London Bridge

Lake Havasu, AZ  High 73  Low 48 (windy)

Last week-end we traveled to Lake Havasu State Park to enjoy some great Bluegrass music. Three rigs from our park went up on Wednesday and saved a couple of spots. Mickey and Ginny and Jim and I went up on Thursday.

First a little history.

Lake Havasu is home to the London Bridge. The original Bridge in London was rebuilt several times. In 1962, it was discovered that the London Bridge was "falling down," sinking into the Thames River because it was not adequate for the increase in traffic and the heavier vehicles. In 1967, the Common Council of the City of London began to look for potential buyers for the London Bridge. Lake Havasu City founder and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch placed the winning bid of $2,460,000 on April 18, 1968.

Each block was meticulously numbered before the bridge was disassembled. Each piece was marked with four numbers: the first indicated which arch span; the second, noted which row of stones; and the last two indicated which position in that row. The blocks were then shipped from London through the Panama Canal to California and trucked from Long Beach to Arizona. On September 23, 1968, the Lord Mayor of London laid the corner stone.

A one-mile channel was dredged and water was diverted from the lake, under the Bridge, then back into the lake. The bridge was dedicated on October 10, 1971. 

My friend Cindy and I visited the London Bridge back in 1968 when it was under construction. This is the first time since then that I have been back to see it. I sure wish I still had those pictures we took but they are long gone.

Back to the present.

After we got parked and set up, it was dinner time. Ginny had been telling us about this fabulous fish and chips that they had down by the London Bridge. Off to Burgers by the Bridge.

This place is known for their burgers but the four of us had their fish and chips. It was sooo good. And the portions were huge. Definitely a place we’d go back to.

After dinner exhaustion set in and we went back to the Bungalow and collapsed. The music starts tomorrow.

Winter Has Arrived

AJ, AZ  High 58  Low 37

I realize this isn’t winter weather for many of you suffering through a miserable winter. But we are finally getting the weather we expected in January. Our lows have been in the upper 30’s for sever nights and our highs only in the 50’s. We also had several overcast days but yesterday the sun came out and brightened up our chilly day.

As long as Jim is close by, Rocky is content, whether inside or out.

Eric and Karla were visiting Sherry and Sharon in Sun City and we were able to get together with them for dinner at Garcia’s. Jeri, Terry, Jerry and Janice were also able to join us. I think the restaurant gave a sigh of regret when we left because we were having such a good time. No cameras were allowed.

Even though it was chilly (downright cold for me) we had a hot dog roast over the campfire for our park on Saturday night. Mark had some fellow bluegrass players join him at the clubhouse but Jim was exhausted and I got chilled so we didn’t go listen to the music. Heard they were really really good.

We are going to get to hear some great bluegrass this next weekend. We are going to Lake Havasu for Bluegrass on the Lake. There are five rigs from our park going so I know we’ll have some good times.

I love it when they snuggle together on the couch.

The only pictures we’ve taken are of the pups so you get to enjoy them with us.

DNA

AJ, AZ   High 71  Low 52 – finally, maybe, hopefully, we are going to get some rain this week.

For Christmas Jim and I decided to do our Ancestry DNA just for fun. We ordered our kits, did our spitting, and sent it off. Last week we finally got the results.

Sandie

This is my breakdown. Not really any surprises in my background. My maiden name is Mercer which is a British textile worker. And I guess I get my bullheadedness from my Scottish ancestors and that just has to be from my mother’s side of the family. lol

Great Britain 66%

Ireland/Scotland/Wales 16%

Europe West 5%

Scandinavia 4%

Caucasus 4%

Europe East 3%

Iberian Peninsula 1%

Finland/Northwest Russia < 1%

Jim

Dixon is definitely a British name but I found Jim’s info more surprising than mine. I had no idea he has Scandinavian ancestors and looking at his DNA page, it shows the 1% Asia South is mainly from India.

Great Britain 88%

Scandinavia 9%

Ireland/Scotland/Wales 1%

Asia South 1%

Now that we have this information I have no idea what we are going to do with it. Doing genealogy is a burning desire in some people, but definitely not in me. I have built a couple of family trees in Family Search operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However those trees only go back a few generations.

It was fun to see our results.

AZ Sunset

January 2018 Roundup

AJ, AZ  High 84  Low 52

Contessa reminded me that it has been a long time since my last post. That’s what happens when you are just living and not really doing anything. We are doing great. Well, except for Jim’s fishing pox. It’s been quite windy so not much fishing going on. Hopes to change that this week. We are having record heat – in the middle 80’s. Personally, I prefer the 70’s for January and February.

So here is a roundup of the few things we have done.

We went to visit Aunt Happy. She was playing Bingo when we got there and was so excited because she won $10.00. After Bingo, we visited for a little while while they were getting ready for a happy birthday hour. She was doing good but she kept talking about discussing things with Don (her deceased husband) – things like potato chips and her will. She has never done this before. Uncle Don died 35 years ago after they had been married for 48 years. However, she is still quite sharp mentally especially for being 104.

I realized that we had not been out to eat since before Christmas so I called Melva and George and told them I needed to cure that problem. We set a date for dinner at SouperSalad in Mesa.

Then as life seems to go, I got a message from one of my high school classmates who was in the area for a visit. She wanted a get together with any classmates who were in the area. We were able to round up seven of us and went to Sal’s Gilbert Pizza for lunch.

Tim, Mark, Dick and Vern. Wanda, me, and Renee.

We had so much fun. As many of you know, Sal’s is one of our favorite places. Bob and Jo introduced us to the place and it is sooo good. But it’s been awhile since we’ve been there and wow, has the place changed. There was a burger restaurant next to it that went out of business and Sal’s expanded into that area.

I took pictures with my camera but somehow my SD card got messed up and I lost those pictures. I went to their website and got the following pictures from that. Bob and Jo – this place is just amazing and was so busy when we were there.

We then got a message from Toni and immediately said yes to another lunch get together. This time it was with the same folks we went to Benihana’s with. We met at La Stalla’s Italian Restaurant in Chandler. Once again I have no pictures but a great time was had by all.

Rocky turned 14 on February 1 and Skitz will be 14 in March. Both still doing good. Rocky is still barking and Skitz still loves her fireplace. And that’s it from our little corner of the world.

Rocky Joe–One Year Later

AJ, AZ   High 75  Low  48

2018 has started out very quietly at our house. We’ve been enjoying our home and not really doing very much of anything.

It’s hard to believe that Rocky has been a part of our lives for a year already. It’s amazing what food, good vet care and especially love can do. He is definitely Jim’s velcro dog. He won’t let anybody lift him except Jim, and that includes me. He will sit on my lap if Jim’s isn’t available, but I let him jump up by himself.

He has a bad heart murmur and is on medication for that. Scooter died because of a heart murmur so we know what to expect as time goes on. We just hope he can be with for a few more years. He will be fourteen in February. The pain medication we have him on has made all the difference in the world with his arthritis.

He still invades Skittlez space but she enjoys being snuggled up next to him. If Jim is home this doesn’t happen very often because Rock is always in Jim’s lap or following him from room to room.

We have gone to lunch a couple of times – once with Paula and another time with Toni and Doug.

We also made a one day trip down to Mexico for some work to be done on my crown. Made for a rather long day but my mouth appreciates it.

My internet connection is non-existent during the day so if I want to be on-line, I have to get up early in the morning. I read blogs during the short time I have but I haven’t been commenting. I did find out that I am not the only one here in the park that has problems with Verizon’s connection. We must be on the very edge of their service area.

That’s really all the news from our house.

Happy Boxing Day

AJ, AZ  High 68  Low 43

Paul reminded me that today is Boxing Day, a celebration that originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire.

Jim and I celebrated a quiet, peaceful Christmas day. Used my working oven to fix a turkey and we watched holiday movies. We did, however, have a couple of glitches in our peaceful day.

We ran out of propane and as per usual it was in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. Sure glad we had full tanks on the Bungalow so Jim could just exchange those because I’m not sure anything would have been open on Christmas day especially that early in the morning.

The other issue was more serious. Jim discovered a leak in our bathroom. Not sure if it was from the shower or the toilet, so he had to take things apart on Christmas day. He’s pretty sure it was a pipe to the toilet and got it repaired and put back together. He’ll keep a watch on it and we have our fingers crossed.

I want to post my Christmas decorations so I will have them to remember in later years.

This is our fishing Santa. The Hershey’s Christmas tree was made by Aunt Happy in her crafts class. The bottle next to Santa is full of candy to help us celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Jim decorates the outside with lots of lights.

Spike is all dressed up for Christmas.

Our Christmas Dachshunds.

The newest addition to our Dachshund family. Thanks to Todd and Michaela.

Our Christmas tree (there is a ledge behind the couch for it to sit on)

The Nativity Set my mother made for me some 35 years ago.

I hope all of you had a truly wonderful Christmas at your homes filled with love, friends, family and good food.

December Happenings

AJ, AZ   High 58  Low 33

We were able to meet up with some Escapees Class of 2008-2009 members at Benihana for a Christmas get together. So much fun. The restaurant had a hard time getting us seated but once that was out of the way, we really enjoyed the show and the food. It’s been probably 40 years or more since I went to Benihana and I’m sure glad Jeri suggested it.

Jeri brought lights for all the guys to wear and had fun turning them on.

Toni and Doug, Jeri and Terry, Janice and Jerry, and us

Jim and I both ordered steak which is served with mushrooms, onions, and rice. Sooo good. Our Chef was very entertaining.

This is the onion volcano.

Jim also went jeeping one day with a bunch of guys. He got some great pictures but I don’t think he’ll be doing that again. All that rocking back and forth hurt his back and his neck. Other than that he did have a good time.

One of our neighbors here in the park, Jeanne, took this fantastic sunrise picture and I wanted to share it with you.

We’ve gotten tons of goodies from the fantastic cooks here in the park and have enjoyed them in front of our fireplace. It’s been cold (for us) the last few days but next week’s weather looks about perfect.

RJ got a new sweater. Skittlez claims the fireplace as hers.