The biggest news is, of course, the deep freeze that the entire eastern half of the country is experiencing. There are record low temperatures from what is being referred to as the "Polar Vortex". There are near, or below, freezing temperatures almost as far south as Miami, FL. There are unheard of lows in almost every area east of the Mississippi that have created very dangerous conditions for everybody living in those areas. We keep a sharp eye on the Weather Channel reporting, particularly how it impacts Patty and her family in the Chicago area. We also know that Brian and his family are visiting in the Bloomington, IL area, and are also experiencing the effects of this freezing weather. There is no precedent - that we are aware of - that describes the depth of this deep freeze. Is this another sign of our changing climate, or just a freak of nature that occurs every hundred (or thousand) years?
We are fortunate to have only "wind" problems where we are located. The temperatures are still in the low 70's and we are very thankful we are in the Southwest right now. The windy conditions we experienced again yesterday are really small stuff and insignificant compared to the rest of the country.
Our "track" for walking that we laid out a couple days ago appears to be working fine. We did the walk again yesterday, and it appears to have the same effect as the treadmill had last year on our exercising program.
Preparation for our taxes began yesterday while I calculated all the travel expenses for the year of 2013. The effect on our gasoline purchases was dramatic as we are driving only the truck for all activities. In fact, the cost of gasoline using only the truck probably justifies purchasing another, more economical vehicle to use when we are settled in one place like we are this year, and will be in the foreseeable future. That is still being evaluated.
We are hoping for a break in the weather for all of those that are suffering through the deep freeze. Our thoughts are with them...
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Walking the Track
I had two different tracks identified for walking within the resort. The first one, which takes us around the perimeter of the sites, is .83 miles. The second, which takes us down to the boat launch and around the sail boat storage area, measures 1.00 mile exactly. Yesterday, we walked - fast pace - around both tracks. The time was just about a half hour which is pretty close to our treadmill time for almost the same distance. We plan to slightly modify the first one to measure 1 mile to equal the second one, and give us 2 miles to walk each time. The hope is that the walks will replace our trips we made last year to the fitness center to use the treadmill. There are advantages to using these measured tracks. The first one is that we get to look at different scenery versus looking out a window at the same spot all the time while on a treadmill. The second one is that we don't have to worry about all the machines being taken - we can always walk these tracks, anytime. We'll see how it works.
Not much else was done yesterday as we watched the weather channel a good portion of the morning. Patty is getting hammered by snow and frigid weather and she texted a couple photos of her front step:
The back porch:
and the boys shoveling the drive:
It's not our idea of a fun day and we feel bad that the temperatures are going to go even lower the next day or so. The twins already have the day off today from school, and Austin went back to WMU a day early to beat the snow. The good news is that eventually, it will become nice again.
It's back to work for Josie today and I'll just begin to gather stuff for tax season which is, once again, that time of the year...
Not much else was done yesterday as we watched the weather channel a good portion of the morning. Patty is getting hammered by snow and frigid weather and she texted a couple photos of her front step:
The back porch:
and the boys shoveling the drive:
It's not our idea of a fun day and we feel bad that the temperatures are going to go even lower the next day or so. The twins already have the day off today from school, and Austin went back to WMU a day early to beat the snow. The good news is that eventually, it will become nice again.
It's back to work for Josie today and I'll just begin to gather stuff for tax season which is, once again, that time of the year...
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Softball Tournament
We made a trip to our storage unit to unload all the Christmas decorations and to go on to see Taylor play in her fast-pitch softball tournament. We found the field with no problem, but as a result of having every inch of the truck loaded with our boxes for storage, we didn't bring any chairs to sit on during the game. We took a chance on there being a grandstand, but there was none. Anyway, I was taking lots of pictures while Josie talked with George, Cheryl and Cot and Lois who also made it to the tournament.
Taylor is definitely a key player on her team. She caught the first two games they played on Friday night, and she was pitching the game we watched. She really whips the ball and is very good. Here are the first of the shots:
Then this shot of her waiting on deck to bat:
The first two at-bats she had, she waited out for a couple walks:
Finally, on her third at-bat, she got a good pitch and drove it down the third base line for a double:
She eventually came around to score:
Her team won the game, 10-9, but she was injured during the last inning when she pulled a hamstring muscle and had to be helped off the field:
The coach and other players put a heat patch on her leg and she thought she would be ready to play the next game. Josie and I were leaving after this game and we got this shot of Taylor before we left:
It was great watching her play and she is a very good candidate for playing on a college team when she finishes high school.
Along with all the other fans watching the game, there was Traeger who was being baby-sat by George and Cheryl while Brian and Amy are back in Bloomington, IL visiting her parents. We can see some growth already in this cute pup that will be full size in just a short few months:
We're happy that we got to watch one of Taylor's games and wish her luck for the rest of the tournament.
Following a stop at Costco on our way home, we watched a little TV and then turned in for the night. We had a very windy night again last night but it appears to be settling down a bit right now. We will walk one of our "tracks" that I measured yesterday morning to begin our exercising regiment. We hope that works for us in lieu of a treadmill or fitness center...
Taylor is definitely a key player on her team. She caught the first two games they played on Friday night, and she was pitching the game we watched. She really whips the ball and is very good. Here are the first of the shots:
Then this shot of her waiting on deck to bat:
The first two at-bats she had, she waited out for a couple walks:
Finally, on her third at-bat, she got a good pitch and drove it down the third base line for a double:
She eventually came around to score:
Her team won the game, 10-9, but she was injured during the last inning when she pulled a hamstring muscle and had to be helped off the field:
The coach and other players put a heat patch on her leg and she thought she would be ready to play the next game. Josie and I were leaving after this game and we got this shot of Taylor before we left:
It was great watching her play and she is a very good candidate for playing on a college team when she finishes high school.
Along with all the other fans watching the game, there was Traeger who was being baby-sat by George and Cheryl while Brian and Amy are back in Bloomington, IL visiting her parents. We can see some growth already in this cute pup that will be full size in just a short few months:
We're happy that we got to watch one of Taylor's games and wish her luck for the rest of the tournament.
Following a stop at Costco on our way home, we watched a little TV and then turned in for the night. We had a very windy night again last night but it appears to be settling down a bit right now. We will walk one of our "tracks" that I measured yesterday morning to begin our exercising regiment. We hope that works for us in lieu of a treadmill or fitness center...
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Decorations Ready for Storage
Following a short trip to Surprise to my Audiologist to have one of my hearing aids sent off for warranty work and a stop at the grocery store, we returned home to take down Christmas and pack everything for storage. It took most of the afternoon for us to gather everything that needed to be packed. Josie did the inside while I took down the outside lights, rolled up all the chords and readied the containers to pack everything. It actually was done in less time than we expected, so we loaded the boxes in the truck for delivery to our storage unit today.
We plan to go to one of Taylor's softball games which is not too far from our storage unit, so we will go to storage at around 1 PM and then follow that with a trip to the ballpark in Glendale. We are anxious to see her game as we hear great things about her talents in softball and it will be exciting to finally watch her play. She has three games scheduled today, the first to begin at 3:15 which is about when we plan to arrive.
Another action on today's schedule is to ride our bikes to try to establish a one mile "track" that we can use to do our walking exercises each day. Without a treadmill being available, it is probably the best solution for us. That way, we can fast-walk the track - twice if we want to do 2 miles - and get the same benefit. There are many options around the resort, so it will be interesting to select one that won't be too boring to walk every day. Maybe, we can discover a couple different routes to break up the views.
We're back to a normal existence without the Christmas lights and Christmas decorations for another year. It's kind of a letdown after enjoying all the cheer during the Christmas season...
We plan to go to one of Taylor's softball games which is not too far from our storage unit, so we will go to storage at around 1 PM and then follow that with a trip to the ballpark in Glendale. We are anxious to see her game as we hear great things about her talents in softball and it will be exciting to finally watch her play. She has three games scheduled today, the first to begin at 3:15 which is about when we plan to arrive.
Another action on today's schedule is to ride our bikes to try to establish a one mile "track" that we can use to do our walking exercises each day. Without a treadmill being available, it is probably the best solution for us. That way, we can fast-walk the track - twice if we want to do 2 miles - and get the same benefit. There are many options around the resort, so it will be interesting to select one that won't be too boring to walk every day. Maybe, we can discover a couple different routes to break up the views.
We're back to a normal existence without the Christmas lights and Christmas decorations for another year. It's kind of a letdown after enjoying all the cheer during the Christmas season...
Friday, January 3, 2014
Starting The Year Right
The extravagances and splurges of December, 2013, are behind us as we get back on our proper eating and exercise track. It was not a pretty picture yesterday when we stepped on the scale to start 2014. Although we did a terrific job in 2013 in losing weight and changing our eating habits, we let December's holiday cheer get the best of us. Both of us gained weight at the end, but we finished the year down 22 pounds for Josie, and 30 pounds for me. It didn't take much in December to put some weight back on, but we are now back on the losing side for 2014.
Our effort begins today to remove and pack away all of the Christmas decorations for another year. We plan to have everything ready for storage by tomorrow. It's not nearly as much fun taking them down and packing them away as it is putting them up and enjoying them.
We got word that Taylor will be in the area over the weekend for a fast-pitch softball tournament that we heard about from Debby over the holidays. We will plan to catch one of her games while we are in the area tomorrow and look forward to watching her play. She will have a busy schedule with about 8 games to play over the next three days, beginning tonight. It will be exciting for us to see her play.
Aside from taking down the decorations today, we have several other errands to run on Josie's days off from work. I have to take one of my hearing aids into the clinic to be sent back for warranty work and we have to stock up on good food - fruits, vegetables and fish - for our healthy diets. The dreaded "tax season" is almost upon us, so I have to pick up some materials at Staples or Office Max for our record keeping in the new year to replace the ones we used for 2013.
We are off and running in 2014...
Our effort begins today to remove and pack away all of the Christmas decorations for another year. We plan to have everything ready for storage by tomorrow. It's not nearly as much fun taking them down and packing them away as it is putting them up and enjoying them.
We got word that Taylor will be in the area over the weekend for a fast-pitch softball tournament that we heard about from Debby over the holidays. We will plan to catch one of her games while we are in the area tomorrow and look forward to watching her play. She will have a busy schedule with about 8 games to play over the next three days, beginning tonight. It will be exciting for us to see her play.
Aside from taking down the decorations today, we have several other errands to run on Josie's days off from work. I have to take one of my hearing aids into the clinic to be sent back for warranty work and we have to stock up on good food - fruits, vegetables and fish - for our healthy diets. The dreaded "tax season" is almost upon us, so I have to pick up some materials at Staples or Office Max for our record keeping in the new year to replace the ones we used for 2013.
We are off and running in 2014...
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Back Home
Our trip home was in beautiful weather as we departed Laughlin at 9:45 AM yesterday. The return trip was a familiar one, traveling through Kingman AZ, and on route 93 through central AZ. There was our usual chuckle as we passed the "rock" between Laughlin and Kingman that always seems to give us the message - "to you, too":
It was a terrific holiday break for us and could only have been better if it were longer and more successful in the casinos. That's OK though, as we feel we are still way ahead of the game over the years. If we could win every time, we would be there full-time. We enjoyed some new experiences and saw some pretty country that we hadn't seen before. We accomplished our goal of seeing the "ownership" RV parks that were along the Colorado River, and have given us some food for thought.
There is one area that we stopped to check out that is located just outside of Kingman at the start of Route 93 that is called Silverado Estates. We had stopped there many years ago and the office was closed, as it was this time. We drove to the "model" homes that were built since our last trip and we were totally shocked at what we saw. Either the company went broke or some other disaster had struck the company as the homes were all totally destroyed inside. The windows were all broken and the inside of the homes were trashed. These photos pretty much say it all. The first home we went into:
you can see the glass and debris that is all over the floors. Here is another shot of the rear:
Again, all of the glass was smashed out of the sliding doors and there was cattle feces everywhere, including the floors inside. There was also rat feces in every room and on the patios and in the garages.
These are the beautiful models that we couldn't believe were all sitting here in this horrible condition:
Here is one more of the destroyed models:
and the inside of another:
Everything inside was ruined. It appeared that somebody had gone through each of these homes with a sledge hammer and just wanted to make sure nobody got anything of value from the homes. Even the drywall and doors inside were destroyed. We are still in disbelief over what we saw. We will try to get some explanation for what we saw, but I'm not sure where to start.
It is otherwise back to normal at home. We will begin putting Christmas away for another year. We expect to have everything packed away again and into our main storage unit by the end of the weekend. Josie works today, but then has the next three days off...
It was a terrific holiday break for us and could only have been better if it were longer and more successful in the casinos. That's OK though, as we feel we are still way ahead of the game over the years. If we could win every time, we would be there full-time. We enjoyed some new experiences and saw some pretty country that we hadn't seen before. We accomplished our goal of seeing the "ownership" RV parks that were along the Colorado River, and have given us some food for thought.
There is one area that we stopped to check out that is located just outside of Kingman at the start of Route 93 that is called Silverado Estates. We had stopped there many years ago and the office was closed, as it was this time. We drove to the "model" homes that were built since our last trip and we were totally shocked at what we saw. Either the company went broke or some other disaster had struck the company as the homes were all totally destroyed inside. The windows were all broken and the inside of the homes were trashed. These photos pretty much say it all. The first home we went into:
you can see the glass and debris that is all over the floors. Here is another shot of the rear:
Again, all of the glass was smashed out of the sliding doors and there was cattle feces everywhere, including the floors inside. There was also rat feces in every room and on the patios and in the garages.
These are the beautiful models that we couldn't believe were all sitting here in this horrible condition:
Here is one more of the destroyed models:
and the inside of another:
Everything inside was ruined. It appeared that somebody had gone through each of these homes with a sledge hammer and just wanted to make sure nobody got anything of value from the homes. Even the drywall and doors inside were destroyed. We are still in disbelief over what we saw. We will try to get some explanation for what we saw, but I'm not sure where to start.
It is otherwise back to normal at home. We will begin putting Christmas away for another year. We expect to have everything packed away again and into our main storage unit by the end of the weekend. Josie works today, but then has the next three days off...
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Goodbye 2013
We made a stop at the Sam's Club in Bullhead City yesterday to pick up some water for our return trip. We went out to see the RV homes that we saw about a year ago. There hasn't been much done since we were there last except there are two more models built that were closed for the holiday. We didn't get any pictures of the homes, but let's say there is still not enough "it" factor to excite us about the possibility of building one - at least in this location. They are a great concept though, and we would still like to see more, wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Our good parking spot was lost, of course, when we went out yesterday and had to park far away from the hotel entrance. That's OK though, as we will carry our things to the front of the hotel this morning and get the truck to bring to the entrance to load. Our hotel and casino - along with all the others in Laughlin - are packed to capacity. It made it difficult to select slot machines to play, but we have seen crowds like this at other casinos. We took the Riverwalk to the Riverside hotel and Casino last night to see if that were any different, and it was not. Mickey Gilley is playing at the Riverside and I'm sure all of his performances were sold out. Anyway, we took this shot of the beautiful holiday lights outside our hotel - the Aquarius:
It was a beautiful night to walk, and we played at the casino in the Riverside for awhile on the machines that looked good to us, but it was still packed with people, so the machine choices that were available were slim and not the best. Let's just say that our gambling luck went out with 2013 and we came back to our hotel to watch the new year come in on TV.
At midnight, we tried to get some shots of the local fireworks from our hotel window, but the reflections made it tough to get a good shot. This is the best we could do:
In fact, the reflections in the window have made it impossible to get a good shot in the daytime, but our view is excellent of the huge courtyard and the Colorado River. The fireworks were on the shore of the river, just on the other side of our hotel, and the blue light you see in the photo (left of the fireworks) is from a fire boat that was stationed in the river where the fireworks were launched.
It was a nice New Year's Eve and we hope all of you also enjoyed the night. Our trip winds up this morning and we will leave following another great buffet breakfast at the Aquarius.
We're looking forward to a happy and healthy 2014 and we wish the same to you...
Our good parking spot was lost, of course, when we went out yesterday and had to park far away from the hotel entrance. That's OK though, as we will carry our things to the front of the hotel this morning and get the truck to bring to the entrance to load. Our hotel and casino - along with all the others in Laughlin - are packed to capacity. It made it difficult to select slot machines to play, but we have seen crowds like this at other casinos. We took the Riverwalk to the Riverside hotel and Casino last night to see if that were any different, and it was not. Mickey Gilley is playing at the Riverside and I'm sure all of his performances were sold out. Anyway, we took this shot of the beautiful holiday lights outside our hotel - the Aquarius:
It was a beautiful night to walk, and we played at the casino in the Riverside for awhile on the machines that looked good to us, but it was still packed with people, so the machine choices that were available were slim and not the best. Let's just say that our gambling luck went out with 2013 and we came back to our hotel to watch the new year come in on TV.
At midnight, we tried to get some shots of the local fireworks from our hotel window, but the reflections made it tough to get a good shot. This is the best we could do:
In fact, the reflections in the window have made it impossible to get a good shot in the daytime, but our view is excellent of the huge courtyard and the Colorado River. The fireworks were on the shore of the river, just on the other side of our hotel, and the blue light you see in the photo (left of the fireworks) is from a fire boat that was stationed in the river where the fireworks were launched.
It was a nice New Year's Eve and we hope all of you also enjoyed the night. Our trip winds up this morning and we will leave following another great buffet breakfast at the Aquarius.
We're looking forward to a happy and healthy 2014 and we wish the same to you...
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