OWAV:) 03/16/11, 5am, 30°, trace of snow

After one nice day, temperatures in the 50's, old man winter is back with a vengeance.  I'm so thankful for our warm, cozy house and the wood stove that Herb keeps burning all winter.  We are blessed in so many ways.

Major blessing is:  Kids coming home for a few days to turn our world upside down, inside out, every which way.  We all adjust to being in one house, one room for a few days.  Noise, laughter, loud voices, whispers, maybe tears, excited dogs, hope it doesn't thunder.  There will be games, puzzles, cooking, eating, endless talk, teasing, computering, sharing stories, soroptomists, rides with Rusty, baby goats, lambs, more laughter.  Then all too soon spring break will be over for another year and Herb and I will return to our quiet world, just us two, with memories to last a lifetime.  Enough "maudlin", on with the day.

Busy morning, Herb has a dental appointment, then errands in Enterprise.  I am stuffing envelopes for a fishtrap mailing, then shopping for groceries to get us through the next week, at least.  Fixing pork chops for our dinner, maybe do some cleaning and must call to see what the holdup is, on fixing our roof.

It was fun yesterday, back with my friends at write group, seemed like the talk centered around St Patricks Day.  Several of our members are Irish, and grew up in NYC, so it was interesting to hear about the huge parades they attended as kids and how everyone became Irish for the day.  To me it was always just a day, that if you didn't wear green you got pinched!!  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/15/11, 6am, 38°, Breezy,

Up at 5am this morning, have scrabble games caught up and I'm playing with the time on my computer.  It can't find the correct time zone, so has me at 7am Mountain daylight time instead of 6am Pacific daylight time.  I have set a voice or sound to go off on the hour, so maybe I will realize how much time I'm spending on here.

We had a phone call last night from our new phone carrier, Frontier.  They are offering specials deals to get people to bundle there services, such as phone, cell phone, internet, and television.  Also touting the fastest DSL available in the county.  Many people on my email list have already changed their service, but I'm still torn as I like EONI and the service they provide.  The lady from Frontier could only save me $5.00 a month by bundling my phone and internet, she was a fast talker and was sure I would want the faster speed and only one billing, but I declined her offer, at this time.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here, the temperature got up to 53° on the north side of the house, so in the sun it was down right balmy.  I sat on the front steps petting and talking to Nuisance, noticed a few purple blooms as the crocus are poking there heads through the frozen earth.  Later in the day I wandered out to the garden and checked the garlic bed.  Digging down one to two inches, I found the garlic is sprouting and will soon be showing green.  I planted onion sets last fall and a few of them are poking their heads through.  I debated about getting a lawn chair out to sit on the deck, but decided to wait.  Looking at the weather map this morning it does not look promising for a sunny spring break.  Oh well, kids will be home and we will have fun no matter what the weather.

I did get my suitcase unpacked yesterday and other stuff put away, paid bills, balanced the check book and looked at all the mail.  We had toasted tuna sandwiches with cottage cheese and peaches for dinner, one of my easy standby dinners.  Had a video chat with both kids at different times of the day.

It is still dark but I can hear a robin chirping outside the window, so maybe I better wrap this up and get busy.  I am going to write group this morning, where it will be fun catching up on everything that has happened in the month that I've been gone.  Tomorrow I'm going to Fishtrap House to help with the spring mailing where I will connect with more people and slowly get back into the swing of events in the county.  Which reminds me I have to get a mailing out for the Eagle Cap Excursion Train, which starts it season with a Mother's day run in May.  I will go grocery shopping tomorrow, while in Enterprise, then Thursday, I will get ready for kids and dogs to arrive on Friday.  I know I will be making lemon pies and cooking corned beef but other than that, I look forward to spending time in the kitchen cooking with my kids or better yet, watching them do the cooking.  OWAV:)
 

OWAV:) 03/14/11, 32°, 8am pdt, partly cloudy

Good Morning!  Aaaah to be home, the first thing I notice is the quiet.  Only Rahns garbage truck rumbles by our house, but only on Monday morning.  No eighteen wheelers, no Harleys, no cement trucks, no housekeeping carts thumping along the sidewalk as if they are missing a wheel.  Later in the spring we awake to birds chirping, sounds of nature, not man made.  How I treasure this silence.

Our trip home was uneventful, with good roads, good weather, decent food. We arrived home about 3pm as we left Wells Nevada at 5am.  Stopped for about 2 hours in Boise, wandered around Sierra Trading to stretch our legs, had lunch, then headed for LaGrande and a stop at BiMart for our favorite wine as the kids will be here this coming Friday.

The only bad was an awful smelling motel room with a worn out bed, but it had wifi.  Have stayed at this same place other years but it is definitely time, either for them to revamp or us to find a different motel.  Only made our bed feel that much better last night.  I think I slept the clock around.  Herb for some reason has been up since 4:30 and now is "sighing and rattling around" as only he can do, and it is a sign for me to get moving because if he can't sit still neither am I supposed to. LOL

So our first day back home starts as we settle back into our groove.  I have to think of something to fix for dinner, do I need to go to the store today or will it wait until tomorrow, unpack my suitcase and the stuff that belongs in the kitchen.  Recheck the mail to see if any bill are pressing, etc, etc, etc!  Looks like the sun is going to shine for awhile so I'm off to the shower then I will be prepared to tackle the day.  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/11/11, 6am, 50°, clear/breezy

Last Ballgame 03/10/11

The last day has arrived, clear, breezy morning and an expected high maybe to 90°.  Perfect, we will finish packing and load the car this morning except for our overnight bags, cold carrier and coffee cups.  We will leave early in the morning headed for Flagstaff, a corner of SW Utah, into Nevada, Jackpot and Twin Falls, then freeway to LaGrande.   If the weather is good and no other problems we can make it in two days.   Herb has decided to go that way since the weather looks fairly clear.  

Yesterday we had a lazy morning, finished up the bacon and eggs for breakfast, checked internet and scrabble, left for the ballgame about 11am.  We ask for aisle seats in the shaded area.  We were in the upper stands, with a full view of the stadium, have decided that we are better off to wait and get tickets after we get to Phoenix, then we know what the weather is going to be and have a good chance of still getting good seats. Especially since we know we can play musical chairs.  Again we see a good ballgame, this time between the Mariners and the Angels.  The Mariners win 10 - 6.  We see two single home runs and a grand slam home run.  Herb is sort of a Mariners fan so he is happy with the outcome.  I just enjoy the atmosphere and watching the people.  People in all colors, shapes, and sizes, dressed in lots of clothing, very little clothing and many women with full makeup, jewelry and shoes that look impossible to walk in.  About mid-way through the game we split a beer.  As we leave the stadium seats, I think it dawns on both of us that we don't have a clue as to where we parked the car.  Herb thinks it is straight out from the main gate, I think it is toward the main street a little more.  Usually when we get out of the car he looks around and says, we are at section ???.   Yesterday as we got out of the car, a golf cart pulled up and we hopped on for a ride to the main gate, not even thinking about where we were.  With a sea of cars before us he starts his way and I mine, looking for our Subaru.  I think to myself,  guess Herb could hit the panic button on the door opener or we could sit on the curb and wait for 3000 cars to leave then it would be easier to pick out our car.  About that time I spot the car, getting close enough to make sure it has an Oregon license plate, then yell, "Herb, it is over here."   Luckily he is not too far from me and no one else around is named Herb!!

We arrive at the pizza place we have chosen.  Famous Rays New York style Pizza.  They have two sizes medium and large, so we order a medium which has six slices.  Herb orders beer and I a small pepsi.  As we wait we watch the workers pounding the dough then stretching and tossing it to make it fit the pans.  Big pans!!  They deliver our pizza and it is big enough to feed six people.  Guess we will be eating pizza all the way to Oregon!!  We are hungry and eat half of it knowing we are going to pay for eating all this food this late in the day.  The choices we make.

Herb dropped me at the grocery store to buy some water and a loaf of bread while he went to fill the gas tank.  It was almost 6pm when we arrived at our condo, so no swimming pool, just scrabble, and reading until an early bedtime.  Will sign off now and probably won't do another blog until we get home.  Hope you have enjoyed our vacation as much as we have.  Love to all.  OWAV:)  PS. Just heard the news of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, how horrible.

03/11/11 at Cibola Vista

03/11/11
PSS:  Just finished a 2 hour swim and sun, water is lovely and the sun dries you right off.  Just found out that they use a saline solution in the pool and no chlorine.  Not sure how that works but sure is nice not to come out of the pool with your suit three shades lighter than it was before you went in.   That reminds me I just started reading the book "Salt", bound to be inter-esting as it is a history of the world and salt.  Salt is the only rock we eat and would die without it. Another bit of trivia, as everyone outside of Arizona knows we start on daylight savings time this weekend (Arizona doesn't).  It will work to our advantage because when we get home we will already be on daylight savings and won't have to adjust one way or the other.  Guess I've bored everyone long enough so bye again, stay safe.  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/10/11, 6am, 45°, clear/breezy

Temperature reached 80° yesterday, still cool in the mornings and breezy, but afternoon was a beautiful day at the pool.  They have two pools here, one the adult pool with hot tub and the other, larger pool is called the lagoon pool and includes a slide.  One end of the lagoon pool has a lap pool and at the other end is a "wade in" shallow area for the little tots.  The maximum depth is four feet, the water is heated.  Young and old alike have fun on the slide.  When they first started building this resort about seven years ago, the vision was to have a meandering river with small pools in it for swimming but soon realized that was not going to appeal to very many people, thus they changed the "river" to the lagoon pool and added the slide to attract young families.  Seems to be working for them.  No, I haven't gone on the slide.

Yesterday morning I had Herb bring the "grocery bags" up from the car so I could start packing up the kitchen stuff we have accumulated and won't be using in the next few days.  The refrigerator is almost bare, only enough for a couple of breakfasts and a steak for dinner tomorrow.  Today we will have a late breakfast, go to the ballgame, and instead of hotdogs, will go out for pizza after the game.  I think we will be looking for shade at the ballpark today, then back to the condo for a swim.  Todays high is 85°.  I'm off to do scrabble and post this in my blog.  OWAV:

OWAV:) 03/09/11, 6am, 45°, clear

Yesterday we went to Peoria Stadium, where we watched the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants.  The Mariners won 1- 0 beating the Giants, who were the winners of the World Series last year.  There were over 6000 fans at this game, compared to 3000 at the game last week, with seats filled evenly on both sides of the stadium.  Herb and I don't really care where we sit, mostly try to judge whether it is going to to warm, cold, windy, hot or sunny.  The day was cool and breezy, so finding we were too cool,  we just kept moving around the stadium, either cooling off or warming up.  There are four different seating prices and some people buy the cheapest $6.00 lawn seats then move into the stands when they see that all of the seats aren't going to be filled.  So it is kind of like musical chairs as people take a seat, then have to move because the real owner shows up to claim the seat.  Everyone seems to work the system and no one seems to mind.  That was pretty much the excitement for the day, with a beer brot and beer for our dinner.  What a diet.

Don't have any plans for today, it is supposed to be warm so will sit poolside and go for a swim.  See one last ballgame on Thursday, do laundry and pack the car on Friday, and start for home on Saturday.  We know it is cold and snowy in Joseph, but will as alway, be glad to get home.  Love to all,  OWAV:)

OWAV:) 03/08/11, 7am, 45°, Breezy/cloudy

After doing scrabble and email, back at the condo I brown hamburger, add onions, celery and garlic to cook, for a pasta casserole.    I put pasta on to cook and add tomato sauce and basil to the burger mixture.  Then I layer all of this with cheese and sour cream so it is ready to go into the oven for our dinner.

Yesterdays temperature was over 70° but a cold wind blew all day.  In the morning we went for a ride hoping for pool time in the afternoon.  Lake Pleasant Park is near here, so we headed north, looking for a view.  It seems that it is a fee only park, even to see the lake.  Every road we took came to a toll booth.  Not really expensive just irritating that you have to pay to look at a lake!!  From one point we were able to see, in the far distance, an arm of Lake Pleasant.  Along the way we saw burro's, ginny fowl, and coyote's, but no jackrabbits.  Hmmmm.  The countryside is far from flat, which is how I think of a desert.  The mountains aren't very high but we drove through one range of mountains after another as we explored the area.  The saguaro  cactus standing tall and proud.  The last road we took, "New River Road", looped around farther north where it came into 17 and then back to Carefree Hyw. and Cibola Vista.  We never did see a river only a housing development, named "New River".

I put the pasta casserole in a slow oven and we take our books and go to the pool.  Very few people are there and it is windy.  We sit and read for awhile but soon more clouds roll in and we abandon our poolside chairs, for the condo deck.  The condo is inviting, not only is it warm but it smells like spaghetti.  I make a salad and we eat our dinner.  

Later in the afternoon we connect with Bobi and Rusty together on ichat.  Haven't been able to have a three-way chat for sometime so that was fun.  Bobi, Cienna and Rusty will all be home for spring break.  Rusty said it had been snowing in Joseph and Bob said Portland is soggy as usual.

The rest of the day was spent reading and we have plans to go to a ballgame today.  OWAV:)