Long Day Ends

Yesterday was a very long day for me. I was in the liquid only phase of my colonoscopy prep and did not have food all day. By 6 PM last night, I was done with all the prep and waited for the flood gates to open. That happened starting at around 8 PM when I wanted to go bed, of course. I spent the next hour or so going back and forth to the bathroom and was up and down a few times during the night. Not fun at all. It is now over and the results were positive so I'm good for another two years before the next one. We had a nice breakfast following the procedure at Ji Michaels Restaurant near the doctor's office.

I have another appointment with my primary physician for tomorrow to follow up on my physical exam which I had in December. It makes little sense to me to have a follow up for a physical held one month ago. That should do it for me for a while.

Josie has the next four days off and we have a busy weekend with the local Phoenix Open Golf Tournament and Super Bowl on tap. Also, we have our golf outing with George and Cheryl on Sunday which we will enjoy.

Finally, Josie caught this nice shot of the sunset last night before bedtime:

Colonoscopy Eve Today

We were sorry to hear about the deep freeze in Chicago. This morning, the wind chill factor is -52 with a regular temperature of -27. Patty has lost her TV use (reason unknown) and has only her phone to keep up with news. Everybody is staying inside (except Mark who is in Phoenix on business). Poor Oakley barely made it outside long enough to do his business. It will end this weekend and become pretty nice by Monday if they can just make it that long.

Today is the "liquids only" portion of the Colonoscopy prep. At 3 PM I take my Dulcolax tablets and follow that with my 64 OZ recipe of Miralax and Gatorade. The evening promises to be a busy one. I will certainly be glad when it all ends tomorrow at 7 AM for the actual procedure.

It's too bad that this year's Phoenix Open Golf Tournament will be played with clouds and rain possibilities. Last year, it was total sunshine and record high temperatures (82). The temperatures this year will range from the high 60's to low 70's. It is still better than -52!...

Grapevine Maintenance

We have a lone grapevine on the side of our house that has (obviously) been there for years. The previous owners took good care of this vine and we know nothing about how to grow grapes. I did some online research on grapevines and learned how to prune the vines to get maximum production. I followed the online directions and then attacked the vine:

I cut off all of the long branches and will tie up the entire vine with wire.

We had some grapes from this vine last year before the birds ate most of them. One problem we will have is to figure a way to keep the birds away which probably means installing some kind of wire cage around the vine. Josie and I decided that we would give this vine one year to perform and then remove it entirely if it becomes a big problem.

It's a big sports week with the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament in Scottsdale and the Super Bowl on Sunday. Unfortunately, there is some rain in the forecast during the tournament and I hope it doesn't ruin the fun that this event produces each year. Mark is here for meetings and to help his company man a tent that they are sponsoring for the tournament and I understand that Austin is also returning this year with his buddies. We will not get a chance to see them or to go this year and hope that they have a great time...

College Update

As mentioned yesterday, our grandson Brandon has been accepted for the Eastern Illinois University football program and for entrance to the academic programs. We all know much about Arizona State University where Jordan will attend, but not much is known about EIU. The football program has produced some well known players and coaches and, although a small school compared to major conference play, provides a terrific opportunity for Brandon. He met with the coaching staff on Saturday and there was a mutual attachment and agreement to move forward. We are excited for Brandon and know that he will be happy pursuing that opportunity.

I also mentioned yesterday that my prep has begun for the scheduled Colonoscopy this Thursday. I stopped taking some of the medications that are blood thinners - namely aspirin - and will discontinue eating nuts and seeds today. Ugh...

Josie is back to work today for the next three days and the prep work begins at her shop for the Valentine's Day rush. It will be interesting to see how this shop differs from others she has worked...

Colonoscopy Week

Our golf outing for today was moved to next Sunday as Cheryl had pressing work to complete for her church. So now, we will meet at our house following church services next Sunday and go to the Rec Center for our golf outing. We also plan to grab a bite to eat at George's Café at the Rec Center either before or after our round of golf. We look forward to that fun outing.

This week (Thursday, January 31) is the scheduled time for my biennial Colonoscopy. If all goes well, the results will be the same as all the other Colonoscopies I've had, every two years, for the last 25 or so years. That will be good news. I don't look forward to the preparation, especially the day before. Fortunately, Josie has the day off to be my chaperone for the occasion.

We got word this morning that Brandon has committed to Eastern Illinois University for his college education and to play football. He was there visiting the campus yesterday with Patty and Mark to meet the coaching staff and do a tour. We are very happy for him and will have more on that as we find out more about his schedule.

It looks like another great week, weather-wise, as we hang in the low to mid 70's each day with no rain in sight...

Normal Activitiy

I didn't submit any entry the last two days because there was not much of anything to report. We went to the rummage sale at George and Cheryl's church yesterday morning and played a round of miniature golf at the rec center in the afternoon. The rummage sale was huge. It is hard to believe that so much stuff - most of it of good or better quality - was available at unbelievably low prices. It was ten times better than any Goodwill store!

Following our walk-around at the sale, we had lunch at the food booth outside the church in the courtyard. That was also very good - and very reasonably priced. We then took George back to our house to gather some oranges and lemons for him to take home and we drove him home to save him another trip to pick up Cheryl.

We stopped at Sam's Club, bought a few items and then headed to the miniature golf course to play a round. Josie started great, but finished slow and I had a decent round, but not my best. We really enjoy going there and playing on this excellent course. We are trying to arrange a round for this Sunday, following church services, for ourselves and George and Cheryl to play a round. I hope we can put that together.

I will keep up with daily entries to the blog - as long as I have something to report. But, again, the purpose of the blog from the beginning was to keep family and friends current on our location and activities while traveling fulltime. It tends to get a little boring - from both sides - when all I have to report is the same stuff everyday. I'll try to keep it interesting...

Clear Skies, Finally

For the first time since I can remember, the extended 7-day forecast shows no clouds at all during any day. The temperatures will be cool until mid week when we again reach the 70's, so no complaints there. I think this has been a very unusual winter as I recall not having so many long stretches of cloudy days.

I will be taking some items to the rummage sale today that is being held at George and Cheryl's church on Thursday through Saturday morning. We have lots of items to donate, but we also have lots more that are still buried in our garage. Maybe there will be a second sale sometime in the near future. We plan to also pay a visit to the sale on Thursday. I just need to make sure that Josie leaves her purse home when we visit :).

The fallout from the bad call in the Saints/Rams game continues. I heard this morning that in addition to forthcoming rules changes, the betting houses are being sued to return the money to those betting on the Saints. The NFL has already admitted that it was a blown call. All of this tarnishes the victory that the Rams enjoy...

Great Day of Playoff Football

It will be the Patriots vs the Rams in the Super Bowl this year. There were two great games yesterday that went overtime and could have had different results right down to the last second. I will say that the officiating was awful and that the New Orleans Saints were robbed at the end of regulation in their game against the Rams. There was an obvious pass interference call that wasn't called that would have sealed the win for the Saints. They will have a hard time getting over that officiating error. The Patriots were the beneficiary of numerous calls that were made in their favor that were also bad calls. At any rate, I don't see any team knocking off the Patriots anytime soon.

Our day was otherwise a quiet one as Josie enjoyed relaxing on her final day off this last week. She works Mon-Wed this week and then has four days to enjoy.

We will send our acceptance of the Terms of Employment letters back to Jackson letting them know we will return this year. Anything can happen to change that decision, but we are  going forward with plans to make it happen this summer...

Ready For New Growth

The initial step for preparing for the new season was completed yesterday. The fruit trees were trimmed and are now ready for new growth to occur:

The landscaper took just over one hour to trim and shape the trees and we expect to see new fruit growing by the middle of March. It seems like we are one of the earliest to complete this process as most of our neighbors still have lots of fruit on their trees. Maybe they know something we don't about how to handle these trees.

We followed up our round of miniature golf the day before wit another round yesterday. I played pretty well again but Josie had her mind somewhere else as she did not do nearly as well this time.

Well, we have reached the end of the NFL playoffs today with the Conference Championship games. At the end of the day, we will know which two teams will play in the Super Bowl. I am rooting for a Chiefs/Rams matchup, but will also be happy with a Chiefs/Saints pairing. The message here ( and joined by most of the rest of the country) is that I would like to see the Patriots eliminated...

Pick, Pick, Pick

Since our landscaper is expected today to trim our fruit trees for the new season, we thought we should do the best we can to pick the remaining fruit. It is a big job. Of course, much of the fruit is high on the trees and we picked up an adjustable "picker" to handle that job. We had fruit just about everywhere in our yard:

Now, we just have to find a way to make the best use of the fruit. Much of it will be given away, of course.

To take a break from the real physical chores of the day, we went to the rec center and played a round of miniature golf. We both had our best round of golf on this course since we started playing. This shot is of one of Josie's position after her first shot on one of the holes. How she was able to stop the ball on the very top of this hill is amazing:

It was a fun and productive day. We even took a peak into the garage to begin our efforts to organize that space. Naw. Some other day...

Wasted Doctor Office Visit

My appointment at the doctor's office yesterday was a complete waste of time. I arrived at 7:45 AM for my 8 AM appointment and sat in the waiting area until 8:55 AM when someone finally came out to explain what was happening. I knew something was wrong when not one person was called into the back office for their appointment. The person who came out to speak with me indicated that the computers were down and they had no idea how much longer it would be before they were ready again. I was given a choice of waiting some more or rescheduling for today, same time. I opted for today at the same time. It turns out that the computers were back up and operational again at 9:30 AM yesterday. Anyway, I'll review the results tomorrow.

It dried out during the day yesterday and by the time we had our dinner and were getting ready to watch TV, Josie took these shots of the beautiful Arizona sunset:

It doesn't get much better than that!..

Fruit Tree Attention

After meeting with our landscaper the other day, it became obvious that we had to remove the remaining fruit from our trees - sooner than later. He indicated that we should cut back/prune the trees to ready them for the new season which begins in March. At that time, the new blooms will be appearing. Josie and I went to Home Depot and picked up a "picker" for us to use to reach the high fruit on these trees. Tomorrow will begin the task of removing all that is left on the trees.

As Josie had the day off yesterday, we also baked some cookies which neither of us really need, but we have to use the cookie dough left over from Christmas. The chocolate chip cookies are great, but they will leave their mark on our waistline.

I had an early morning appointment today with my doctor to diagnose my dizziness. It is getting a bit better, but my experience at the doctor's office will be discussed tomorrow...

Refrigerator Update

The second visit yesterday from the Samsung technicians turned out to be very different from the first visit. I performed a recommended fix procedure following that first visit that didn't work. This time, they still couldn't identify the problem so they completely replaced the icemaker equipment. We will see how it goes from here. If this doesn't fix the problem, we will return the refrigerator for another model.

I went to the store yesterday to get some help for my sudden dizziness. I bought some motion sickness medicine, similar to Dramamine, and it seemed to work for the rest of the day. I still have some dizziness this morning, so I took more of the medicine hoping to eliminate it totally. I'm avoiding the step of going to the doctor until it just will not go away. Most dizziness, from what I've read, is a result of an inner ear issue of some kind. I have no pain or other irritation, so I'll see what happens...

Birthday Distraction

It's a good thing that Josie and I celebrated my birthday on Sunday. While at the store yesterday in the early afternoon I began to feel some dizziness which persisted the rest of the day. In fact, after Josie returned home from work I even had a bout of nausea before going to bed. The dizziness is still a problem this morning although not as severe as yesterday. I have no idea what could have brought on this attack as I cannot remember ever having one like this. At any rate, I am drinking lots of fluids and trying to remove any chance of dehydration as a cause.

Our second visit from the Samsung service tech is scheduled for today. I received a message to expect them from between 3-5 PM. I hope they can find the icemaker problem and fix the issue as we otherwise like the refrigerator. We will decide on a course of action following today's visit.

I had a visit from our landscaper this morning who informed me that it is time to cut back the fruit trees so they will be ready to bloom again in March. Hmm. We still have lots of fruit on them so we have to decide on a course of action to find the best way to save all the oranges and lemons that remain. We already have lots of juice. Oh, well...

Birthday Dinner

Since Josie had to work today we decided to celebrate my birthday a day early by going to dinner. We chose the Longhorn Steakhouse where we haven't eaten in ages. We also decided to go early to avoid crowds and to combine our lunch and dinner. Believe it or not, at 1:30 PM there was a waiting list and we didn't get seated until almost 2 PM. We certainly understand why this place is so popular. The food was terrific and, even though we had a couple minor service issues, it was a great way to celebrate my birthday. I even got to take home a nice (gratis) slice of cheese cake. I'm good for another year now.

Now that my birthday is over, I will restart my diet plan tomorrow. The plan is to stock up today on my required diet foods and put away the heavy carb foods. I'm hoping to have reached my target weight by around the middle of March. The real challenge, as always, will be to maintain the new weight over a long period of time. It's just not in my genes to be a skinny person.

The football playoffs are going just about as predicted. I hope that the KC Chiefs can pull an upset over the Patriots next weekend so we can enjoy some new faces in the Super Bowl...

Yardwork

The goal yesterday was to get an early start for Spring by doing some yardwork. There are several plants that were damaged from the recent freezes and needed to be trimmed back. It was a perfect day to do the work:

I fact, following our efforts with the plants in the back, we sat out and just enjoyed the sun and watched the birds, bunnies and golfers. There is more work to be done - in the front yard - but will be done at a later date.

Today is starting out to be another fine day, weather-wise, but there is a good chance for some rain later this afternoon. Josie has the next two days off so we will find some things to do to take advantage of that free time..

Refrigerator Service

The technicians from the local Samsung repair facility arrived in the early afternoon to check out our icemaker noise. They checked everything and informed me that it was a result of the water line metal connector hitting the metal rear of the refrigerator while running water through the line. As unbelievable as it sounds, I had the material necessary to wrap the line to resolve the problem - according to them. I made the fix after they left and discovered the noise remained. I immediately called them and rescheduled another call - next week - to give it another try. They also changed some other settings on the refrigerator while here, so I'll see if those changes have any effect.

We will make a visit to Walmart today to pick up some paper products, garbage bags and garden supplies. If the weather holds out, we will most likely get some outside work done. It's nice that Josie has the next three days off to get some of these projects done...

Colonoscopy Scheduled

My appointment with the doctor yesterday regarding my Colonoscopy was typical. It cost a co-pay of $45 and I never saw the doctor and was there for a total of 15 minutes. The Nurse Practitioner gave me the usual instructions for the prep, took my blood pressure, discussed any other issues and sent me on my way. The appointment for the actual Colonoscopy was set for Thursday, January 31.

We are beginning to think that we are still in Washington. The number of cloudless days seems to be shrinking every year. What ever happened to the 320 days of sunshine per year in Arizona? We get sunbreaks almost every day, but hardly ever get whole cloudless days. Of course, we do get lots of cloudless days in the summer but you can't sit outside to enjoy them when it is 110 degrees.

Today's activity is centered around a service call from Samsung regarding a noise in the icemaker of our new refrigerator. I have to wait now for a call from them to inform me when to expect the technician...

New Coach

The biggest news for the local team is that a new coach was hired yesterday - Kliff  Kingsbury from Texas Tech. He has zero experience in the NFL as an assistant or any other position. His Texas Tech teams did not set the world on fire either. I just hope the Cardinals didn't make another huge mistake.

The warmer temperatures we are getting this week make you feel like getting outside to do some work. I know that just sitting on the patio and watching the golfers is a lot more enjoyable than watching from inside the house with 50 degree temperatures outside. I expect to see about three months of enjoyable temperatures before watching the temperatures go into the 90's and higher. That's Arizona.

Our visit by the Geek Squad from Best Buy yesterday was a success. Our TV was raised about 3" on the wall and we can now get full use of our remote from the sofa without holding our arm to the ceiling. There was no way I could have made the adjustment myself without dropping our TV on the floor. It took 2 guys from Best Buy to make the modification. I have a doctor appointment today and then our final service call of the week tomorrow for our refrigerator...

Title Game Blowout

The National Championship game last night between Alabama and Clemson was a blowout - by Clemson, 44-16. Alabama was uncharacteristically mauled by what is clearly the best team in the country. Not only that, the Clemson team is comprised of mostly young players and will be a force for several more years. I was happy to see Alabama humbled and knocked off their high horse.

I have a couple service calls scheduled this week for minor problems. The first one (today) is with Best Buy who will come to adjust our TV mount. Since we acquired the new (and higher) fireplace furniture, the TV sits too low on the wall so that we have to stand to use some of the remote control features. They will raise the TV on the wall about 3" which should solve the problem. The second service call (Thursday) is under the warranty for our new refrigerator. The ice maker makes a loud sound when emptying ice into the tray inside the freezer and they will come to try and locate and fix that problem.

Josie has the weekend off this week so we are going to try and get some organization in the house again since Christmas is all put away. What we really need to do is to make some time and go through our garage stuff once and for all to clear it out...

Classic Finish

The game yesterday between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears was a classic. The game was won by the Eagles, 16-15, but that is only a sign of the kind of game it was. The Bears could have won on a field goal with no time left except the attempt hit both the upright and the crossbar before dropping harmlessly to the end zone. The loss ended the Bears' season. To make it even worse, the field goal was already successfully kicked while the Eagles were calling time out and forcing a re-kick. And I thought the Seahawks loss was a tough one. The playoffs have, so far, been exciting to watch.

Don't forget the National College Football Championship game between Alabama and Clemson is on TV tonight. This is the third time in the last four years that these two schools have played for the championship. Do you think they know something that no other school knows about how to choose players? The coaching staffs aren't too shabby either.

We had some plant damage by the early morning freezes this past week. We are anxious to  see the weather warm up so we can begin repairing some of the damage. I thought that was going to happen this week, but it looks like the warmup will only be slight. Maybe next week...

Wild Card Loss

What a painful loss to watch. The Cowboys were gifted a win yesterday as the Seahawks self destructed in the fourth quarter with penalties - again - to lose a game (24-22) they should have won. It was a terrific year for them as they won 10 games when everybody, including myself, thought that the season would be a bust as they went through a rebuilding process. The organization is strong, and with Pete Carroll as head coach, and John Schneider as GM, they will only improve going forward.

Today's game between the Eagles and Bears should be another great game. The Bears are having a great year (for our family of fans in the Chicago area) and the Eagles will always be favorites of mine from my childhood. It is one of those games where: whoever wins makes me happy.

There has been a definite lack of warmth and sunshine lately. With more rain last night and high temperatures still hanging around the 60's, we are ready for some signs of Spring to appear. Several of our plants have taken a "hit" from the cold temperatures and we will be doing some repair work as soon as we get some warmer weather. We also have our garage staring at us, begging to be cleared and organized. Ugh!...

Rio Mirage Cafe

We get flyers in the mail almost everyday from restaurants that are new in the area or are having terrific sales. One that we received recently was for a new Mexican restaurant called Café Rio which had recently opened in Surprise. We drove by the place yesterday morning after doing a little shopping to check it out and decided to pass on the place as it seemed more like a fast food kind of restaurant. Instead, we drove by the Rio Mirage Café Mexica restaurant just up the street and decided to give that one a try since we now had the yearning to eat Mexican which we haven't had in some time.

That place was fabulous and will now take over as our favorite Mexican restaurant, replacing Macayo's. I don't believe that in the ten years this place has been open we have never tried it before now. I read the reviews before we turned around after dropping off our groceries and they were averaging close to 5.0 out of 5.0 with over 500 reviews. It deserves at least a 5! Everything was delicious, reasonably priced and with great service. The margarita wasn't bad either!

So, after talking about diets in yesterday's entry, we have satisfied our urge to eat out one more time before diving into the diet program.

We also took down the rest of Christmas and have the tree all packed and put away for next year. It's always kind of sad to pack away Christmas for another year. Our house is now back to normal - if there is such a thing...

Diet Stall

One of the (annual) resolutions each year is to diet. We do a fairly good job each year sticking to our commitments but it is getting a bit tougher now. We have much more "junk" food to get rid of before starting a real diet - muffins, pies, candy, chips, cookies, popcorn, etc. Most of the Christmas season goodies are gone, but there remains some things that are just too good and too expensive to just toss in the garbage. I suspect that we will be totally rid of those temptations in less than a week. Then, we can get real serious about sticking to our diets. Actually, Josie doesn't need to be on a diet as she has been really good about keeping her food intake to a minimum at work. I am shooting to lose about 30 pounds and Josie just needs to maintain. I need to begin soon before I lose sight of my goal.

Part of the diet plan is to step up the exercise at the rec center. I have been lax in doing my regular schedule during the holidays which is easy to do. Discipline is the key now if I can just remove the obstacles.

Speaking of discipline, I think we will make a trip to the store today to stock up on some real diet foods...

Welcome 2019

I guess I got too busy yesterday to post the initial entry for 2019. I took-down and packed away all the outside decorations from Christmas and lost track of the time. Actually, I went outside early to start that project and came back inside as a result of the freezing temperatures. I started another project - preparing forms for 2019 - that distracted me again and I just didn't get to the blog as I went back outside at around noon to do the Christmas take-down. At any rate, we are void of all Christmas decorations now with the exception of our tree which will come down this weekend.

The weather is headed for improvement this next week as I see some temperatures in the mid to high 60's in the seven-day forecast. Our plants will love the warm up as will all of us. This should take care of the one week of winter that we get each year in this area. I will say that this cold weather doesn't impact the golfers very much as I still see about the same number of players - all bundled up in jackets and long pants. I did the same for many years when we lived in Washington and nothing prevented us from playing.

Josie got a bit of negative news for the month of January. Her work schedule has everybody on the staff working one less day per week for the entire month. Of course, that all changes in February when the Valentine's Day season kicks-in. Meanwhile, she gets to enjoy 4 days off each week in January...