days at a time didn't make the visit any better.  At least here we do have nice sunny days to cheer us up a little.

I like a little fresh air in the motorhome so I leave the window next to my chair open a little.  Last night I had forgotten about that and was wondering why it was so cool in my area.  This morning I found out why when the shades were open.  The window was still open and cold air was fighting with the furnace.  Closing the window made the battle more even and now it is toasty warm here.

 On and off I have been watching snips of the History Channel show about them trying to prove Hitler didn't die in his bunker, but had moved to South America.  Recently,  FBI documents were declassified and outlines their search for Hitler.  It seems that the general consensus was that he was transported by submarine to Argentina and lived there for a while and later lived in Brazil.  

At first I was skeptical to say the least, but now I'm not so sure.  He had a large group of followers with money that believed he would rise again and form the 4th Reich.  There were numerous prosperous German companies in those above countries and could have hid him easily.  They were unable to 100% prove he was there but many clues pointed to he was actually living there as late as 1948.  

As you have been able to figure out there isn't a lot going on around here when I write about the weather and documentaries.  We hope to get out and do some sightseeing soon so maybe something interesting will come up.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a great New Year.  

Snow Flurries and The 'Skins win

We were out and about today looking for some bargains on Christmas decorations.  Managed to find a few of them and picked up our Christmas cards for next year so it was a success.  

While we were at Costco snow flurries were coming down fairly steadily.  Sort of unusual to see blue skies and snow at the same time.  There wasn't any accumulation and hopefully that will be our snow "storm" for the year.

The Redskins were playing the Philadelphia Eagles for first place in their division today.  Just our luck that it was shown on the NFL network which you have to pay for.  Oh well!  I got to thinking that the Hotrods Bar had numerous tvs around the place and gave them a call to see if they had the NFL network.  They did, so we hustled on up there to watch the end of the game.  There were 4 of us 'Skins fans there and thoroughly enjoyed the game and the outcome.  I hope Jim & Sandie up there in Apache Junction had a chance to see the game since they are long suffering Skins fans also.  The win clinched the division title and will guarantee they host a playoff game.  Go 'Skins!

The weather forecast is for the coldest night of the year with temps around 26 degrees.  We had temps like that at Thanksgiving time so we aren't that concerned.  The furnace in the MH is great and we have a couple standalone electric heaters so we are good to go.  It helps to run the water at a little stream all night to keep the water hose from freezing.  Our hose has insulation on it and if it was going to be colder I would turn the water off.

I received an email today from a "friend" in Florida pointing out how nice their weather was compared to ours.  Hmmm!   Well, I don't think the friend had a beautiful sunset like we did tonight.

That was our day out here in sunny and cold Tucson.  How was yours?

Merry Christmas

Gerry and I always take time to check Christmas lights and decorations in the neighborhoods around us.  Tonight we found the time and went through a couple areas to check out the lights.  There seem to be more and more lights each year as people add to their collections.

It's always difficult to photograph night lights with our cameras so the photos aren't the greatest.

The house below always has a beautiful display and is the most outstanding one in the area.  The man in the white sweater is the owner of the house and he serves cookies, hot chocolate and gives away toys on Christmas eve.  We stopped by and I talked to him for a while and he seemed quite pleased at the people enjoying themselves at his display.  I picked up a couple cookies and we were on our way.

We had intended to attend the 7:00pm mass tonight, but we had unexpected company all afternoon.  It was nice seeing everyone and catching up on what has been going on with them.  I guess it is back to the children's mass tomorrow.  We love to see all the children in front of the altar and have the priest quiz them.  You never know what a 5 year old will say and we get a charge out of them.

Our heart goes out to those killed in the tornadoes in the South and Midwest today.  The crazy weather there is mind boggling with the Southwest being so cold and 75 degree weather in Charlotte, NC.



 

Guadalajara & Christmas Cookies

We had some last minute shopping to do on Monday and made a big circle getting it all finished.  We went to the Northwest side of Tucson and made a couple stops.  The stores weren't that crowded so it made it easy to shop.  

Since we were near the Guadalajara Grill (one of our favorite places), we decided to stop there for an early dinner.  Since it was happy hour, we ordered from the appetizer menu and had mini-chimis and a large Taco salad.  Gerry had a large margarita and I had a draft Dos XX Amber beer.  We were there too early for the mariachi band, but had a good time all the same.

We stopped by Kohl's so Gerry could pick up some items for a planned trip of ours.  She came out with a bag full but some items will go back since they were sewed backwards and the stitches show.  

While she was in the store I stayed with the car to guard it.  I know, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.  I noticed a young man trying to get into a Tahoe and I was ready to call 911 when he decided to enter the store.  Hopefully he was going inside to meet up with his parents and wasn't a thief.

Shortly thereafter a young lady walked out of the store with a shopping cart overloaded.  I noticed a man running full blast out of the store.  The girl took off running to get away.  I figured she was a shoplifter and a few minutes later a very, very large man came out and followed the other guy into the parking lot.  They returned with the girl between them and took her back into the store.  I think her Christmas is ruined.

Gerry decided to make cookies today and it smelled great around here.  She made my favorite mincemeat cookies and I had to sample it.  Fantastic. 

I can't wait to have some more.  She also made snickerdoodles and will be baking mincemeat pie and other cookies on the day before Christmas.

Master baker at work

 

Snickerdoodles

 We have the motorhome decorated and the tree up.   Due to limited space we placed it on the dash of the mh next to the manger.  To the left is Gerry's favorite decoration since when you press it's finger it starts singing.
 

Cassie & Barbara 1969

I can't imagine how we prepared for Christmas when the children were little.  We both worked and had to shop in the evening or the weekend.  It took days to put up the tree since we really loaded it up with lead icicles, ornaments and lights.  At one time we used bubble lights but when they wore out we couldn't replace them.  Inbetween all that, there were presents to assemble & wrap, cards to send, parties to host/attend.  Whew!

We also decorated outside with lights on the bushes and on the rain gutters.  Back then it was usually cold when we put these decorations up and working fast was the rule of the day.  I guess those days are for the really young folks.  

That was our last few days out here in the Southwest.  What have you been up to?

Football, Church & Freddy's Steakhouse

I have been a Washington Redskins fan for over 55 years and have lived through the lean years in the 1960s, Superbowl wins & losses and the painful years since the present owner has had the team.  I won't go into detail of what I think of his leadership, but if he was to sell them it would make me very happy.

The Washington Redskins haven't been very good for a long time and this year they still have a long way to go to be a good team; however, they are in first place in their division with a 7-7 record and can actually make the playoffs if they win their next two games.  This was a good weekend for them since all the other teams in the division lost and the 'Skins are in first place.  I'm glad I brought my Redskins shirts with me this year.   

BTW:  A friend of mine and I bought season tickets in the late 1960s and have kept them all these years.  Neither of us use them now and the son of my friend buys them from us and uses them for his business.

We went to the 5pm service at church and the priest must be an Arizona Cardinals fan since we were out of there in 40 minutes.  I think that is the shortest service we have ever attended.  The Christmas Mass will make up for it since we like to attend the Children's Mass and it's always a long one.

Recently a new Freddy's Steakhouse opened just down the road from us.  It's been mobbed ever since it opened but we decided to check it out today for dinner.  It was a madhouse there and cars were lined up at the drive thru window.  That was along with a ton of people inside.  We decided to order and see how long it would take for our dinner to make it to the table.  They have two lines to order the meals and give you a number which they call out at another counter.  It took us 15 minutes to get our order and thought that was great considering the crowd there.

Our friend Ron K tried it out a couple days ago and thought it was good and who should we see there but Ron coming back for seconds.  He had placed an order to go and when he saw us decided to join us for dinner.

My cheeseburger and Gerry's chicken sandwich

Ron K waiting for his order.

 We enjoyed the meals but think it is more like a Five Guys type restaurant minus the salted peanuts.  I think the burger was better than Five Guys and since it is so close, I am sure we will return for lunch a couple times while we are here.

That was our exciting day out here in sunny and warm Tucson.      

 

Brrrrrrrrr, It's Cold Here in Tucson

We usually have a couple weeks of cold weather here in Tucson in January, however this year it arrived early.  It has been down to 24F the past few nights and that is cold for us.  The days have been in the low 50s so it hasn't warmed up that much as is usual for here.

Today was nicer with temps in the 60s and Friday it will be back in the 70s.  That is the temps that we love and expect here.  It did snow on Mt. Lemmon a couple days ago with accumulation around 15 inches more or less.  The highway up there was closed for a while and reopened and everyone made a dash to play in the snow.  There was a picture in the paper of a young man sledding dressed in jeans and a t-shirt in the 30 degree weather.  

We finally got all our Christmas cards in the mail, presents sent, motorhome decorated and now we are looking for things to do.  I vote for nothing, but have been over ruled by the boss.  She always has a job list to help keep me out of trouble.

The local post office shares space with a Credit Union and has one clerk to process the mail.  I went in the other day at 2:00pm and was told she was closing at 2:30pm and not taking anyone not already in line.  The hours there are 9:30am - 2:30pm with two 15 minute breaks.  No wonder the Post Office is in trouble.  I was there early the next day and took care of all our mailings.

We did see something unusual the other day on our way back from shopping.  There was a Fed Ex tractor trailer with dual trailers on I-10 and the 2nd trailer broke away going down the road.  There was a Chevy Tahoe following too close and it ran into the rear of the trailer.  It didn't look like anyone was seriously hurt, but it did tie up the west bound traffic during rush hour.  Police cars were speeding toward the accident so it must have happened just a few minutes before we saw it.  I am happy that we were heading east bound and weren't involved in the huge backup.

Our grandson Sean and his wife Taylor had twin girls in October and they recently turned 2 months.  Taylor sent us pictures of the cuties and they are adorable.  

Riley Gray

Hayden Grace

 That's been our time out here the past week or so trying to get settled in and get ready for Christmas.  We've also been working on making some plans for late January & February.  Hopefully, all will work out and we will have more to blog about.  More to follow on this if we can firm it up.

Hope you all are having a great time and enjoying the Christmas season.

High & Dry

We have spent the past week getting settled into our campsite for the next 4 months.  The new site we are in is larger and the neighbors aren't as close to us.  We had to give up the view out the front window which gave us a direct view of sunset, but we can walk a few yards and have a better view.  In addition, we are closer to the rec center, pool and office.  Maybe we will get in the pool or hot tub this year.  Maybe!

Trips to Costco, Safeway and Fry's helped us stock up on necessities and all of our storage space and cabinets are full.  Safeway was the best stop on our shopping spree since we picked up 2 jars of Crosse & Blackwell mince meat pie filling.  In my opinion C&B is by far the best filling for mince meat pie.  Thankfully, I am the only one who likes it in the motorhome and the pie is my very own.  Yummy! 

 NONE SUCH is another mince meat pie filling but it is only good for cookies and bread.  In a pinch it can be used for pie filling but there is a big drop down in taste.

We are getting back in the routine of Tuesday coffee & donuts, Gerry's quilting group and NCIS in the evening.  Freedom RV sponsored the donuts this time and brought three RVs to check out.  One of the drivers cut the corner too short and took out the door covering the batteries on a brand new Class B.  Ouch!  They brought a 34ft Class A Ventana diesel unit and it looked really nice.  Finally, a shorter diesel that looks good.   NO, we are not in the market for a new RV.  This week there was also a pot luck dinner in the rec. hall.  As usual, there was some really good food to be shared.

There are some new people in the park and we've met a couple of them.  Many people who we've met over the past ten years are back and we have caught up on happenings from their summers away from here.  

The weather has been great since we've arrived and we are enjoying it very much after the monsoons we had in Texas.  No danger of flooding where we are and the sun is bright.  Temps are in the high 70s with lots of sunshine.  We do enjoy the weather out here when it's not so hot like summer.  If it was like this all year we'd move here for the weather. 

The car was filthy from the travels and rain and needed a wash job badly.  The local automatic car wash was down for a few days and we finally made it there to remove the grime the other day.  The manager moved the plastic barriers and we were good to go.  Not!  They have 4 large barrels full of soapy water with long handled brushes in them so you can apply more soap and help clean the car.  I did this but when I put in the credit card to activate the car wash the problems began.

After the credit card port churned for a while it gave me a cannot connect message.  Tried again and same thing.  The attendant came over and tried to help with no luck.  Finally one of the people working on the new car wash came over and worked on the unit.  After 20-30 minutes we finally were able to run the car through the wash.  It came out looking like a new car and we don't look like the Beverly Hillbillies anymorel

That has been our week out here.  Hope you all had a great week also.
 

Two Long Days On The Road

November 30, 2015 

The rains finally let up enough for us to leave Grand Prairie on Monday.   It was just in time as far as we were concerned since the water was still rising and the campsites across the road from us were under water.  Not conducive to having a good night sleep when you never know if you will have to move again during the night.

We waited for rush hour to slow down and were on the road around 10am heading west on I-20.  It was a great day for making good time with no wind, dry roads and light traffic.  I added a little fuel in Pecos, TX since we had to start up the car and run it through the gears to keep the transmission lubricated.  Then it was back on the road to Van Horn, TX for the night after driving 520 miles.  We always stop at the same park there since they have a small cafe and it gives Gerry a break from making breakfast.  

December 1, 2015

We were on the road early with the intention of stopping in Las Cruces but the weather forecast was for 20 degrees overnight.  Deming and Lordsburg had even colder forecasts so we decided to drive on to Tucson.  

 We made good time once again with light traffic until we arrived in Benson, AZ around 5pm and joined everyone in a massive traffic jam.  It took us almost 2 hours to travel 5 miles due to road construction and the narrowing down to one lane.  The RT 90 intersection was just before the road construction and there were three lanes of traffic fighting down to one lane.  What a mess.

By the time we got through the traffic jam it was too late to go to CCRV so we stopped at the Pima County Fairgrounds campground for the night.  They had two 50 amp sites left and we settled in for the night.  

This leg of the trip was 490 miles and it wore us out driving so far in two days.  Driving a 40ft motorhome with a tow car is more taxing than driving a car. It is slower, also.  The Honda CRV cannot be towed faster than 65 mph or the tranny will give out.

December 2, 2015

We left the fairgrounds around noon for the 3 miles drive to our campground for the next 4 months.  Since we didn't reserve our old site, they moved us to another site.  This one turned out to be larger and closer to the activity center.  I think it will work out better for us so we are pleased with it.

A number of friends stopped by to welcome us back including Ron K, Ron & Dee C and a couple others.  We managed to make a lot of headway setting up the motorhome.  Then we stopped by the local Fry's grocery store for some much needed provisions.  By then it was time for dinner and we stopped at Panda Express for a quick meal.  

We hit the hay early and called it a night.  Tired, but happy to be off the road for a while.