Friday - February 8, 2008

Maybe the weather is on the up swing, today was another warm, sunny day. This morning we didn’t do much, the usual coffee and checking the news, blogs etc. on the computer.

This afternoon John went for a tour of the Marine Corp. Air Station (MCAS) and he said what they saw was interesting but they only saw the fire and rescue part of the base. Apparently there is a complete tour of the base on March 18th so if we are still here then we will try to go. I decided that the weather is finally nice enough to enjoy the pool so went and had a couple of good swims with some reading in between, a nice way to spend a couple of hours! I was chatting with a fellow from Wainwright, Sask. in the pool and we were saying how glad we were to be here and how bad we felt for those stuck in the snow and cold at home. On the way home I checked the laundry and it was empty so came back, changed, gathered up the laundry and headed off to do it so that is another job done for a few days.

By the time I got done with the laundry it was time to think about dinner, we decided to do burgers so John did a couple on the barbecue – yummy.


Fire Truck


F15s


Helicopters


Rescue Helicopter

Tonight is a bit of reading and TV, we just watched Air Farce and the Rick Mercer Report – always a couple of good laughs with these programs.

And so ends another wonderful day in our life or retirement and we look forward to another great day tomorrow

Thursday - February 7, 2008

Today was another beautiful day, sunny and warm – I sure feel sorry for all the people in Ontario suffering with all the snow, our daughter said it POURED snow all day yesterday. It is sad to see all the devastation in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama etc. from the tornadoes, our hearts go out to all the people who lost their families, homes, etc., it is incomprehensible to see all the damage on the news.

This morning I worked on updating the pictures from my blog into my diary of our 2006 fall trip, that is another one done with three more trips to update, I will then have a complete copy of my blog on my computer.

This afternoon we golfed at a new, for us, golf course with Janet and Dave, it was a nice enough course and the price was right - $11 for 9 holes. The par 3 we play is $9 for 9 holes during the week and $7 on the weekends, yes, the weekends are cheaper than during the week. I am still struggling with my game, hopefully it will come together again some time soon. After golf we went to the Texas Roadhouse for ribs – yummy.

The weather seems to be finally changing, it was still in the 60’s when we got home around 7:30, usually it is in the low 50’s by then so here’s hoping this stays. It is also nice to see it getting dark later and later each day as I really do hate the short days of from mid November to mid January.

As usual another wonderful day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another great day tomorrow. Oh yes, we are thinking of all you back home dealing with the snow and cold – tee, hee.

Wednesday - February 6, 2008

Last night was very cold, the fans were running in the orchards overnight and it was 38F when we got up this morning, but it warmed up beautifully during the day and turned into an absolutely gorgeous day.

Looking at the news and papers it looked like a terrible day at home, I had an e-mail from sister this morning and she had a snow day today so I figured it would be a good chance to talk to her, so called and we had a good chat. I also had an e-mail from our daughter Kel who had a kind of snow day, the school wasn’t closed but the buses were cancelled so it was a pretty quiet day at school and she said she got lots done. Fortunately she doesn’t have far to go so the drive was okay. Sure don’t miss all that snow and freezing rain and we did our share of driving in it during our working days!

I went for a long walk around the park today, then this afternoon I went out shopping for a bit. I was just going to go out and get some cards but seeing how I was by myself I took the opportunity to check out a couple of clothing stores. I got a nice blouse at 60% off at one store and then went to Beall’s where I saw a few things I would have liked to try on but they were painting the change rooms so I gave up and left, maybe I will get back on Friday afternoon while John is touring the MCAS base.

When I came back John was busy polishing the aluminum propane tank again, it will be blinding in the sun soon!! This afternoon the GPS that he bought off E-Bay arrived so he spent some time getting it set up and seems to be pleased with it, this one is for bike riding etc. and also would be good for geocaching, which I would like to try sometime.

Our friend Margie had surgery on her shoulder yesterday so we just called to see how she was doing, she has been quite sick from the anaesthetic so is not feeling great but hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow and improves each day. We wish you a speedy recovery Margie.

It is time to get dinner ready and then a quiet evening of reading and a bit of TV is planned. And so ends another great day in our life of retirement and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Tuesday -February 5, 2008

Today was supposed to be warmer but the forecasters were wrong, it was windy and quite cool with a high in the low 60’s which felt colder with the wind.

We went golfing and I had to put my jacket on after the first hole, that is a first for this year but the wind was just too cool to be only in a short sleeved top. My game was pretty bad, I did make a couple of really good putts and on the last hole I redeemed myself by having a birdie so I ended up happier than I had been. I don’t know what I am doing wrong but I just can’t seem to get a decent hit, hopefully this will change soon as I am getting quite frustrated!

We stopped at Wal Mart on the way home as John wanted to get a belt and then came back and hunkered down, it was too cool to sit outside even though the sun was on the patio.

We just saw on the news that a tornado has hit the Memphis area, how sad and such destruction, I am glad we aren’t in that area. So, even though the weather was on the cool side it was still a great day in our life of retirement and it sure beats the weather in most of Canada and other parts of the states.

Monday -February 4, 2008

Well, the wind picked up again during the night but fortunately it had died down by this morning and we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, which continued all day with a high in the mid 60’s.

I did the cleaning today plus cleaned out the kitchen drawers and reorganized them, always something to do, it’s amazing how much junk can be collected! Every time I clean I try to do something extra so today was the drawers as well as cleaning the curtain tracks – it is amazing how much dust and dirt they can collect in a short period of time!!

Other than a bike ride for John and a walk for me it was a quiet but nonetheless a nice day. John got my computer backed up on the hard drive then I set up some of my banking spots etc. so if we lose use of our computers everything is on the external hard drive – I find this all so amazing but am glad to have it.

And so ends another great day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

John gave me some of his pictures from the zoo today so I will post them with this.


And Here's One for Kelly & Margie


Ant Eater with Young "Un On Her Back


Red River Hog and His Friend


A Handsome Fella


Baby Panda


Mother & Baby


Kind of a Cute Statute


A Pretty Cat

Sunday -February 3, 2008

Today was another lazy, uneventful day. The wind it was a blowin and the sun it wasn’t shining so it seemed like a good indoor day. I called and cancelled our golf t-time as we figured with the direction the wind was coming from the golf course would be getting lots of dust from the desert and it doesn’t interest us to golf in the dust!

I spent the afternoon mapping a couple of routes home (we want to have a couple of alternatives) and a route for a summer trip we are planning, it takes time to do as I try to find RV parks and determine the driving distance from one place to the next and of course a lot of the parks will be in areas where we want to spend some time. Anyways, I have fun doing it but it is not cast in stone, just an idea for places to stay and things to see.

John found an external hard drive on the internet which was on sale at Best Buy so after ordering it, and being advised it was in stock here, he went and picked it up – the store price was $209 and the internet sale was $99, guess it always pays to check the internet first. He went and picked it up and then came back and got it set up while he watched the Super Bowl. Now we can back up both of our computers and if something should happen to them we can still use the hard drive as a computer as he has loaded Leopard onto it. My computer still has to be backed up so guess that will be this evening’s or tomorrow’s project.

The wind has finally died down a bit and it is clear out so hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day again, today I went out to the truck to get the Road Atlas and Trailer Life Directory for my project and that was my extent of being outside, totally unusual for here.

And so ends another great day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Saturday - February 2, 2008

Today was another gorgeous day in sunny Arizona, it was cold overnight with a low of 39F but it got up to the high 60’s this afternoon so it was very pleasant. John went for his bike ride and I went for a long walk this morning.

Today was another quiet day, this afternoon we went to Yuma Palms Mall so I could get some stamps and mail some stuff at Hallmark, then a stop at Best Buy (we kept our money in our pocket) and then on to Wal Mart. We decided that it was so nice we (John) would barbecue chicken wings for dinner so we made a stop at Wal Mart to get the wings. When we got home I did a couple of loads of wash and that was it for our day.

I talked to my mom and Nan today and am always happy after I talk to our family.

And so ends another great day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Friday - February 1, 2008

Wow, February already, where does the time go! Today was a beautiful sunny day and it got up to about 70F, perfect.

This morning I did some cleaning and just generally puttzed around then this afternoon I got real lazy and laid down for a while, I didn’t nap but did a couple of crossword puzzles. When I got up I got things ready for dinner as Janet and Dave were coming, we did a roast leg of lamb which was real yummy, with potatoes done around the roast, green beans and a salad. Janet doesn’t eat lamb so we did a chicken breast and baked potato for her. They brought a blueberry pie for desert so it was a good meal with good company. Once I got everything ready I took my book outside and read for an hour or so until they got here.

And so ends another great day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Thursday - January 31, 2008

Boy, we must have been tired after our long day yesterday as neither of us woke up until 9:30 – talk about lazy!

Today was a quiet, cool day, it was sunny all day but the temperature never got over 60, oh well with the severe storm warning they are calling for in Ontario I am not going to complain about a cooler day here.

Janet and Dave are coming for dinner tomorrow night so John and I went out to get a few groceries. While in Fry’s I checked the steaks and they had T-bones for $3.99/lb so guess what we had for dinner tonight. I have a leg of lamb in the freezer and Dave likes lamb but never gets it as Janet doesn’t like it so we are doing the lamb for dinner tomorrow night and a chicken breast for Janet. Now John is hoping it won’t be too windy tomorrow as we are going to do the lamb on the barbecue.

As you can see it was a quiet but great day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

I will add some of John's pictures when I get them.

Koala

Polar Bear

Two Year Old Panda Enjoying Bamboo Lunch

A Pretty Duck

Egrets

Flamingo

A Member of the Duidink Family

Members of the Pig Family

Wednesday - January 30, 2008

Today was a wonderful day, the weather was cool but mainly sunny so a good day for walking around the zoo. Jeans, a t-shirt and my nylon wind breaker were perfect and kept me comfortable for the day.

The bus left our pick up spot right at 6:30 a.m., made one more stop at their downtown office to pick up a few more people and we were on our way. We stopped at El Centro for breakfast about 7:45 and were quickly on our way again. From there to San Diego was new territory for John and I and it was an interesting drive. We went through quite a high mountain pass with very large rocks, very barren looking! About the top of the pass the sky got very black and it looked like we were going to be in for a storm but fortunately that didn’t happen and it was sunny by the time we arrived in San Diego around 10 a.m.

Some of the people on the bus were doing a whale watching tour, some were doing Old Town and then there were 6 of us doing the zoo, fortunately we were the last ones to be dropped off so got to see the harbour, old town and downtown San Diego – it looks like a very interesting city.

The zoo was absolutely fabulous, among others I have been to the Detroit, Toronto and Sydney Australia zoos and I have to say San Diego is the nicest one and we couldn’t believe how clean it was.

The first thing we did was take the aerial ride across the park, what a great view and it let us off near the polar bears – they were fun to watch and the one had an absolutely huge bone he was gnawing on.

We saw the two year old panda sitting enjoying his lunch of bamboo, then next was his mother and 4 month old brother and it was a riot to watch them playing. They were rolling around with each other then the little guy would try to climb a tree and mom would haul him back down but he was very persistent with his efforts to climb the tree. One of the panda keepers said they had been playing for over an hour so we were fortunate to see them at play. We also saw a mother anteater, she was the largest one I have ever seen, and her baby was on her back. She was trying to shake the young one off and make him walk but he was holding on for dear life and having no part of being parted from mom, fun to watch them. Of course I enjoyed the koalas, they are so cute but can be very vicious.

Because of the incident at the Los Angeles zoo the tigers weren’t out, they are adding to the height of the wire around their area and until it is done they won’t be out – disappointing. We walked around most of the zoo then took a 35 minute bus tour to see what we missed, we sat on the top of a double decker so had a good view – and it was just nice to sit for a while! When we walked around the elephant area there was only one out but when we went by on the tour there were 4 and one of them was pulling at an object hanging from a large piece of wood, the driver said there was food in it and the elephant sure was reefing on it trying to get at the food – quite funny to watch.

By the time the tour was over we had about 20 minutes before we had to meet our bus so Janet & I wandered through a couple of shops while John and Dave went through the reptile house.

On the way home we stopped at Alpine for dinner, there were a number of places to eat so we decided on a barbecue restaurant that turned out to be good and very reasonable. There was another quick stop at El Centro on the way back and we were dropped off at our truck about 9 p.m. – weary but having enjoyed a really great day.

I still have to go through my pictures, as well as John’s, so will wait until tomorrow to post this and some pictures.

And so ends another great day in our life of retirement and we are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

Tuesday -January 29, 2008

Today was another nice sunny day but a bit on the cool side, I had my vest on until about 1 p.m. when it warmed up enough to take it off.

There was a big crowd golfing today, our group as well as others, and we were about 40 minutes late teeing off, there were 44 golfers so a good turnout. When I got there a lady came up and said how glad she was to see me back etc. and I felt terrible as I didn’t remember her at all from last year. As it turns out they are from Langley B.C. and her husband remembered John right away, guess they have far better memories that we have. Anyways, it ended up that Karen and I were partners so had a good visit but my game was absolutely awful, my last two drives and putts saved me from total embarrassment. The only saving grace was that one of the fellows on our other half of the foursome was having as bad a day as I was so I didn’t feel totally like a fool. Thanks to Karen we ended up with a 30 so not totally shabby, John and his partner didn’t have a good day either so John and I headed out shortly after we got done as we knew there would be no prizes won in this family today!

I needed some buns so we did a quick stop at Wal Mart plus stopped for propane on the way home. When we got back I got things ready for tomorrow and John got the propane tank back on, did a bit of this and that then went for a bike ride. Johnny stopped for a little visit then after she left I did some vacuuming and called my mom.

We are looking forward to our visit to the San Diego zoo tomorrow although I AM NOT looking forward to being up at 5 a.m. - I am not a morning person! We don’t expect to be back much before 11 tomorrow night so I doubt I will be doing my blog tomorrow.

And so ends another wonderful day in our life of retirement and we look forward to our day at the San Diego zoo tomorrow.