Happy Hour

Apache Junction, AZ  High 68  Low 52

Toni and Doug left us on Thursday and are making their way slowly north.

Jim finally got to go fishing but he wasn’t feeling very good so he didn’t stay out too long. Has a problem with one of the depth finders so he needs to work on that before we goes out again.

Friday afternoon was Happy Hour at the San Tan Brewery in Chandler with Jeri and Terry, Paul and Marsha, and John and Sharon. We were able to solve several world problems as well as down some good food and some of the group got to enjoy several local brews.

Paul, Marsha, Jeri, Terry, Jim, me, John and Sharon

Saturday we went to visit Aunt Happy. She is feeling really good but she was not happy. Guess someone had gone to the store for her and she needed a liquid hand soap refill. The one they bought was “red”. Aunt Happy is a “pink” person. Everything in her apartment is pink especially in her bathroom. However, when she filled her soap dispenser the red soap looked pinker. But then she couldn’t make the dispenser work. Jim got it working again. Also fixed her earrings so they wouldn’t fall off. She always has some little jobs for Jim to take care of that she just isn’t capable of doing any longer.

Sunday we watched the Daytona 500. Yesterday the weather was cloudy and gloomy so we stayed close to home.

Today Paul picked us up in his new Jeep and we headed out for breakfast. Went to The Good Egg and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast. Their bacon is really really good and so is the French toast. Nice change of pace to go out for breakfast instead of dinner.

After we got home Paul and Marsha came over. We had a great visit and Marsha brought us a loaf of her zucchini bread with cranberries and raisins. It was too die for.

Weather doesn’t look all that good for the next week and a half. Time to dig out a good book.

I Finally Remembered to Use My Camera and Then I Forgot Again

Apache Junction, AZ  High 80  Low 53

Last Saturday Jim and I took a ride up to Bartlett Lake. Jim wanted to check out the boat ramp and I wanted to see what the camping was like. This post is going to have lots of pictures because I was having so much fun with the camera.

Some of the homes along the way.

It’s a beautiful drive through the desert which is a two hour drive from our house. Jim probably won’t make a trip up there for just a day of fishing. If he wants to fish Bartlett, we’ll take the Bungalow up first and then he can come back and get the boat.

The water level is way down on the lake but there were still a lot of boats out on the water.

The boat ramp

Several RV’s parked on the shore. This is where we would camp.

At the entrance to the boat ramp there was a sign showing a campground off to the right. We wanted to check it out. Let me tell you – not anyplace I would try and take our rig.

In several places the very rocky dirt road was only one lane wide (can you imagine meeting up with another RV?). In a couple of places I was really glad we were in the truck. It’s six miles back into the campground.

The campground itself is supposedly by the river but you can’t see the river because the weeds are about seven feet high and so thick you couldn’t cut your way through them. There were a couple of tent campers and one pop up which surprised me.

But what surprised me even more was the Class C that was headed down the road as we were leaving. We found a place where we could pull over to let them go down. I certainly wished them lots of luck. Not sure if there was even a spot big enough for them at the campground.

Lots of cactus

Do you see a river in there anywhere?

 

The dam

I loved seeing this saguaro sitting so proudly on top of the mountain.

See what was following us. Can I keep it Jim, please??? 

We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and saw some beautiful country.

Then I put my camera away and forgot all about it again.

On Sunday Toni and Doug pulled into our park to spend a few days. Monday afternoon we picked them up and then met Jeri, Terry, Sharon and John at the #1 Eastern Super Buffet for dinner.

Tuesday I had a happy hour at our house because there were several folks who wanted to visit with Toni and Doug. Once again, no pictures, but we had 13 folks enjoying themselves.

Tonight Toni fixed us a fabulous chicken pot pie dinner with the most luscious peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust. Soooo good. They are leaving tomorrow and we wish them safe travels as they slowly head back north towards Canada.

Late Night Johnny’s

Apache Junction, AZ  High 81  Low 54

I told you in my last post that we wanted to go to Late Night Johnny’s but it was closed. We have a Groupon for the place and it expires on Tuesday so on Friday, Jim called to find out if they were open at lunch time. Johnny said that the high school kids had just cleared out and to come on over.

Well, let me tell you, he makes incredible food. I had a burger and it ranks right up there with the one we drive to Porter’s in Superior for. Jim had a steak sandwich which was excellent and the steak was really tender. The fries are fresh cut which are my favorite.

Johnny gets all his meat fresh each morning and when he runs out of food he shuts the restaurant. Makes it kind of hard to figure out when you can get there but we will definitely go back.

John Wayne was playing on the TV. Notice the antenna.

The other problem is the parking. There is only parallel parking on the street. Not a problem when we got there about 12:45 for lunch. We parked right in front. But I could see it being a problem later in the evening and it’s not the best neighborhood so lunch would be the best time to go.

Not a Great Day

Apache Junction, AZ  High 79  Low 52

Monday was the day for the big first fishing trip of 2015. Marv and Jim were headed to Bartlett Lake.

But first the RV sites needed to be sprayed for weeds. With all the rain and now lots of sunshine, the weeds were almost thick enough to make it look like we were growing a lawn. A bunch of the guys armed themselves with sprayers and started spraying. Took longer than expected and it was really starting to get later in the morning. The decision was made to change Bartlett Lake for Saguaro Lake which is much closer.

Got their lunches made, the boat packed and off they went. About 30 minutes later I get a phone call. They have a flat tire on the boat trailer. Thank goodness they were at the turn off to the boat ramp and were able to get the trailer off the road and into a safer spot.

Jim thought maybe they could use the spare tire off the Bungalow, but that didn’t work. He ended up buying a new tire and back to the lake they headed.

Finally got the boat into the water and things did not get any better. After launching the boat, it wouldn’t plane. They stopped and raised the motor up to check the prop which was fine. Put the motor back down and it planed just fine. Marv had forgotten to take the transom saver off and it caused the motor to have an air pocket around the prop. That meant that the transom saver was now at the bottom of the lake. We ordered a new one and it will be here tomorrow.

Jim had forgotten his sunglasses and his hat. Thank goodness he had an extra hat and some clip-ons on the boat.

And to end this less than perfect day – no fish.

Out of my Cave

Apache Junction, AZ  High 81  Low 53

As the sun slowly returned to the valley, I slowly emerged from hibernation. They are back to playing horseshoes where the lake was over the weekend.

Monday I walked across the street to visit with Ginny and Mickey. We also played cribbage Monday night.

Jim has been working on his boat and fishing stuff most of the week. He and Marv are going fishing on Monday.

I even went up for donuts on Tuesday morning and I don’t usually do that. And that was enough emerging for me. Had to do some laundry and grocery shopping. Other than that, pretty quiet.

On Thursday we went to see Aunt Happy. She is still doing great. Was just coming back from betting on the horse races they hold at her place. I’ve never seen these horses but they are wooden and that’s about all I know. She had won 80 cents but wasn’t happy. She says some times she wins up to $5.00. They had several people with the flu during January so everyone was restricted to their rooms for a week and had their meals delivered to them. But the dining room was full when we left so everybody is feeling better.

Tonight we did have some excitement in our life. We met up with Paul, Jeri and Terry for dinner. In fact Paul drove us in his brand new Jeep. It’s really a good looking ride. He also brought his new Harley over for us to see. He’s having a lot of fun breaking in his new toys.

 

We planned on going to Late Night Johnny’s for dinner but when Jeri and Terry got there, it was closed. Need to come up with a Plan B. We ended up at Texas Roadhouse. The food is fantastic but it is so noisy I could barely hear Jeri who was right across from me, let alone talk to anybody else. By the time we left there were a whole bunch of people waiting to go in.

And that has been our week.

Back in AJ

Apache Junction, AZ – Rain and more rain

After leaving Quartzsite we went back down to Yuma. Toni and Doug had saved us our favorite spot out on the BLM 14 day parking at Pilot Knob. Jim had one more trip over the border to see the dentist.

One more beautiful Pilot Knob sunrise. 

His appointment wasn’t until 4:00 p.m. and the dentist was running about an hour behind. Thank goodness all he needed was to have the permanent crowns installed. We finally were ready to cross the border about 6:00 and there wasn’t a single person in line ahead of us. In fact, there were only about 20 cars in the parking lot.

While we waited for the dentist, Jim ordered some new frames to replace the ones he had broken. We had to go back on Tuesday to pick them up. Decided I wanted an extra pair of glasses also. We went to Algodones Optical and I ended up with two pairs of bifocals for $210. I, of course, had to pick out the most expensive frame they carried. Hoping next year we don’t have any dental work because I would like to get both of us an extra pair of sun glasses.

Because of my glasses, that meant another trip back across the border on Wednesday. That worked out really good because Karla and Eric had never been to Algodones and we met them at 10:00 to show them how hard it is to get into Mexico – NOT.

Karla ordered new glasses while I picked mine up. Then we met up with Marsha and Paul for lunch at Pueblo Viejo. Toni and Doug recommended this place and it was really good.

From the left: Paul, Eric, Jim, Me, Karla and Marsha. Thanks for the picture Marsha.

We left Eric and Karla in the very capable shopping hands of Paul and Marsha and headed home to the girls.

Thursday morning we hitched up and headed back to Apache Junction. After three weeks in the desert I was really ready for a long, hot shower without worrying about filling up the gray tank or using up the fresh water.

We got back, unloaded all the necessities, and got the Bungalow parked in its spot before the rain started. Sure glad we came back when we did because it has rained and rained and rained. Yesterday AJ got over and inch and a half of rain. And we’re still seeing rain today.

This is our water retention area which is usually dry enough for everybody to play horseshoes. Not so today.

We’re hibernating for a few days. Need to go check on Aunt Happy and catch up with a couple of other folks next week. Until then I’m reading.

Scooter Update

 

Just wanted to show you how good Scooter is doing. This is a picture of her chasing lizards in the desert at Pilot Knob and Jim trying to keep up with her.

She is feeling great but we don’t let her do stairs any more. That is, if we can catch her in time. She thinks she’s invincible.

I also wanted to let you know that I sent out the blogger-fest list. Hopefully everyone got it. Let me know if I missed someone.  Thanks.