OWAV:) 03/07/11, 7am, 45°, Breezy/cloudy

I've been sitting her for an hour playing solitaire, drinking coffee, trying to conjure up thoughts to put on paper.  Here goes.  Yesterday after the laundry was finished, we decided to do a Costco run while here in Phoenix, thus saving us a trip to Clarkson in April, maybe.  April is a wonderful time to go to Lewiston, with the dogwoods, tulips, daffodils blooming and green hills all around.

At Costco we wander all of the aisles, picking up only a few necessities.  It is too early for all of the demonstrations to have started so we start for the checkout stand, but decide on one more stop.  We have been looking for a new kitchen sink faucet for a couple of years now but every time Herb gets me into a Home Depot my eyes glaze over after about ten minutes and my mind shuts down.  Way too many choices for me.  Costco has only two choices, I like one of them, only it looks like it is so big that it may take over our small kitchen.  We decide to take it anyway, because after all you can return anything to Costco, even after you have used it, RIGHT.  I'm sure Herb is going to remove it from the sink after he has it installed.  Already he is wishing that Rusty was going to be there when we get home to install it.  ME TOO!  Stayed tuned for another "installment".

We make a brief stop at Walmart for a new kind of eyedrops that I've been using since in this dry climate, they really seem to help.  Sunday papers are on the newsstand so I put one in my cart.  We read the Sunday paper on a regular basis for forty years, then suddenly they stopped delivery to Wallowa County.  We went through withdrawals for sometime but finally adapted and now don't even think about it unless we see one.  Back at the condo, we sit on the patio and wade our way through the paper, sorting out all the ads and coupons.  Most of it seems like a waste of paper and ink and it doesn't take us long to finish, even the funnies aren't funny anymore.  Am I getting old or what?

We take our books, and laptop, check email and scrabble at the registration deck, then sit poolside and read.  Then it is back to the condo where Herb BBQ's a steak and we add salads for another "inexpensive" gourmet dinner.  

I talked to Jamie, in reception, and ask how the baby jackrabbits were doing?  She said that she took them to the animal rescue where they were very happy to find a feeding apparatus similar to there mom, because they didn't want anything to do with the eyedropper that she tried to feed them with.  It is hard for me to believe that they are rescuing jackrabbits.  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/06/11, 6am, 45°, Breezy

We started out looking for yard sale signs about 8am, had skipped breakfast, because Herbs stomach still wasn't feeling very good.  Our plan was to watch for signs and lemon trees.  So we go to the major boulevards and then into the small cities or housing developments.  We stop at many sales and at each one ask if they have a lemon tree, but no lemons, just oranges and grapefruit.  We see many lemon trees, but I'm not brave enough to knock on just anyones door and ask if we can buy lemons from them.  We do see bags of grapefruit sitting on curbs free for the taking but no lemons.   I start thinking that I'm going to have to try making a different kind of pie.  It is a good thing that Herb has an internal homing device, if it was up to me I would be lost in a cul de sac going in circles for the rest of the day.  We don't find anything great and by 10am we are both ready to find a bathroom.  We spot a community fair and we are in luck, they have bathrooms.  We browse their sale, then start looking for a way out of the parking lot, when Herb spots some huge cardboard containers in the far corner.   As we cruise passed the containers, we see that they are full of grapefruit and on of them it says LEMONS.  This is a community drop for anyone who has fruit to share, they can bring it here for other people to help themselves.  We fill a sack with the biggest lemons I have ever seen and start back to our condo.  The sack immediately tips over and lemons are rolling everywhere in the back of the car.  The fragrance is wonderful and we may have lemonade instead of pie!  We stop at the grocery store for milk and bottled water to last the rest of the week and at last it is nearly noon and we are "home".

I season a lamb roast, put it in the oven, fix potatoes and boil eggs for a salad.  Herbs decides to take a much needed nap and I do scrabble and email.  We eat dinner after 3pm, then sit on our patio in the warm for the rest of the day, reading our books.  We talk to both of the kids on ichat, Rusty is in Joseph.  It is hard not to envy him sitting in my recliner, relaxing.  Well maybe not?  He says his truck with trailer is stuck in the backyard because of the melting snow, will get it unstuck in the morning.  Bobi and Cienna are doing their usual Saturday stuff in soggy Portland.

Herb is watching weather reports for next week, deciding on our route home.  Time in the sun is getting short.  Laundry is on the agenda for today, think we will have a steak for dinner.  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/05/11, 6am, 45°, Breezy

Yesterday we left about 9am for the University of Phoenix Stadium,  home of the Arizona Cardinals football team.  We are going to a "Home and Garden Show".   It was easy to get to and we had tickets for the Senior Citizen special at $1.00 each, if we got there before noon.  Parking is free and lots of it, at this time of day we park close to gate 2, our entrance.   We join the throng of people waiting to get in.  This complex is huge,  It is a covered dome that can be opened up and a real grass field that can be rolled out when other events are scheduled there, such as this home and garden show.  We took the escalator down two floors, to what was the playing field minus the grass.  So imagine vendor booths set up to fill this space.  We saw more roofing, tile, slate, doors, windows, cutlery, cookware, and numerous other things, than one usually sees in a lifetime.  We got stuck watching a "waterless cookware" demo and spent more time than planned (at least we were sitting down).  There were very few garden vendors, so didn't see the flower displays, I was anticipating.  Anyway it was fun, interesting, crazy?????  I spent more time looking at the stadium, with its many rows of bleachers, and its foldable roof, trying to imagine how it all worked.  Stopped at one yard sale on the way back to the condo.

Back at the condo, I fix a quick pan of  "sheepherder potatoes" and Herb grilled up a burger, for our dinner.  Catch up on scrabble, email, sit by the pool and on our patio.  Go to the ice cream social, put on by the resort.  It was billed as free but then found there might be a charge, but the ice cream "vendor" had spilled the ice cream out of his truck onto the street so they ended up treating us to ice cream specialties, from the little market at the front office.  Not much of a social but we did talk to a Canadian couple, who said it was -40° when they left home.  Joseph is sounding better everyday.  

We start our last week of sunshine today.  Will go yard saling today, hope we find some lemons.  We have one maybe two ballgames planned for this week.  Otherwise it is just sun, sun sun.  OWAW:)

OWAV:) 03/04/11, 6am, 45°, Clear

Yesterday is what Arizona is famous for; ball games, sunshine, dry heat with a slight breeze, 75-80°.  The morning was spent with the usual catching up with email and scrabble. We also pored over maps, checked the internet etc, for directions to the newest ballpark.  It is back in the same vicinity as the Gardens and the Zoo.  We have to decide whether we want to make that trip again, just to see the "new" ballpark or go to a different one near here.  (Ballparks are pretty much the same, so think we will stay on the west side.)  We already have tickets for a ballgame today and will do another one next week.

Herb wasn't feeling up to par after being up half the night, from the after effects of the "hot dog lunch".  Not only was it over priced but it wasn't very good either.  But by eleven am he is ready to go to the ball game.  The Arizona Diamond Backs and the San Diego Padres are playing.  After coming here every other year for the past six years he has the directions down pat and we are soon in our seats at the Peoria Sports Complex.  We have front row seats,  just behind first base and the padre's dugout.   The game is a good one, as the score stays close and we really don't have a favorite team, just come for the fun and people watching, including the vendors, who make their way through the stands selling everything from beer to ice-cream. a   One vendor in particular has been at every game since we started coming here, he sells "brewsky" and makes up little rhymes, to make it more interesting.  This year he has cut off his long ponytail and now has short curly hair.  Beer prices start at $6.25 a bottle and most people call it even at $7.00 giving the vendor a .75 tip.  He spouts, " I can't help the price, but I serve it up nice."  At about the fourth inning we leave our seats and head for the concessions stands to get our lunch.  Herb really wants another "dog" so I tell him to get two of what-ever and I head for the beer stand to get us a pint of Dechutes pale ale to split.  Total tab for two brots and a pint of beer is about $22.00.   Later we split dibs ice cream which adds another $5.25 to the total, add in tickets and we have a grand total of about $80.00 for a days entertainment.  We are not really adding up all the costs of our trip, just thought our kids might like to know how we are spending their inheritance.  The game ends with a home run in the ninth inning and the Padres win the game six to four.

Back at the condo, it feels good to get in out of the sun, (I hate saying that).  We do the usual and plan tomorrow's trip to a "home and garden show" at the University pavilion just south of us.  Herb says he is going to drop me off there and then go to Cabelas, doubt if he will but then one never knows.  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/03/11, 6am, 45°, Clear

Up early to start another day in the land of the sun.  Yesterday we headed east, an hours drive, where we toured the Desert Botanical Gardens, that has been in operation since 1939.  We visited there six years ago and it has grown and changed since then.  Now we follow a brick path which takes us in a circle around the gardens with gravel paths leading off of the brick path, going either to the inside or the outside of the brick path.  They have many different kinds of gardens including cactus and succulent, agave yucca forest, wildflower, plants and people, (food garden)  shade, herb, (closed) oasis, (with a pond) and a butterfly pavilion (seasonal).  Interspersed everywhere are the large cacti and trees of the desert area, along with many birds, butterflies and a few four legged critters.  We found the food garden to be very interesting, as stations along the way, manned by volunteers, explained how the different plants were used for food by the early tribes, that inhabited the desert.  

It is a little bit early for the desert flowers to be blooming, especially since last week was cold with little sun.  Of course the trade-off is that things are a little greener and alive looking.  The many shades of green are also apparent as we walk through the different areas.  

Something new that has been added to the gardens are metal figures, made entirely out of discarded metal found by the artist, welded together and painted in bright primary colors.  They are placed throughout the gardens, adding color, sometimes, seeming a little out of place against the natural colors of the desert.  We wondered if they will still be there a few years from now.  Of course, as usual, the brick path leads to the gift shop, where an array of garden decor, clothing, food and books await the garden visitors.

We are soon on our way and since we are in the area we have decided to visit the Phoenix Zoo.  We arrive at noon, so to rest after walking for two hours, we sit and eat a very over-priced hotdog and split a coke.  I spot a "train" full of people and see it as an easy way to see most of the animals, rather than walking and fighting the crowds.  We take the thirty minute tour, knowing that most of the animals are going to be shaded up for the day.  We saw giraffes, antelope, ostrich, watusi cattle, lions, tigers, rhino, toucan, baboons, elephants, camels, anteaters, meerkats, cheetahs, flamingoes, and tortoises.  Decided that was enough for one day and headed "home".

We quickly change into swimsuits and head for the pool, after a nice swim and sunbathing for a couple of hours, I catch up on email and scrabble.  When I get back to the condo, Herb has popcorn fixed for our "supper".  

A ballgame is on the agenda for today. More later.   OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/02/11, 6am, 45°, Clear

Mornin all!!  Went to the new Peoria library yesterday morning and perused the used book shelves, provided by "friends of the library".   Books are priced at fifty cents to two dollars, with a donation box for the money.   It is a beautiful sun-lit building, the roof is mostly glass. 

Spent a leisurely time yesterday, sitting in the sun, poolside.  We watched a family with four little ones play on the slide.  What fun they had and their energy is amazing.  They never stopped running,  ever up the steep stairs to the top of the slide for another trip down, with a splash into the water at the end, around and around they went.  It reminds me of Cienna and her love for the water.  I think she was born a fish, with a human body.  She has loved the water since before she could walk, and I have always been amazed at her comfort level in and around the water.

We had deer steak, mashed potatoes and salad for dinner and finished off the lemon cake last evening.  I caught up my scrabble games and did a video chat with Bobi.  Lots of rain in Portland.

I had taken some of the lemon cake to the people (workers) at the reception desk, yesterday.  Have made friends with Jamie, in particular, and Lacy, Malachi, Virginia and E Chin.  Their job, keeping customers happy, is very intense and demanding at times.  Phones constantly ringing, customers arriving and or checking out, they are listening to the phone, working on the computer and talking all at the same time.  

Yesterday, when I walked in Jamie had something to show me.  Nestled in a five gallon bucket were five baby jack rabbits, eyes open, I would guess about four weeks old.  The nest was found in a horse trailer, "In a pile of do-do Jamie said," over by the corrals.   (They have pony rides, horseback riding and lessons offered here at the resort).  The horse trailer was going to be moved, so the cowboy brought the babies into Jamie, who would take them home to feed with an eye dropper until she could take them to animal rescue.  In my mind I questioned this process.  Would it be better to move the nest out of the trailer but leave it in the vicinity for the Mom to maybe find the babies?  I don't know, nor do I know their chance of survival now.   Anyway Jamie has an eleven month old baby at home and is an extremely kind and caring person, so I will keep you posted on the "rabbit saga".

We had headed for the Arizona Desert Botanical Gardens this morning, more later.   OWAV:)

I'm in the office right now visiting with people from Minnesota and Canada, it is -40 in Canada and Minnesota has four feet of snow.  These people are headed for the Grand Canyon this morning on a tour, think they will have fun.

OWAV:) 03/01/11, 50° Breezy

Cold breeze again this morning, but will warm up to the mid seventies by afternoon.  Seems like we have a lull right now, have been waiting for warmer weather and now it is here, not sure what to do.  Guess we will spend some time in the sun and maybe try the pool today.  Want to make plans to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens and we have a ballgame on Thursday. 

Words are not coming easy this morning, so will just send our love to each and everyone and hope your day is a good one.  OWAV:)