NOT on my Bucket List

22 degrees again this morning. I expect that somewhere else... this is ARIZONA for Pete's sake. The very positive thing today is it warmed up quickly and there was hardly any wind. A gorgeous day and WOW did we have a memorable day.

First let me report that Don's mother is doing much better this morning. Don had to drive a few miles away to call her... no AT&T service here. Seems she has an infection and was dehydrated because she couldn't keep anything on her stomach. After antibiotics and and IV of glucose, she's on the road to recovery. Thank God. And thank you for praying for her.

Mom called and she wanted to talk about getting her "affairs in order." A subject I do not like to discuss or admit that it's necessary, as you can understand. She is so thoughtful about wanting to have everything taken care of. Oh, how I love that sweet, sweet gentle lady.

Don found George Becker outside. I will let you guess what he was so kind to be doing outside instead of in their RV. He kind of threatened my life if I told you. :-)) George & Jo are from the county in Texas where I grew up. We know a lot of the same people from there. They are also very good friends with Pat & Bobby Tomme who we met while we were in Branson, Mo. this summer. They were working at the KOA Campground. Geez, we sure miss all those guys. I know it's cliche, but it really is a small world.

This is where I spend a lot of my time when we are in the RV. Learning to blog is way too much fun.

Almost everyday, we take our gallon jugs to the Waterin' Hole (reverse osmosis filtering system) to get drinking water. It seems there is a lot of salt in desert water so it has to be filtered in this way. And of course, we check our mail daily.

We noticed that our new neighbors, Kathy and Lyell were out, so we went over and met them. Nice folks from Nebraska. NASCAR fans like Dave and Darlene. Lyell said a neighbor from another year here carved that boot for him.

Dave & Darlene invited us to go with them this afternoon so we postponed our trip to see Alvin and the Chipmunks movie until another time when it's too windy or too cold to do anything else.

We're on our way to the Sky Diving Mecca of the World.

As we approached the airport we could see sky divers dropping from the sky... everywhere. Look closely and you can count 10 divers in this pic. A few are still free-falling. [pic is missing]

Are we ever happy we went with them to the Eloy Municipal Airport only 6 miles away, to watch the sky divers at Sky Dive Arizona. It was amazing and we had so much fun watching all the sky divers.

Darlene and I decided we should learn something about this sport of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, so we watched this one land and then commenced with the interview. Meet Coach Tom from Westpoint, Annaheim, NY. Divers today are jumping out of the perfectly good airplane at 12,000', free-falling to 5,000' (long beeps) . At 4,000' he hears shorter, more rapid beeps. At 2,000' the alarm in his helmet flatlines (appropriately named) to let him know "you should have already pulled the cord, so pull now!" Tom is here this weekend with his team of cadets to compete in the National Collegiate Championship Diving Competition. D & I nicknamed him "eye-candy." Well, he was cute and very nice. And we all plan to go back tomorrow to watch them compete. Go, Army! uh- oh..Go, Navy! Oh, yea, Go, Air Force!

This is an altimeter (did I spell that right, Mike?) It's attached to his glove and lets him know how far he is from the ground.

The videos really show how fast some of the divers came in for a landing. Tom said that some people have the larger parachutes (Cadillacs) that move slower and some edgier people like the smaller, sportier chutes that go weally, weally fast ... up to 80 MPH (Porches). Landing speeds vary from 35 - 80 mph. The first video was taken in the $5M wind tunnell. Divers practice falling techniques there.

Darlene coming down the wind tunnel ramp.

A diver folding his parachute. There were gobs of people here. Also, jumpers could hire chute-folders to fold their chutes. I think I had rather fold my own. Lots of girls diving, too. Sky diving is on Snookie's bucket list.

Last minute jump instructions.

Divers ride this tram from the observance area to the airplane about 150 yards away.

Coming in for a landing. The landing speeds vary between 80 - 30 mph. They actually land much like an airplane. Not like the old army parachutes in the old war movies.

Outside the wind tunnel. Motors are below ground level and the four pipes at the top are the exhaust where the "wind" comes out. Very fascinating to watch the divers practice free-falling. I can't believe how much fun we had this afternoon and we didn't spend a dime! Thanks, again, Dave & Darlene!

On the ride home, we passed a new wheat field. Fields growing green stuff in the desert still amazes me.

The next field was being flooded with irrigation water. Looks like a lake.

How it's done. Simply open the gate and flood the field.

When we returned to Quail Run around 4:15 PM more campers had arrived. Friends of Lyell & Kathy, Don & JoAnn Miller, were just getting set up. We were so busy talking and getting acquainted that I forgot to take pictures.

Tonight is Friday Night: Date Night. Don took me to Macayo's, our favorite Mexcian food restaurant, for dinner.

Dec 27 2007 - brain still on holiday

Tuesdays & Thursdays are line dancing days. I don't know what made me think that there would be no line dancing lessons today, but that's what I thought, so I missed the class and the 55 minutes of really good exercise and laughs. It's ok though. Since I got up a "little" late, I would have missed my devotional/prayer time with my wonderful husband, had I gone to line dancing class. I know you are just dying to see pictures of that.

Afterward, Don and I went to visit Frank and Helen Maguire. He promised to write our Christmas Miracle report for this blog. Stay tuned for the rest of the story. Frank & Helen will be leaving around the first of the new year. They will be greatly missed. Besides becoming really good friends, Frank plays the keyboard and leads worship for us every Sunday. Pray with us regarding his replacement. Big shoes to fill... he's very talented.

Rick and Wendy Fury were out winterizing their water line so we stopped and visited with them. They invited us in and we had a good time getting to know them better. They are a few of the young'uns in the park. We look forward to spending more time with them in the future.

New neighbors arrived across the street this week. We haven't met them yet, but I think I am going to like Kathy. We have a love for pink flamingos in common.

Lyell has and eye for decorating as well. I wonder if he is making a statement of some kind. '??' A weakness I have: always over analysing everything. (wink) Maybe we will meet them tomorrow and find out if he carved that wooden boot himself. If he did, I'm going to suggest he carve Kathy a flamingo to add to her collection. I love this life!!!

I haven't made any comments regarding today's weather, but it was really cold again this morning and really windy all day so it never seemed to warm up a lot. Dave and Darlene invited us over to see pictures they took yesterday while sightseeing. We played cards for a while since it was too cold and windy to do anything else. Yeah! The girls were champs today.

This evening was spent watching Texas beat ASU in the Holiday Bowl and talking to my brother on the phone. Then Don's sis called to let us know that his mom had been taken to the hospital via ambulance tonight. She has been having stomach problems since coming home after her knee replacement surgery. We haven't heard anything more so we are trusting that being in the hospital has taken care of any emergency that may have been present. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated.

Organ Stop Pizza Tag Along - flashback to Dec. 5

On December 5, 2007 Quail Run activities dept. organized a tag-along to the Organ Stop Pizza restaurant in Mesa, AZ. Click on the link and read all about Organ Stop. It was amazing. What an instrument. We had a wonderful time there and the pizza wasn't bad either. Organ Stop Pizza is not a restaurant with entertainment--it is a showplace centered around magnificent performances on an incomparable instrument in an awesome listening auditorium that happens to serve good pizza.


Bruce and Deann Hoover, from Kansas, are our incredible activity directors. Well, actually, Bruce was hired as director, but as you can guess,
Deann does a tremendous amount of the work with Bruce. He would be the first to tell you that she's indispensable. We love them both and appreciate all they do for us.


We rode with our good buddies, Dave & Darlene Sutton. Dave has a Garmin. Fasinating gadget. We will probably own one soon.



After leaving the Organ Stop and the group, we journeyed to Scottsdale and found ourselves at Camelback Mountain. On the top of Camelback is a rock that looks like a man kneeling in prayer.. thus the praying monk. This praying man can be seen from many points in the surrounding area. Can you see his back and head there on the ledge?



The Camelback park is way too inviting for hikers and climbers of which I am neither, but... you guessed it, Darlene and I decided that we would climb to the top of the Camelback. So off we went with water bottles in hand. We didn't know the trail was 3.3 miles long. It probably goes without saying, we did not make it to the top. We did, however, take lots of beautiful pictures and we laughed a lot wondering how I was going to get out of bed the next morning. A young lady passed us running back down from her jaunt to the top. I told Darlene she probably makes that run everyday and the young lady said she makes the hike regularly. We laughed about how gorgeous her figure was and agreed she was probably at least 75 years old and the exercise has kept her so young, strong and active. We sure had a good time and yes, my legs were sore for days afterwards. What was I thinking??




Next, we found ourselves in Olde Town Scottsdale. We visited lots of art galleries, which Don loves to do. A person could spend days in the art district here. In Gilbert Ortega's Don bought me a pair of torquoise cross/silver earrings.




Look out, Darlene!!










A perfect example of too many chiefs and not enough Indians.


I love horses.












LaVon met two new friends there.





A very eerie wall hanging. The eyes look real, don't they?




Thank you, Dave & Darlene, for sharing your day with us. We had a great time.

The day after Christmas

OK, we are in the desert, right? Supposed to be warm, right? So why was our water frozen this morning????? BECAUSE IT WAS 27 DEGREES!! It was warmer in Norman, Oklahoma this morning than it was here. (However, Mama said they got about 2" of snow today, but it didn't last long.)

I got that out of my system. In a few hours it was all nice and warm again and NO wind.

Even though it's cold at night, the oleander bushes are still blooming and the oranges are still ripening on the trees.

Don is always out every morning visiting with whoever might be out and about. Here he is with our neighbor, Bob Quinn.

Don and I went into Casa Grande to Wal-Mart (joy, joy) for a few necessities. Ate lunch at Quiznos. They pretty much look the same everywhere, don't they?

We are so blessed with wonderful neighbors. Snookie came over this afternoon and gave me Blogging 102 & 103. Notice the placement of pictures and the counter and other additions to the side menu. Cool, huh? :-) Thanks for all the help, Snookie.


Below are the few pictures I took yesterday at our QR Christmas dinner.

Darlene Sutton, left, my Spades partner from across the street and Snookie Quinn, my wonderful Blog instructor.

Wendy and Rick Fury. They look younger than 55, don't they? They are. Rick & Wendy are work-campers; part of a growing number of wonderful folks who travel around these beautiful United States, working as they go.
John & Jeanne Budd. Jeanne is the manager here at Quail Run. John helped design the artifical heart with that doctor on the TV commercial for a cholesterol medicine.. can't remember his name. John has also done a lot of heart valve design, etc.

Frieda helping to get the serving tables ready for dinner.

Park residents and work-campers dining together.

Clint Gaither and wife Debbie along with Shirley, next to Clint, were at our table.

Our good friends Darrell & Barbara Howard from Amarillo, Tx. We have been praying for a good friend of Darrell's back home in Amarillo and God is working. It was feared that he had lung cancer, but it's doesn't look like that's the case now. Praise the Lord! They were to test him for Valley Fever today; he has all the symptoms.

Another highlight of my day was talking to my youngest nephew when I called my brother in Georgia. It sure was good to hear his voice. My favorite one and only brother has five beautiful children scattered all over (Washington, California, Tennessee and Georgia) and he has nine grandchildren. When I called my brother, 6 years my elder, was up in a 23' deer stand trimming dead limbs out of a pecan tree. He called me back later this after, so he's ok. lol He loves doing stuff like that... got it from our mother. She's a whiz with a chain saw.

Don talked to his mom while we were out in ATT service range. She confirmed the snow report. She is also having stomach problems. Please pray for her with us. He also called Steph, but no answer. She called tonight while Don was away buying more propane. Steve, as Don calls her, has five of our grandchildren: two hers (16; 11), two his (16; 13) and one theirs... all beautiful & handsome. Logan, 5, is the youngest and quite the athlete like his big brother Dillon who is quarterback for his football team. Don and I are expecting to be watching him QB for the OU Sooners in a few years. I recall once asking Logan about his T-ball skills.. he nodded to his dad and said, "Go ahead, Dad, tell 'em." Too cute!

My youngest daughter and family were headed to Waco, Texas this afternoon to spend 5 days with her sister, my oldest. Haven't heard from her, but I'm trusting they arrived safely. Ya'll have fun and be kind to each other. I LOVE YOU ALL.

Christmas Day 2007

As Don and I sit here eating a piece of delicious pecan pie and drinking a cup of "pretend" coffee, we are reflecting on the day. Even though we both have our own set of emotions and feelings to deal with, we are so grateful for so many things. Our family, our life together, and most of all our current and eternal walk with the Lord.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I greeted the day with a phone call from my oldest daughter, Leslie. It was absolutely delicious to hear her voice and the words "I miss you." And then there was my 4 yr. old granddaughter on the phone: "Hi Nonnie. You know what? Grammy's here and she brought me a bicycle and I can ride it all by myself. and Nonnie, you know what? ....." I love it. I continue to push the thought out of my mind that Grammy is there with her and ... I am not. Not that I wish Grammy wasn't there, but that I was there, too.

Next was a phone call from my beautiful mother. Awww, there's another only too precious sound to my ears. I am grateful beyond words for my youngest daughter inviting Mama Trudy to go to their Christmas Eve service with them and then to spend the night with them so she would be there this morning to watch Lydia and Rocket open their gifts. She will eat lunch with them as well. By afternoon she will be exhausted and ready for her "beauty nap."
Lydia talked to me and told me all about their morning. She assured me that she misses me. If I put all the words in this post that are running rampant in my heart right now, I know a flood gate would open that I would spend all night trying to shut it. I have done so good so far not to cry.

We lazed around until it was time to go to the Quail Run Christmas Dinner. I love being here and the people are great and we've made many friends, but today, my heart's just really not in the social mood... so I pasted on a smile and walked up to the Carnaval Room hand in hand with Don. The food was delicious. The Christmas decorating winners were announced and YEAH!! for Snookie and Bob next door. They won the prize for the best decorated RV.

I hope it doesn't sound like I am having a pity party. I'm really not, I just miss my family plain and simple and that's ok.

I'm not adding pictures to this post because, would you believe it, I'm having trouble with the Kodak software. Hopefully, later.

And just before I signed off... LaNae, my youngest, called me. It's amazing. My day is now complete and I'm smiling. I've talked to all my kids and my mama. And I've read my nieces blog about their Christmas.

Love and hugs to all!!

Christmas Eve 2007

Today was a busy day. I started the day doing laundry while Don went to the Monday morning men's devotional/prayer time in the Oasis. Violet is one of the park hostesses and she is delightful. She and Melvin hail from North Carolina.

Violet took this pic of me ironing my blouse for tonight.

Violet said I need to say a prayer for Charlie.

While our clothes are washing and drying, I'm running around taking pictures for today's report. And getting drinking water at the Waterin' Hole. Time in the laundry room is always a social event. It seems God always provides someone to be there at the same I am who needs encouragement. Don and I are always blessed by these "devine appointments."

The Cantina & Laundry Room.

The UPS truck arrived while Don had given George a ride to get his propane tank refilled. We received a Christmas box from Stephanie and family. It seems that gift cards are the thing this year from family and we love it!! Steph also sent her dad the new cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld, "Deceptively Delicious"

With laundry finally done, we head off to Casa Grande to buy groceries. Don has found a grocery store that he loves here. I also needed to pick up some small notebooks for our music tonight at the Candlelight service. We ate lunch at JB's and I had a chance to get a call in to my daughter, LaNae. I pray that I will always be a good at validating my children as they are at validating me. Thank you, LaNae, and thank you for being there for Mama Trudy while Don and I are doing this ministry.

Speaking of ministry, after I got in a short nap it was time to get ready for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service tonight. It was tremendous and such a blessing to us. Turn out was excellent with almost 100 in attendance! I have added a few pictures and hopefully will have more pictures to share when Snookie downloads her pics. Since I was part of the "choir" I didn't have time to take pictures during the service. We got all dressed up and everything!

After refreshments and social time in the Cantina, Don and I played cards with new friends, Dave & Darlene Sutton from Jonesville, Michigan. Darlene and I have been very successful at beating the guys, but tonight.... the tables turned.

Don has had his pre-bedtime nap and has headed off "upstairs to bed and if I don't go to bed, Santa won't show up, so good night.... not a creature was stirring ... not even a mouse.

Sunday December 23, 2007

Today consisted of two church services, an open house and a long phone conversation with Mama.

In worship service this morning, the Quail Run ensemble sang a couple of Christmas songs as practice for our Christmas Eve Candle Lighting service tomorrow night. Yes, I'm singing. You know the old saying, "If you don't use it, you lose it."... well, I think I've lost it, if I ever remotely had it. God help me, I refuse to be intimidated by an object as small as a microphone.

Don preached a wonderful sermon from John 3:16 intitled "The Greatest Gift Ever Given." It was a very beautiful take on the most memorized verse in the Bible. There were moments when it seemed everyone was hanging on every word he spoke and then there were moments when there seemed to be more squirming going on than usual.

Home to the RV for a sandwich. Then we walked around the block (outside the park) with Nancy & George Reid to Margie & John Cartright's open house. They have purchased a regular house. As Snookie says, they went from Wheel Estate back to Real Estate. Cute, huh. Margie makes regular trips down Nogales way over the border to a Mexico orphanage. Teen-age Gabriel came home with them for a visit their last trip down a few days ago.

We are meeting some really great people here.

Tonight, Nancy & George rode with us to the Community Christmas Service at the Arizona City First Baptist Church. It was well attended, but not as well as the Community Thanksgiving service. Special music was tremendous at this service, however. All were blessed.

Mama and I had a really good phone conversation tonight. She needed to talk and I pray she feels better now. I assured her that I'm only a phone call away and she assured me that she is actually feeling quite well... not sick... doesn't need anything. Said she is ok about me or my brother not being there during Christmas. She will spend Christmas Day with LaNae, my daughter and her family. I think she is actually doing better about Christmas than I am; this being my first Christmas away from my mother, my girls/son-in-laws and my grandkids. Trying to "count it all joy" but I sure do miss them all. I could go into more of our phone converstion, but I just don't want to put some of what we talked about into writing. Just know that it was good and I pray she felt validated and perspective returned. Of course, afterwards, Don & I talked and he assured me that we would go home to her the minute the need arises. Mama knows that, too.

For fun, the park is having a Christmas decoration contest for the RVs and park models. Here's Snookie & Bob's 5th wheel. They hail from Delaware, btw. Help me Snookie!! The pictures are at the top and I don't know how to get them to the bottom of this post!! ps.. 12/26/07 - Snookie came over and gave me a few pointers. WaaLaa... pictures in the correct place:

Inspired

My daughter has a blog, my neice has a blog, my neighbor here at the RV park has a blog and they are all so good. Makes me regret that I haven't learned how to do this blogging thing sooner. . . . like when Don and I got married or when we started with CRM. So, stay tuned. Snookie, our neighbor, has volunteered to help me.

As practice here is a picture taken by Bert at the Thanksgiving dinner here at Quail Run.

Yeah! I did it!