Happy V Day Tomorrow!

This Cholla Bush is as close as I'm getting to flowers this year! Happy Valentines Day everybody! Hope ya all get to do something fun. I have a fun morning planned, am getting up and making breakfast. Was gonna make him take me out and changed my mind! can't wait to hand out presents! We went to a gun show bright and early this morning in Casa Grande, missed the Tohono O'Odham Tash parade and festival. We took that in last year. Lots of people and traffic jams though, so I think they had a good turn out, even though it is lots colder than it was last year. Only a mere 6 days until we're goin' racin. Yipee!!!! I do hope it warms up a little bit more by then. Getting excited and am turning into a channel flipper myself now tonight. Back and forth between the Olympics and Winternationals in Pomona. My friend lost out first round today :( ...she'll get em next time, and thankfully it's early in season..

Beginning of a Weekend

Up early and off to Casa to finish up the Valentine's shopping. PetSmart first and then Sports Authority and Best Buy. Had real good luck finding what I wanted and finished the trip buying groceries for home cooked breakfast tomorrow. Was going to bake banana bread this afternoon and make home made pizza for supper, but that plan was scrapped by the time I got home. Our neighbors invited us to tag along out to the Ak Chin Indian Res. for Crab Leg buffet this afternoon. The pizza can be made anytime and will just have to wait! Tomorrow night we have a party so will be a busy weekend. No new pictures and didn't encounter any crazies this morning. The panhandlers weren't even up yet! Friday Traffic is bad already though and today started the O'Odahm Tash Festival. I don't remember that the parade last year was V. weekend. Think it's earlier. They are already setting up the booths and some merchants were already set up on Pinal. We attended the parade and the Pow Wow last year, and I think we'll be too busy this year to partake in much. I ended up sick with the flu for days afterwards, so think we'll stay home. The Fry Bread is to die for, and has enough cholestorol to make your arm hurt! So I keep telling myself that I'm being such a good girl by avoiding it!
The Buffet tonight is gonna be bad enough!Sun is warmer today. It's over 70. Happy Friday everyone!The sunset tonight looked like a big Blaze Behind the Tabletop Mountains tonight on the way home from Harrahs at Ak Chin. Buffet was very good. Earned me about 40 hours at the gym!

Back in Business!

Hooray for the great people at Lessor's Business Machines in Casa Grande. All fixed up with a new keyboard, and no other damages, so will be good to go for a round or two now. I have lot's of catching up to do, and tax season is here again so it was just in time. The weather here has been real cool and it rains every other day. Tuesday was the exception and we took a leisurely drive through the Sonoran Desert, 323 miles,stopping at the Sagauro National Park and listening to a very informative speaker. I learned a lot about the desert and some of the cacti species.
The Sanoran desert is one of four deserts here in the United States. The climate is arid and the hotest month here is June. Winter is December and January and Spring begins in February. Two Rainy Seasons, August is part of the Monsoon season and winter is the other rainy season, as we have been experiencing this year. The largest species of Cactus here is the Saguaro, and they are protected.
Some live to be 150 years old and are very slow growing, about a half inch a year. All the vegetation here has to be very drought tolerant, so to survive the very hot dry spells. Some Saguaros can weigh 3-8 tons and are 30-40 ft. high. They have 1000s of roots, not deep but growing in all directions for support. Each one is unique, and some provide homes for a few woodpecker species. Some other types of vegetation are the Jojoba bushes, Long thin spiney Octillo bushes, which some were already blooming,
Palo Verde and mesquite trees. Wild flowers come alive in all colors when the Desert wakes up, usually around here in April. There's not much out there that won't hurt you and I can't imagine walking out there for a long distance. Along the way on our drive, we drove through a good part of the Tohono O'Odham Nation in Pima county Southwest of Tucson. Couldn't help but notice the many crosses and decorated Shrines to those who have died in accidents on the road, some very intricate and decorative. We passed through the towns of Sells, Why and Ajo. Stopped in two Border Control Stations, one point we were about 20 miles from the Mexican Border and those stations have more cameras than you can imagine, there's Border Patrol Officers everywhere!
While in the ToHono O'Odham Nation we stopped and browsed in an Indian Art Shop and ate lunch that we packed in the cooler. We turned back north and passed through the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. A white drone target sat poised on a partially obscured runway. As the sun set in the West, we picked up I8 at Gila Bend and merged back into I10 heading south. We stopped at a Mexican Restaurant for supper and it was a good 12 hour day. There's a payback out here for enjoying this mild weather. Some people are getting respiratory sick now. One gentleman here has Pneumonia, and a lady is very ill with Valley Fever. It is a fungus from the dirt that becomes airborn and gets in your lungs.
Pets can also contract it and while humans usually survive and are cured with medication, if a pet gets it, it can be fatal and at best they have to be on Anti Fungal Meds the rest of their lives. They started the project today to fix the road that was compromised with flood waters through the rains, so hopefully that will be fixed before we leave here. Valentines Day is coming up this weekend, and we will be going to a dinner and dance here at the park. Our Nebraska Musician Friend is playing for us. We will just hope that we can stay well because the next weekend is the NHRA Drag Races. Sure feels good to be back online, don't feel cut off from the world now!

A Cool Week in the Desert

The start of another week. I have some fun things planned. Cooking Pheasant/Shrimp Alfredo for the weekly potluck tonight. Tomorrow we drive in the desert. It was a busy day on I10 yesterday. One aleged Hostage situation with a UHaul and a crazy man near here right at the exit I take to town. He said he had 77 illegals in the back. It was empty, He is in jail in Florence. We made Fox News Live. Closed the interstate for hours, then they got it opened and just about time for the Super Bowl to be over and the sky lit up with ambulance lights. I counted 4 units right out here in front of the park, it was a bad accident. Haven't seen the particulars of that one, but the clean up took a couple hours and slowed traffic for a long time. This is most definitely a dangerous stretch of road. We try not to be out at night much. Another Super Bowl has come and gone. Now I can look forward to next season....go Broncos. Hopefully they call me to bring computer in, that the keyboard is in. I should have mail today, so will be busy with that.

Really Inconvenient

Just a note. This running back n forth is really a pain! It rained most of the night. Supposed to be colder, but turned out to be a really nice day. Went into Casa this a.m. to get snack stuff for the Super Bowl Party this evening. Mapping a couple of scenic routes to drive this week. Probably stick to the south since it's snow forcast for the Northwest. Just checking the weather map now and mapquesting some miles.

It's Been a Long Week

I haven't been any fancy places or been on any adventures this week. I guess you could call what I've done an adventure of sorts! Wednesday, I was cooking for a dinner party that I was having and a coffee cup (with lid) got dumped over into the keyboard of my laptop. What a deal. Messed up my keyboard, so I've been busy trying to find the best way to fix it. It didn't fry everything, so I have a guy in Casa that has the keyboard ordered and will clean it up and put it back together, so hopefully I will be back and operational by Wed or Thursday of this coming week. Until that time, I am relying on the computers here at the Desert Valley Computer room. I can't believe how much I depend on that piece of equipment. So now I feel kinda lost and I'm just glad that I can come up here and use these. I won't be doing anything important here however. Just don't know about passwords etc. It's still really nice weather here, but we're in for some showers and cool weather for the first of the upcoming week. It sure is nice to watch all the snow in New Jersey on TV and then walk outside without a coat! We may take a ride down towards Tucson today later. No big plans, and none of my teams are in the Super Bowl tomorrow so that won't be a big party event for me either! Hope everybody has a great weekend. I do get my regular e mail and am checking it once a day through the website.

Chandler AZ and Heart Attack Grill

Yesterday was an interesting day in the old neighborhood. We hadn't been north to the suburb of Chandler, south of Phoenix since we have been here and I felt the need for a road trip. The first winter we came out here, we started out in Chandler and spent a lot of time there and surrounding suburbs of Tempe and Gilbert. We saw some new things since last year, and some same old same old. We discovered the Heart Attack Grill before it was advertised on all the food networks and CBS Morning Show. We felt the need to have lunch there because they have the absolute best hamburgers!
Nothing in there is good for you and they tell ya that going in, but it's a real experience that everybody needs just once, or in our case, twice! We stopped in at the Firebird Raceway and picked up our parking passes for the NHRA Arizona Nationals in a few weeks.
It was eerily quiet and the lake where they host Jet Boat Races was still, but in a very short time, their seasons will start and all will be a bustle.
Across the freeway, is the RV Dealership where we bought our home on wheels. With the down economy, they were not exempt on some hard times and changes. We stopped in to look around and visit with them on the state of things now. After a tough go last year, their opinions are that things are definitely looking up. They are attending shows, keeping busy, and there were several other couples there shopping for rigs. We looked at their feature, one of 7 Country Coaches built in '08 that has a fold down deck on one side. It's the same size as ours and also has a King bed and a bath & 1/2. On the deck there's a pull out big flat screen tv. Now DH really liked that rig, and we spent quite a while sitting in and looking around it, but I finally managed to pull him away. They only built 7 and 6 are sold, so it's the last one. I went intending on looking at smaller rigs and not deciding what I can give up, I'm right back where I started!
We got up early this morning to go through the hunting ritual.
DH has been wanting to hunt Quail since finding out that there's friends of his hunting buddy's that live here. Well we were hooked up with one of those guys and went to meet him yesterday since he lives in Chandler. I wanted to feel more comfortable with who he was going away with, especially since guns are involved and they're taking my dog!lol
After meeting this couple, I'm totally comfortable. They are really nice people. He came by and picked them up and they are going down by Tucson some place. Although I have the day off, with no demands I have some cooking to do to get ready for a dinner party that I'm having tomorrow night. We're forcasted to get more rain tonight and tomorrow. Pretty soon we will need oars or maybe will sink! Later this week, we will head to Tucson to explore some more territory.