Team Practice

Our day started with the free breakfast at the hotel where all the family members of the players - at least the ones staying at this location - met to discuss plans for the day. The group is a happy one, as you can imagine:

Following our breakfast, the men all piled into a couple vans to go to the team practice session at the stadium while the girls all went shopping. The stadium is spectacular - of course, the Dallas Cowboys play here - and the practice was really fun to watch. I took many shots of the practice before I was informed that photos where not allowed - obviously, nobody knows that I am not a Wisconsin spy! These first few shots are of the stadium:

 and this one, of the stadium store, which is HUGE:

It was easy for me to save money there, as I am not a Cowboys fan.

Then, there are a couple of the photos I took of Austin while practicing:

and this final shot - a legal one - of the two of us following the practice session:

We all met back at the hotel and went to a nice sports bar down the street - The Rock - where we had a great dinner to end the day:

Today's schedule includes another trip to the stadium - for a tour - a trip to the Stockyards (more on that tomorrow) and a dinner tonight with Austin at his hotel. We will also celebrate Austin's birthday (which is tomorrow) at dinner.

What a fun trip so far...

Arrival in Arlington, TX

We left Amarillo, TX, at 8:30 AM following a continental breakfast at the hotel. The drive was very similar to the day before - lots of flat terrain, chilly temperatures, clear skies - but no rain or snow. The most unbelievable aspect of the drive through northern Texas was all of the windmills that are scattered all over the place. There were miles and miles of them and we have never seen so many in one area before.

Patty's flight arrived from Chicago on schedule and they checked us into the hotel in Arlington about an hour before we arrived. We are staying at the Towne Place Suites in Arlington which is located across the street from the Six Flags Park and within view of the AT & T Stadium where the Cotton Bowl game will be played. Here are a couple photos of the hotel:

Our rooms are two bedroom suites that are very nice. We can certainly take advantage of these nice rooms.

We settled into the room and went down to the poolside to have a welcoming drink and to meet some of the other players' families that are also here for the game. It was a bit chilly by the pool, so we moved inside to the lobby area (those photos were not so hot):

Patty and Mark got a Cotton Bowl hat for me for Christmas and this is what I will be wearing while here:

We all went to dinner at Mariano's Hacienda Restaurant that is not too far away and we all enjoyed our first big meal of our trip.

The schedule today includes a visit to the stadium where Mark and I will catch the team practice and get a glimpse of the team and the field, and the girls will do some local shopping at the many shopping choices in this area that are convenient to the stadium. The boys will be spending most of the day at Six Flags.

The fun begins...

Safely in Amarillo, TX

It was almost exactly 7:15 AM by the time we pulled out of the RV Resort yesterday AM. The GPS indicated that we would arrive at 7:30 PM local time in Amarillo. That assumed, of course, that I would drive at the speed limit the entire trip of about 750 miles. No way. We arrived at 6:45 PM local time which included 3 stops for gas, potty breaks and to pick up a fast dinner at an Arby's at one of the gas stops. While on the freeway, I averaged about 80 mph and stayed pretty much with the traffic. The weather was very good all the way.

Below are some shots we took yesterday. The first is of the sunrise as we were pulling out of the Resort in the morning:

Followed by a view of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff where we picked up I-40. This area had the most snow all day and the coldest temperatures at 19 degrees:

Of course, we had to get shots of the crossings into New Mexico and Texas:

We will leave this morning for the final leg into Arlington where will meet Patty and family at the hotel. First, we will grab our free breakfast at the hotel here - the Red Roof Inn.

 Getting close now...

At the Starting Gate

All is done, the car is loaded and we are ready to roll! We have a long day today - about 10 hours driving - to Amarillo, TX. We are sure glad we had the extra time to prepare as there are may things we could have forgotten, such as - the "Texas" clothes (cowboy boots/hats), the wine, the goodies for the room, good snacks for the drive, driving Atlas, book showing next exit for gas, all reservation material, etc. They are all loaded.

Here are a couple photos sent by Patty. The first is of one of the team busses where Austin's picture is on the side (#23, second from right in front row):

and this one, taken of a tile on the floor of the team hotel:

I'm not sure how much time we will have to do much of a blog for tomorrow, but we are leaving early so that we can arrive in Arlington at a decent hour to meet Patty and family.

It's finally here, so enjoy our trip with us...

Team Arrives Safely in Dallas

The WMU football team arrived safely in Arlington Texas for the Cotton Bowl game next Monday. Austin and his teammates will stay at one of the nicest hotels in town, which I believe is the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center   (but I also saw the Four Seasons Hotel listed as a team hotel)  and the team will be practicing each day. Patty informed us that Austin will be able to visit with us on New Year's Eve (at his hotel), so we plan to have dinner with him at his hotel on New Year's Eve. That works out fine, as his birthday is New Year's Day and we can celebrate the night before.

We began our preparation yesterday for the trip. Josie got caught up with our laundry and I printed out the details for our schedule and started organizing everything that we will be taking for our room. Our rooms are suites that contain some kitchen facilities, so we can take some good food along. There is much to be done yet today as Josie will get her nails and hair done and I will be packing away the Christmas decorations from outside. We will also make sure the car is gassed and ready to go for tomorrow AM.

It is getting very exciting now, and we are anxious to get on the road for one of the best New Year's celebrations ever...

NIce Christmas

Our Christmas Day started with the church service at our Resort clubhouse at 9 AM. It was a wonderful service that was done entirely by the local residents and without a minister of any kind. We did have a choir, and we sang several of the most popular carols. It is really nice to attend a service like this one occasionally to get a different perspective on what Christmas means to folks. Once again, though, I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any shots of the service or the "church".

We started our preparation for our trip and Josie has taken the rest of the week off from work so that we can be sure to get things ready. Actually, it only amounts to taking Wednesday off as the shop owner made a last minute decision to keep the shops closed on the day after Christmas - today. We will be taking down our Christmas decorations and packing them away for another year before we leave. As we don't return until January 4th, we thought it would be best to get that done before the trip.

The football playoff picture is nearly complete. I didn't mention the Seahawks loss to the Cardinals on Christmas Eve Day as it was not the outcome I expected. The Cardinals played "spoilers" and barely hung on to upset the surging Seahawks, 34-31. It was a game the Seahawks should have won, even though they didn't show up for the first half. I'm concerned now about how far they will go in the playoffs with their injuries and inconsistent play. At least they made the playoffs again. As the pros know, and say it frequently, it is much tougher to stay on top as an elite team than it is to get there. Teams like the Broncos, the Cardinals and especially the Panthers, know how difficult it is to stay on top. Fortunately, the Seahawks are still among the elite with the Patriots, Packers and Steelers to name a few...

Merry Christmas

It was off to work early yesterday for Josie who was hoping for a short day. She wore her Elf cap as part of the shop Christmas celebration, and this is the neat shot of the elf:

It was also a beautiful sunrise to start the morning:

Her work day was a bit shorter than normal as she was out of the shop shortly after 2:30 PM. We thought about trying to make the church service in Anthem, but it appears that the service started at 5 PM and not the 6 PM we originally thought. By the time she got home she was ready to sit and just try to gather her thoughts for the holiday schedule. We ended up not going to a Christmas Eve service, but will attend our local service this morning at 9 AM at the Resort clubhouse.

We have lots of preparation that we need to get done for our trip to Texas and the Cotton Bowl. We leave very early on Wednesday the 28th. We hope to get most of that done today. Santa stopped at our house and left a few nice things for us. He must have been behind schedule and running late as he only left a limited number of gifts. Or, maybe he saw that there were no cookies and milk or treats for him so he left right away. That's OK. We are thankful for all that we have.

We hope everybody has a wonderful Christmas and enjoys the day...

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Truck Legal for Another Year

After thinking about changing our registration for the new truck back to Florida, I nixed the idea. Even though it would have saved hundreds of dollars, it would create other uncomfortable situations. Starting with the Florida address appearing again on our driver's licenses which caused some minor problems during the years we registered the other truck in Florida. The biggest problem, and most important, is that we would have to again change our primary physician on our health care to a Florida doctor which caused some problems with our health care. Having the Florida address resulted in some differences in coverages before and we didn't want to have to go through that situation again. So, we ate the huge difference in registration. It's too bad it was due at Christmas time when you like to use the money for holiday items. It's about time that Arizona becomes a "retirement friendly" state and lowers registration costs for seniors - among other things. We do still register the RV in Florida which is not a problem as we don't drive it and don't require a Florida drivers license. It costs us $76 for two years on the RV and that is a great deal.

It's the final work day for Josie today before the holiday. She starts at 8 AM and is expected to work until 4 PM, but could be later if all deliveries aren't done. We had wanted to go to the church service tonight with George and Cheryl and Brian and his family, but that service starts at 6 PM and we may not be able to get there in time. There are other services around that start later which we are looking into.

More rain - heavy, again - is expected today. The good news is that there is a good football game on TV - the Seahawks vs the Cardinals - which is being played in Seattle. The game starts at around 2 PM local time following the Packers/Vikings game, so, Go Seahawks!!!

Floating Away

As mentioned yesterday, the rains came and came in a big way. There were moments when you could barely see the street outside because it was raining so hard. I went out to do an errand as soon as it slowed enough to get to the truck and drive. These shots are an indication of how it was in the Pioneer RV Park following the heaviest period of rain:

The water eventually ran off, but it sure was a different scene from what we are used to seeing. It is not very often that the rains come so hard for so long. I'm sure that the Monsoon rains create the same scene in the summer while we are gone.

Just two more days before Josie gets some relief from her Christmas rush at work. Every year we say it will be different for next year, but we keep falling into the same trap of the busy holiday seasons at the flower shops. Maybe someday in the not too distant future we will completely retire from this kind of work and enjoy the holidays with a lot more free time...

Heavy Rains

We are already getting the heavy rain from the first of two storm fronts that are forecast to come through this area. The one we are getting this morning is not the wettest - or coldest - of the storms coming through. So, it looks like anything that needs to be done outside - errands or shopping - will be done in lousy weather right up to Christmas Day. It still beats snow and frigid temperatures.

The areas around Dallas are getting hit pretty hard this week by some of these storm fronts. As long as they all clear out before New Year's. The long range forecast for that area is for improving weather - but that is still a long way off for getting accurate forecasts. We will be prepared for everything for our trip: rain, snow, cold or whatever.

That's about it for today. There isn't much happening between now and Christmas, so take it easy everybody...

Not Enough Hours

We stayed up late last night getting all the gifts wrapped for the kids in WA and getting the box packed to take to the post office today. Yes, it will be after Christmas when it is received in WA, but we just ran out of time to get everything done. The real culprit is the holiday schedule that Josie has which makes her feel so tired at the end of the day that she doesn't feel like doing anything else. Her days off have been taken up with shopping and resting. There won't be any relief until Christmas.

I spent most of yesterday working on computer problems on Josie's computer - the printer wouldn't connect to her system - and other problems inside the fifth wheel. The fifth wheel has been pretty much our home for the last eight or so years, so some things need attention. Speaking of home, we received notice yesterday that the garbage disposal at our rental home is not working and there is a leak under the unit. Our property management company is dispatching a vendor to check it out and replace the unit, if necessary. We think it should be replaced anyway, as we noticed there was a problem with it before we left the house earlier in the year. It was only a matter of time before it failed, so we are OK with that replacement.

It appears that rain is again moving into the area and will be around until Christmas. It beats snow, so we can't complain...

Winds Gone

At least for now - the winds have stopped. We only had a couple chairs blown over on their side throughout the windy day. All of our Christmas decorations - primarily the deer and Christmas trees - survived without any problem. It is hard to understand how that happened as the winds were definitely in the 25-35 mph range. We should be good for some calm weather - at least for a couple days. I'm ready for some calm - and 70 degree days - where I can sit outside and get some nice warm sunshine.

Josie is in the final push at work to get through the busy Christmas season. Even though it is not anything like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day, there is still a spike in orders and she is kept very busy. I know she will be happy when Christmas arrives.

I received a notice from Social Security yesterday about a Cost of Living raise in benefits for 2017. It is a .3% increase - the first increase in two years - that exactly covers the increase in the Medicare Deduction. So, my net benefit is exactly the same as it has been the last two years. Thanks, Obama, for your final shot before leaving office...

Rockin 'n Rollin

Once again, we have strong winds which were not in any forecast that we saw yesterday. They started just before bedtime - of course - and blew through the night. I can't wait to see what was blown over when the sun comes up this morning. That is one of the mysteries for this area - why we get such strong winds so often. It made for difficult sleeping last night as the fifth wheel rocked and shook most of the night and our topper awnings were flapping. We decided that we would take down all of our Christmas decorations from outside before we leave on our trip on the 28th. They will come down, probably, the day after Christmas. It is a reminder that we cannot leave on the trip - any trip - with anything outside that be blown over or blown away.

We finished our Christmas shopping yesterday and are now ready for the holiday. We went to the Arrowhead Mall in Glendale and also to Costco to get everything done.

The Cardinals kind of put an exclamation point on their season yesterday by losing to the New Orleans Saints in an offensive duel - 48-41. Both defenses must have stayed in the locker room during the game. It was up and down the field throughout the game with no team stopping anything. The season is winding down now and I look forward to the playoffs starting soon...

Room Booked for Trip

We are getting closer to having all the arrangements made for our trip to the Cotton Bowl. Our room reservation for the one night that we will be staying while driving to Arlington, TX, was reserved at the Red Roof Inn, Amarillo East, in Amarillo, TX. That is about a 720 mile drive for us on the 28th, but leaves only around 350 for the final drive on the 29th when we check into our room in Arlington. We will drive to Flagstaff and pick up I-40 there and take that all the way to Amarillo. As mentioned previously, we have never taken this road before and look forward to a drive through some new countryside. We are hoping that the weather cooperates and we won't have any serious concerns along the way. Our drive home on the 3rd of January will also take two days, but that drive is still being evaluated for the route we will take. A lot depends on weather forecasts. The weather picture gets a lot more clear as we get closer to the dates we will be traveling and staying in Texas

Josie is off today and we will wrap up some loose ends for Christmas and get everything done that will take us up to Christmas Day. We still have to take care of a couple gifts, so I think a trip to the Mall may be in order. The sky is cloudless, and the temperature is a cool 51 this morning and is suppose to get to the mid 60's. Not too bad.

There will be some key football games on TV today, but none that affect my teams - the Cardinals game doesn't matter (against the New Orleans Saints), and the Seahawks already played and won. So, enjoy your day everyone...

Christmas Cookies

It was finally time - almost too late - to bake Christmas cookies for this year. Josie had been waiting until she found the recipes for the cookies she wanted to bake this year and also to find the time to get all the ingredients she needed. Yesterday was the day. We went shopping for "cookie" stuff and I got a haircut while we were out to have that task completed before leaving for our trip following Christmas. She worked until bedtime getting all the cookies baked. Some of them go to Washington for the smaller grandkids, some go to her work and the rest go to our waste line.

The day went entirely too fast and Josie is back to work today. With only one more day off - tomorrow - we will have to scramble to get things done by Christmas. The rain arrived late yesterday afternoon and is with us yet this morning. It will cool down into the 60's for today, but we feel blessed that we are not in the frigid weather that is blanketing much of the country. The pictures we are seeing on TV and on Facebook remind us of those days when we too were bundled up and shoveling driveways. We feel sorry for the folks that are helplessly sliding into other vehicles without any chance of stopping on the icy roads. Hang in there to those folks, it will get better...

Cotton Bowl Activities

We are beginning to see some of the activities that surround the Cotton Bowl. Patty sent us a copy of the invitation (photo below) to the Cotton Bowl Kickoff Breakfast which will take place on January1, the day before the game:

We have talked about some possible plans for New Year's Eve, so I hope we are able to get up early enough on New Year's Day (ha). I'm sure there will be many more activities and gatherings that we will be attending. The excitement continues to build.

The Seahawks won the NFC West Title last night (24-3) against a nemesis of theirs - the LA Rams - who beat them earlier this season, 9-3. It wasn't the blowout that I anticipated, but it was an impressive win anyway. To be fair, the Rams had a new coach and a new quarterback, so they were not fully prepared for the matchup. Unfortunately, the Seahawk win eliminated, officially, any chances that the Cardinals could make the playoffs. This is five years straight that the Seahawks have made the playoffs.

Josie is off today, works tomorrow and has Sunday off for her final days off before Christmas. The question mark is how late she will have to work on Christmas Eve Day. In the meantime, we will do our best to prepare for our trip and enjoy the Christmas spirit...

Time for Last Minute Shopping

Just when you think everything is under control in your shopping efforts, something else comes up to force you to keep shopping. It actually isn't so bad as we are nearly finished, but we had a hole to fill yesterday. Our grandson, Justin, is in the Air Force and we had no address for him until yesterday. He is now located at Travis AFB in CA near San Francisco and we have an address to send his birthday and Christmas gifts. Our last minute shopping is nothing compared to some folks. As far as I know, that completes our list for Christmas.

Now, let's move on to some current football developments. The Cardinals are taking care of business by releasing their player who recently was arrested for a DUI. Good move. They have a few more moves that need to be made in order to be title contenders once again. Speaking of title contenders, the Seahawks will get a chance to recover form their embarrassment last Sunday when they play the LA Rams tonight. I expect them to "right-the-ship" tonight. Even though the Rams beat them the last time (9-3) earlier in the year, I look for a Seattle blowout tonight on Thursday Night Football. We'll see.

Keep warm to everybody that is in the Arctic Blast area in the Midwest. I know that Chicago is near 0 today and the wind chill shows that it will be equivalent to -15 today...

Truck Claim Ends

The accident we had in Wyoming this summer is now history - totally. We received the last piece of the claim yesterday - our $500 deductible that we had to pay to get the repair work done. Our insurance company finally recovered the deductible from the at-fault party and the claim is now closed. It will be easy to forget about that experience.

The other piece of good new from yesterday was Austin's inclusion in the All Academic Team from the MAC Conference. It is and exceptional honor to be recognized for not only his on-field accomplishments, but also his academic accomplishments. He continues to make all of us proud of him.

There appears to be about two more nice days left before the rain and cool weather moves in for at least a week. The rain should only be for a day, but the temperatures will not go above the high 60's for the next week or so. We have lots of things to get done inside anyway, so when we see what's happening in the Midwest with single digit temperatures and snow, we'll take it...

Christmas Prep

Most of the day yesterday was spent doing some Christmas shopping and baking cookies. Josie will send a couple tins full of cookies to WA in the box containing a few other items for the kids to open on Christmas morning. I will take the final package to the post office before the start of next week after Josie gets everything together. We still haven't finished deciding on handling the "Chicago boys" gifts, but we will also have that figured out before next week.

It was so nice yesterday - 74 - that we sat outside for awhile to enjoy the day. There are a couple more days like yesterday still in store for this week and then it cools down with a storm expected by the weekend. Our weather is still so much better than what we are seeing in the Northwest, and especially in the Chicago area. These shots were sent to us by Patty yesterday taken out her back door:

Brrr!! I think we'll stay here in AZ for now...

Rare Collapse

It has been 4 years since the Seattle Seahawks have lost a game - any game, regular season or playoff - by more than 10 points. Yesterday, in Green Bay, they stumbled and embarrassed themselves by losing 38-10 to the Packers. Russell Wilson threw a career high 5 interceptions and with a lost fumble, the Seahawks had 6 turnovers. I don't think they liked the frigid temperatures in Green Bay as the receivers dropped multiple passes to add to the fiasco.

Fortunately, the Cowboys also lost and the Cardinals - unfortunately - lost their chance to make the playoffs this year with another loss. It was not a great day for my favorites, but the Cowboy loss provided some joy. I hate them. The Seahawks have to pick up the pieces and move on, which they will.

While most of the rest of the country is being hit by the Arctic Blast, we are enjoying temperatures in the 70's. I know that there are cycles and that this scenario will change soon, but it is nice to sit out and enjoy the nice, warm sun again.

There are now only 12 days until Christmas and only 16 days before we leave for Texas and the Cotton Bowl. Time sure flies...

Cross Stitch Conflict

As most everybody knows, I try to do a cross each year with a native Indian theme. This year is no exception. I started a new one in October to hopefully get completed before we leave here in the Spring. For the last five years I have entered one in the Teton County Fair in Jackson Hole, WY, in the summer - and have won. I may have a tough time completing one in time this year.

The subject I chose for this year is entitled The Dove and is a young Indian girl holding a dove - pictured below:

As I stitched along, I began to see startling differences in the colors from the chart and the actual DMC floss colors in the subject. Below, you can see the color differences in the project so far:

I stopped stitching and sent an email to the manufacturer containing the above information, with photos, asking for an explanation of the differences and a refund for the chart which I am using for the project. I have never seen such a problem in any cross stitch project I have ever done. This puts me about three months behind schedule for completing one in time for the summer. They responded to my email with a statement that they are looking into the problem and have agreed that there is a problem.

In the meantime, I have found another project that I can possibly get completed by the summer. I had to order special fabric - online - so the start of this new project is being delayed until that is received, probably late this week.

So, in between all of our other activities, I try to keep up with my cross stitching interests.

Today is a big football game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks. The game begins at 1:35 PM on the FOX network. Also, the Cardinals and Dolphins are on the same station before the Seahawks. What a great football day ahead...

Arctic Blast

This is what it is like in Wyoming this morning:

Brrr!! Maybe we don't want any part of living in Wyoming - at least, in the winter. The thing is, this frigid weather is going to spread throughout the Midwest, including Naperville, Il. Sorry, Patty.

On the other hand, we will go to 72 today and the forecast is for low 70's the rest of the weekend and into next week. It could be worse.

Not much happened yesterday except Josie had another normal (if there is such a thing) day at work and I did some odd jobs around the RV, went to the fitness center for my daily workout and did some computer stuff. We have 18 days to go before we leave for Arlington, TX.

The guy who delivered the new fifth wheel the other day to our neighbor said he was busy hauling rigs to the Glendale Stadium for another big RV show this weekend. Maybe we will wander over there and check out the new rigs for 2017 on Sunday...

Cotton Bowl Tickets

We were informed by Patty yesterday that Austin will receive 6 tickets for family for the Cotton Bowl. That is enough for Patty and Mark and the boys, and us. The tickets that are sold publicly range in price from around $10 in the "nose-bleed" section at the top of the stadium, to $300+ for Field seats. Here is a link to Ticketmaster - just one site selling tickets. We don't physically have the tickets yet, but I'm sure they will be "field" seats as the players' families will get excellent seats. That just fuels the excitement. The seats we had at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo for Austin's games that we went to were on the 50 yard line, against the railing on the field. I don't expect seats quite that good, but I'm sure they will be nice.

So far, the "Arctic Blast" that is paralyzing the mid section of the country hasn't hit, nor is it forecast to hit, the area where we will be traveling at the end of December. We'll keep our fingers crossed. We know it can get very cold in Texas during the winter so we will be prepared for any kind of weather.

We also heard a report that the WMU Coach, PJ Fleck, will be (or, is now) negotiating an extension to his present contract into the year 2020 - with a huge raise, of course. Anything can happen to change that scenario, but it is almost assured that the coach will be there at the Cotton Bowl...

Helping Neighbor

My next door neighbor was trading in his motor home for a fifth wheel and the delivery of the new rig was yesterday. He had one problem when he went to drive out with the motor home to take to the dealer - his electric steps would not retract. There was no way he could drive to the dealership with his steps out, so I helped him figure out the problem and contact a mobile RV service to fix the problem. It was a problem we could not fix. Anyway, to make a long story short, he got the steps to go up, drove it to the dealership and got delivery of his new unit just as the sun was going down in the west. It is a nice new 40' Big Country fifth wheel with all the nice features and he will get many years of good use from this new rig.

There is a short update on coach Fleck's future - he will be staying at WMU for at least until a new rumor surfaces about another University that wants his services. The Oregon rumor was put to bed when they hired the coach from Southern Florida yesterday. In the meantime, we will be getting the schedule of activities at the Cotton Bowl and I will post them as I receive them from Patty. There are lots of fun things happening leading up to game time on Jan 2nd.

We are paying close attention to this latest, frigid cold front dropping down from Canada. It looks like most of the western half of the country will be affected by this system and we just want to make sure that things get back to normal by the 28th of December before finalizing our route to Texas...

Set to Go to Texas

Our room reservations are made for our rip to the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX. We will be staying at the TownePlace Suites near Six Flags in Arlington. With arrival on Dec 29th and departure on Jan 3rd, it will be a terrific trip. I'm sure there will be many events and activities surrounding the Cotton Bowl, and we will be going to as many as we can while there. It will surely be a trip to remember.

Awards are flowing in for the Broncos. Among the key awards is the Campbell Trophy which is the Heisman Trophy equivalent for scholastic college athletes which was awarded to Zach Terrell, the Broncos Quarterback. PJ Fleck, the coach, is a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award which goes to the college football coach of the year. The rumors are flying that coach Fleck may not be coaching at the Cotton Bowl game if he accepts a coaching position at another University - Oregon is at the top of those rumors. There will most likely be more news and more awards between now and the game which will be played on Jan 2.

I will also be following all of the developments in the pro football standings as the Seahawks and the Cardinals battle for playoff spots. Right now, it looks like the Seahawks are almost a guarantee while the Cardinals need to win the rest of their games to make the playoffs. This is a very exciting year for football - college and pro - and it sure is fun following the developments...

Planning Trip to Texas

We spoke with Patty early in the day regarding plans for the trip to Arlington, TX, for the Cotton Bowl. She and her family will fly to Dallas on the 28th and return home on the 3rd of January. We will drive, leaving AZ on the 28th, arrive on the 30th and return home leaving Texas on the 3rd of January. It is just too much money for us to justify the air fares and the drive is only about 1000 miles and will take us through some country where we have never been. Patty and Mark will be sorting through options for our rooms and they will be booked asap before they are sold out. It promises to be a fantastic time and we all are looking forward to the trip and the game.

Josie will be working right up to Christmas and start again the day after Christmas until we leave for Texas. It's not a lot of time to enjoy the Christmas festivities, but there are commitments that she needs to keep in order to get the time off for our trip.

There are three options for driving to Texas that we reviewed. The northern route is the one we will take - depending on the weather forecasts - which will take us on I-40 all the way from Flagstaff to Amarillo, TX where we spend the night on the 28th. Then, we drive on US-287 from Amarillo into Arlington, TX on the 29th. The other routes were: southern route on I-10 almost all the way - we have taken that route many times in the past. The third route is on US highways that would take longer and go through some pretty, but mountain country. I hope we get some nice weather for the trip so we can take our preferred route.

I'll end this entry with a nice shot of our AZ sunset last night, taken while grilling some burgers outside:

Overwhelming Football News

The day was pretty much filled with great football news and performances.

The main news is that the Western Michigan University Broncos will play in the Cotton Bowl against Wisconsin. That's a terrific opponent from the standpoint that Austin will play against his best friend, Troy Fumagalli, the tight end for Wisconsin. We have already started making our plans to go to the game and can't imagine a better way to spend New Year's this year - and Austin's birthday which is Jan1.

Penn State will play in the Rose Bowl against USC and that promises to be another great game. The final four selection for the National Championship included Washington who was selected over Penn State for the final spot in that playoff. That is a great choice as we are also fans of the Washington Huskies.

Patty and family went to Austin's team banquet last night in Kalamazoo and Austin received an award as the team's Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. Below are a few of the shots that Patty took during the banquet:

Congratulations to Austin and the entire WMU football team.

The football day ended with the Seahawks crushing the Carolina Panthers, 40-7, on Sunday Night Football. What a day.

Josie spent the day - while I was basking in the football news - putting together some hand crafted Christmas decorations for our Fifth wheel. Here she is, building her "cone" Christmas tree decoration:

Finally, we have this shot of our Christmas tree - a fiber optic tree that changes colors from white to blue to green and to red, and was given to us many years ago by our beloved daughter Tracy - may she rest in peace:

More Football Heaven

Of course, we all know about WMU's big win on Friday night for the MAC Conference Championship. Yesterday, I watched as Temple manhandled Navy to eliminate them from Cotton Bowl consideration. It should be smooth sailing now for a WMU confirmation of the Cotton Bowl award.

Last night, I watched Penn State beat Wisconsin for the Big 10 Championship. They have a chance to be selected as one of the Final Four for the playoffs. They have won 9 games in a row against some quality teams, including Ohio State - who defeated Michigan. Last night's game saw Penn State overcome a 28-7 first half deficit to win. Austin's best friend who plays for Wisconsin, Troy Fumagalli #81, played a great game. He was wide open in the end zone on one play when the Wisconsin QB threw wide and missed the chance for a certain score. Everything went well for Penn State in the second half while Wisconsin struggled.

It's a tough call for the selection committee today and it will be a no-win situation for them. It will be fun watching the selection show on TV today.

Oh, and the Seahawks play the Carolina Panthers today in Seattle so it looks like another fabulous football day...

VICTORY!

13-0. That's how WMU ends the regular season with the win yesterday over Ohio University for the MAC Conference Championship. It was not a convincing win (29-23), as WMU has enjoyed in most games over the regular season, but, they are undefeated which only one other Division 1 school - Alabama - can claim. Will it be enough to win the Cotton Bowl bid? Read the quote from WMU Coach PJ Fleck. I don't see how the selection committee for the bowls can ignore an unbeaten season by WMU and select Navy - or some other school - to represent the Group of 5 teams that are eligible for the bowl. The next couple of days will determine the pecking order as the closest team to WMU is Navy who has to beat Temple to stay in the running. The committee is said to be looking at the strength of schedule to help with the selection. WMU should not be punished for beating every team they were scheduled to play.

So, we are looking forward to going to the Cotton Bowl to be played in Arlington, TX on January 2. We are anxious to find out who WMU will play. That's confidence.

It is very windy outside this morning and I am waiting for the sun to rise so I can go check on any damage done to our Christmas decorations. I have stakes in the ground for all the deer and trees, but you never know.

Enjoy another great football day today on TV as there are still Conference Championships to be played. Congratulations to the Washington Huskies who rolled over Colorado for the Pac 12 Championship...

Year End Stuff

Among several other items that we receive annual renewal notices for is my truck registration. Yikes! $850 for one year is a scam. I don't know when Arizona is going to join other "senior friendly" states like Florida, Texas and South Dakota, but I guess I need to look into getting my registration in Florida again. I did that with our last truck and our RV - which is still registered in FL - and saved tons of money. It's enough to make you want to leave Arizona. Besides, we even have an income tax in Arizona which is also anti-senior. Oh, well.

We received our notice that the property management company will automatically renew our agreement for 2017. They have done an excellent job for us and we will gladly keep them on as the guardian of our house in Glendale. As long as we have good tenants and a good property manager, we will keep the house and let it appreciate.

Austin and his WMU team play for the MAC Conference Championship tonight. If they win, they should certainly be a shoo-in for the Cotton Bowl. Go Broncos!!

One Month Left in 2016

We closed out November yesterday with very little fanfare. With only December remaining in 2016, we will be happy to see the year end. I'll save the "year in review" stuff for the end of December, but 2016 has not been a great year for us.

Yesterday was a normal day for our winter stay at the Pioneer RV Resort. Josie worked at the 19th Ave store and I did my usual computer stuff and went to the fitness center in between. It has been very cool - almost cold - the last few days and it looks like it will stick around for awhile. I actually prefer the cooler weather to the hot weather. It makes for better sleep at night.

Next on the list of exciting events in Michigan is Austin's MAC Championship game in Detroit tomorrow night against Ohio University. Patty and her family will be driving to the game early tomorrow AM and we hope they have a very successful - and safe - trip...