Super Saturday

The weather is great today. Almost as warm outside and it is inside. One of the hot air baloons was up this morning when I got up, but was too far away for pictures this time. The Jump planes were out on their first flights of the day before 8 a.m. so that is an indication that the weather is better. Last night I discovered yet another toy that I want. A propane fueled fire pit. We were invited to a going away party that our friends were having for a lady here in the park with a sick husband. They had it on their RV patio around a fire pit. It's a real fire and still here in the desert it gets chilly at night, so was really nice to sit around it for warmth. I guess you can find them at Home Depot and Lowes,along with a small propane tank to fuel it. It looked like the logs were a kind of ceramic material that held heat, and they were nestled in what looked like a tire rim. I was really impressed with it because it produced no smoke and would be small enough to stow and transport! One of my pet peeves in summer campgrounds for families is smokey campfires! The smoke travels, and not only provides them with amusement, but fills the campers,rigs and clothing around them also, which is no fun! I like a campfire at night, but just don't like the smoke! With this thing, you could even roast marshmallows! DH went to hit some golf balls today and I trekked off to the gym this morning. I woke up with a burning pain on top of my right foot, and hope it doesn't slow me up. It's getting an ice session now. Today was Leg day at the gym and the trainers weren't gentle! If my butt muscles let me walk tomorrow I will be suprised! Tomorrow is a day of rest.... This morning on the way out I had to take a picture of the eye candy that showed up here last night for an over night stay. Someone has a nice Prevost.
Towing a CR-V...The 45 foot rig is older but nice just the same.
We don't see many like this here. I'm still starting to think about downsizing though, trying to resist the urge to start looking! In town, I was looking for a hair salon, and found myself in front of the Casa Grande City Hall....it is the oldest building in that town, and the very ornate, Spanish design is original and interesting. One of these days we will go see what the inside is like.
I got my hair chopped on and now am home ready to do laundry and other mundane tasks. There was a big wreck just being cleaned up at the Florence exit and the traffic is heavy and snarled today. That will probably deter me from going back into town this afternoon. I have this noticable urge to shop today! I hope it goes away. At least until tomorrow!

Rain Rain Go Away!

A half an inch over night, it's still raining and the flood is on! This time rain is standing in the streets and puddles behind the coach already is not a good sign. The way it looks it will rain most of the day. I thank god that there's no wind this time. Dog outings are a pain. DH even has a rain suit. Won't be going anywhere today, but we've been invited next door to have supper so I won't cook much either.

Gettin' Up Early has it's Perks!

Don't usually get up early enough to see the sun rise, but I did this morning. DH had an early tee time and I was busy worrying about my solar panels. So rather than toss and turn, I got up and grabbed the book just in time for DH to tell me he switched the gauge...so not misfiring after all. I grabbed the camera, jumped in the car and drove out of the park to get past some power lines. These aren't the best pictures.
They really don't do the pink sky justice. One of these days I need to go camera shopping. No big news. Baked banana bread for us and another couple and washed all our bedding today. Still cleaning up red desert sand from the storm. Discovered a two inch pile on the drivers control panel under the window. Started a good book today. Watched the Maintenance Man attempt to clean the pool out. Don't know how deep the mud is on the bottom, he's really got a mess. This park is getting fuller and fuller.
Tells me the economy is loosening up and the RVers are coming out of the slump. I talked to a guy today that bought a unit in Colorado, and he said the C.W. where he was had 16 motorhomes sold and going out this week. There's a little hope.

Arizona Sunsets

Its been a rather quiet Sunday. We haven't really done anything special, but I think alot got accomplished. Watched the movie "The Bucket List" this morning and spent some time vaccuming
and cleaning out the window sills to get rid of all the sand from the sandstorm. Did a load of laundry and took KayCee on several walks, went in to the gym this afternoon. Took a trip to the Dollar General in Arizona City and went to the weekly ice cream social after supper tonight. DH stayed at the clubhouse for th Benjamin Buttons movie, but I thought one movie today was enough. In between things, I've managed to watch most of both Football Championships today. Neither team that I picked won....it's a good thing I don't bet! Guess it will be the New Orleans Saints and the Indiana Colts in the Super Bowl this year. At this point I'm on to NHRA Racing anyway. Test and Tune happened with Funny Cars yesterday up in Phoenix at Firebird Raceway. Seems like the off season was short this year. Time just flew by I guess. That's o.k. with me, I'm ready to get on with it. One thing here that I never get tired of here is the beautiful pink and red sunset.
My pictures never turn out and do them justice, but when I noticed it tonight I tried again. I'm going to have to drive out in the desert one of these evenings and try to get a decent picture. I think I'll wait a few days though, our road into the park is closed today. There's big potholes where the water flooded over the road and now there's a detour, so I think you'd sink getting off the pavement. We finally pulled back in our lot on the rock but it has been extremely soft all over this park. Some units are even sinking their jacks and having to put board under them. i sure hope there won't be any more storms like the last one. It's rather chilly here at night. More moisture forcast for Wednesday. I do have some pretty great side trips planned, but it has to be warmer than this before we go!

Rain, Rainbows and Not Much Wind Today

We survived all that nasty weather last night with everything in tact here, mostly due to pre planning!
We kept the slides in, had some sand infiltrate through the windows, but finally the rain calmed the blowing dust and that helped. We had wind gusts in excess of 50 mph and more I'm sure. At times I thought we were goin' over! Many here were chasing patio furniture and trash cans. I walked around back to check things out early this morning, and sunk down through the rock! Lots of vehicles made big deep ruts just backing out of their spots. DH got in and put it in 4wd and drove right out in the street with no ruts!
Lots of street flooding both inside the park here and on the way out to the freeway, and the back way to Casa Grande.
DH took me in to the gym this morning, and then we picked up some fruit and came home. I didn't sleep very sound last night, fearing more wind and storms.
We were even in a Tornado Watch. Once this afternoon it hailed with the rain. Many tales of damage and destruction up Phoenix way. A little boy was swept away in flood waters.
The house frau spent most of the day yesterday on DH's lap. She's conked out on the couch now wearing her new Pink Camo Hoodie. She's a pretty good girl. We were both nervous last night. Needless to say, we're not doing anything fun....just hanging out watching a lot of tv.

What a difference a Day Makes

We are in the middle of a full blown dust storm! It was calm this morning, and our wind warnings were for 11:00 a.m.
I almost decided it would miss us, and we were debating on whether or not to put the slides in. DH went up to the clubhouse to take a shower, I made banana bread and decided I'd put the slides in just in case. We decided to go into Casa about 10:45 and go to the show, Avatar. The wind was just barely blowing. When we came out of the show it was awful! I drove the interstate for 2 miles and got off on Jimmie Kerr Blvd. where we started meeting emergency vehicles. I knew I didn't want to stay on I10 any longer with all the trucks. There had been a wreck with a little white car on Toltec Road where we turn to come home. If I would have thought it would be this bad, we wouldn't have gone.
Unfortunately, pets still have to be walked, so going outside can't be avoided for some of us. Lots of units coming off the interstate. The sand is filtering in here even with the shades pulled and I'm gonna have an awful mess to clean up I fear. The vehicles are a total mess. We probably will have caked on mud when this is over. I'm glad I shut the slides, at least the canvas slide toppers and awning are covered. This is waaaay bizzare! Now I wish it would rain a bunch! It's going north of us and Phoenix is really getting rain. For the rest of the afternoon, we just rock and roll and ride it out!

Beautiful Day Today, Bracing for Ugly

Today was a great day in the desert. Up early and took and long walk. Got out and did some chores around the outside.
Fastened the tire covers so that they won't blow away in the stiff winds that are forcast for tomorrow. Swept the patio off and made pizza for lunch. They say 60 mph gusts will start in the morning.
I hope we don't have any problems, we have a full tank of water, so that will add some weight. I got out this afternoon and went in to Casa to the gym, since I probably won't go out tomorrow. Won't make any plans to go anywhere until it straightens up a bit. I sure don't want to get caught in the notorious dust storms that happen around here. So far this winter there have been two with fatalities, one a few miles south of here, and then the really bad one that was on Good Morning America that killed 4 and burnt up some semis. That one was just a couple miles north of here. I 10 is a fast dangerous road all day every day and I can't imagine being on there in blowing dust. You couldn't tell the dust could get bad today however, it was beautiful. Some of our trees are laden down with fruit.
This lemon tree is directly across the street from us. I need to go find the grapefruit tree. Eating that grapefruit today was as good as eating candy! We'll batten down the hatches and ride out the storm tomorrow and maybe friday. Another adventure!