93 AND RISING

Can you stand it - it's going to be 93 out today. You are either to hot or to cold. I go to the pool every day. In and out of the water. Feels great. We got Otto disposal booties today. Pavement is just too dirty for him. I can't be washing his feet every time I take him out. His fur turns black black black. He is too cute to have black feet. Today is brushing day. I do a little every day but today he get a complete brushing job. So glad I have the babies with us. Going to look for a movie theater today. Want to see the new Jane Eyre movie.

ARIZONA OPRY

Well hot diggity. Does it get any better than this. We had so much fun. http://www.azopry.com/ You must look at this link. I have never seen so much talent in one show before. They know how to have a good time and we were in the back back row and moved up to a front table because we were with a friend of Jim's, Stan Serwa, and he has been there a lot and knows the performers well. I think Mac and John have heard of Jim talking about Stan. He lives out here now. You should have heard the lead singer sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It was truly a wonderful show and only $30 each. Included dinner.

SHOPPING WITH GIRLS - DOES IT GET ANY BETTER

Well - I can hardly forgot to write about what a fun experience we had on our shopping day. Dede and Carol stopped by on Friday for an hour or so but on Sat. She picked up Marybeth and myself and we went out to lunch to The Wildflower Bakery and then off to Arizona Mills Outlet Mall. What fun and all we did was shop at Chico's. Dede found such cute tops to go with outfits for work and Marybeth found some really pretty tops and pants that all color coordinated. Dede is such a good helper when it comes to finding just the right color and thing to wear. In fact I liked a top she picked out for Marybeth so much I bought one for myself. I also got a jacket with a zipper that feels like silk and is in yummy colors. We have a Chico's outlet at The Albertville Mall. It is what we girls do. Jim and Ronnie went to The Bass Pro Shop. BORING! for us anyway.

A TRIBUTE TO GOLDIE AND TESSA

It's breaking my heart what Dot is going through with Goldie and Tessa, her two Scottie dogs. She is thinking of putting them down for their sake and it is such a hard decision. My heart goes out to her and I am sure to everyone that has had to put a pet down. IT IS FINISHED.

RON & MARYBETH ARE LEAVING TODAY

Today is the day the Scavo's are pulling out, they were over for awhile last night, after they did some packing up. They have been here since the first part of Feb. and we didn't come until March 1st. It was fun being with them, we would go to the pool and visit back and forth. Ronnie got us into making fajitas. Sure has been fun. Today I am making waffles in our new waffle maker. It will feel like we are in a Comfort Inn with the waffle maker..

THE GOLDEN CORRAL

We used to have a Golden Corral in Marshall but I know they closed. Mom and Stanley used to take us there. Liked it. Anyway Elsie and Don kept talking about it so we stopped by their place at Regal West and told them we wanted to take them there. We finally went on Sunday. What good food, and what a busy place. We picked up Don and Elsie by 3pm because you had to go early to get the early bird special so we did. What a delight they are. We had a really good time.

NECK APPT

Gave up on appt. here in Mesa. Just not enough time. Made an appt in Duluth on May 25th. Such is life. Two more months. If the darn thing doesn't heal by then, I propose I get a new neck. In the meantime I wish you could see my tan. I keep my face covered always with a hat or visor but I still look really silly when I take my brace off when I shower. White neck - tan face and white brace lines. Oh well. It could be worse. Just a minute - I am thinking of how.

DR APPT FOR NECK

Trying to get an appt. for neck but it's not going well. Too depressing to discuss.

OK SO THE DOG BITES

We keep telling Makons if she keeps making these faces, her face will freeze that way. She doesn't hear us.. Well we are back from our trip to Green Valley and have Ronnie and Marybeth over for drinks. Pre-mixed margaritas. Life is good. I just wanted to thank them for being so good to Otto and Makons. We had a nice time. I picked up Makons to hold her and she bite my thumb. This is the first time she drew blood. What to do - what to do. We love her so much but she can be such a how shall I put this, BITCH. I think that is appropriate.

WHY AM I SO LAZY AND NOT POSTING

Well here it is a week later and we have done quite a few things and I haven't posted one note. Wonder why. Hummmmmmmmmmmmm.

We sure have been having a good time. I am going to start from Sunday and work backwards.

We got up early and left by 7am to go see some friends in Green Valley. Betty and Jerry Brink and their little teacup long haired Chiwawa, Missy. We really had a good time. Their house is quite a show place. Lovely art and they have 1/2 an acre of land. Beautiful pool in the back and they find at least one snake a year in the foyer at the front of the house. Sometimes a Diamondback rattler and sometimes a Mohave rattlesnake. The latter is more aggressive and the toxin is 10 times more powerful than the Diamondback rattler. Kill me now, all they have to do is call the police and they send out some snake handlers and they put them in a box and relocate them in the desert. Even writing about it I tense up. Hummmmm wonder why. Anyway their place is so very lovely and they took us out to lunch about 15 miles to the south of them. They are only about 1/2 an hour from Mexico. I didn't realize it but they are at an elevation of about 3000 feet and Phoenix is at about 1500 feet so it is warmer in Phoenix then Green Valley even though Green Valley is 2 1/2 hours further South. I attached some pictures of the visit to Green Valley.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Here we are going to "The Sound of Music" tonight. Link is http://www.broadwaypalmwest.com/Content/default.asp It is a theater nearby here. Here it is Thursday and I have yet to add to the week. Not much to tell - I know one day we went to Wild Berry to have breakfast. It was OK. Nothing to write home about and here I am writing home about it. We had rain one day this week, I wonder if that wasn't on Monday. It rained all day softly. Didn't mind at all. Been cooler ever since but certainly not cold. Was able to go to the pool and enjoy it. It is just so different having perfect weather and knowing it is so cold back home and snow. . We sure enjoyed The Sound of Music. The acting and singing were really top notch. Jim enjoyed it immensely too. We sat next to a Grandmother and Grandaughter. The girl had been dancing ballet for 5 years and she is only in the 6th grade. She sure had poise. What a sweetie. Made us miss the grandkids.

PLANES - PLANES EVERYWHERE

We have been going to church on Saturday night and that gives us Sunday to have adventures.

Our adventure this Sunday sure was fun and for the most part free. We didn't know when we started out we would stop for dinner but the truck just took us in that direction but I digress. That story is for later.

Jim did some research on the web, he does a lot of that. Finds out the good stuff to do and how to get there. We didn't leave until late morning, it was very overcast and not extremely hot so a nice break in the weather. We headed for Luke Air force Base. We went to handicap parking so we wouldn't have to be bussed in. Worked out fine. We were at the North parking lot and the edge of the airfield. Some people brought folding chairs and either sat in their pickups or behind their cars. Some icky man went to the bathroom right behind his pickup. Of course he was parked right next to us. How disgusting is that. They had Porto potties not far from us at all.

We just opened up the roof and I stood and had a front row seat to all the action. What a show they put on. Planes buzzing all over, diving, clouds of smoke trailing the Skye's. You should have see the men in parachutes with red smoke coming out of their feet. There must have been more than 6-10 of them. What a sight and the finally. THE THUNDER BIRDS. What a sight. Six jets flying across the sky doing acrobatic stuff. Barely missing each other and sometimes the six planes came together and made a flower with their smoke coming at each other and going up straight in the air. What a sight. Breath taking. It sure reminds you of the poem they used to show at the end of movies in the theater, I will have to get it and put it in here. It takes you breath away and puts you right with God. Oh how fun.

It goes

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds,

— and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence.

Hov’ring there, I’ve chased the shouting wind along,

and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.

Where never lark, or even eagle flew

—And, while with silent lifting mind I have trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space,-

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

by John Gillespie Magee Jr.

He was killed in an air accident flying a Spitfire VZ-H . He was a poet and Soldier. Herman Hagedorn wrote the story of John Magee in 1942. I just think of the things he didn't write because of the young age of his death.

That is what you think about when you watch The Thunder Birds.

What a fun afternoon.

We left about 4pm and headed for DeDe's. She gave me an outdoor umbrella and stand and I wanted Jim to see her place. She lives about 5 miles from Sonja's. I need to get over to see Sonja again and spend the day or have her out here.


From DeDe's I saw Bell Road and wanted to drive by where we stayed for vacation one year. It was close to Bell and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. Didn't find that but we did find an Italian Restaurant we liked and threw out the notion of making dinner at home and stopped in there. We stopped at Carrabba's Italian Grill. Jim of course had Penne Franco and I had a wonderful pork chop dinner. The Bread was fantastic, so was the wine.

A NIGHT IN THE 40'S BIG BAND DANCE

What fun we had - we didn't take full advantage and stay late, late but we were there 4 hours and enjoyed ourselves very much and even got in a few slow dances. You should have seen some of the dancers. What fun they were having and as you will see the Betty Grable look alike was a huge success. People were having their picture taken in front of the B-17 flying fortress. As you can see it says Sentimental Journey on the front with Betty's picture.