Crock Pot Practice

Since Josie was working her fourth day of the week and we had very little left in the frig for dinner, I made a pork loin roast in the crock pot. It was a new recipe that I got online and had a sauce made with dry onion soup, soy sauce and red wine. I went to the store to grab some of the onion soup and a few potatoes that I threw in later. It turned out great but I can say that Chef Gordon Ramsey has nothing to worry about. I guess I will be doing meals for us in the crock pot often this winter. They are easy and they last for a couple days.

Nothing else was very noteworthy for the day except I tried to modify our drip system to eliminate the puddles that were being created near our entry gate. I still have some tweaking to do for that system. We have three hanging baskets near the gate and I have to use different drip nozzles for those versus the smaller plants that we have on the ground around the site. We'll get it right.

Josie has the next three days off so we are trying to plan some things to do to take advantage of her down time. The only real event we have scheduled at this point is to attend a "Living Visions Session" on Saturday at the offices for the new Trilogy development that is being built in Wickenburg. The development has not been opened yet, and this is one of many sessions that the developer has set up to get input on features and amenities. Our session is about the clubhouse and floor plan features. There will also be some discussion on the home floor plans which we are interested in seeing. Supposedly, folks that take part in these sessions have a ground floor opportunity to purchase early release models in the new development. We are interested only from the standpoint that Wickenburg is one of the areas we are looking at for future possibilities.

We'll start with a long period of relaxing over breakfast and some coffee- maybe outside on this beautiful morning in Arizona...

Probably a Normal Day

The winds finally subsided at around noon yesterday after three days of steady gusts over 25 mph. We should be good for at least a few days now, so I guess it means a cleanup this morning.

I finished all the paperwork and got everything scanned and forwarded to the Aramark folks for our Super Bowl jobs. All we need to do now is wait for word on when our training begins.

I was reminded again yesterday when I had to mail a package that there are no post offices anywhere near us. I signed up for a USPS account online to be able to print labels and pay from home so I could have the packages picked up at the resort office. That was nixed when I couldn't 1- get an accurate weight for the package and 2- couldn't get the payment part of the transaction to work. I'll have to work on that another day. I ended up taking the package to the local UPS Store down the road which is fairly convenient, but more costly.

Josie's schedule was changed slightly. She will work her fourth day of this week today instead of Friday. For the next week she will work the same Mon-Thu schedule and then go to Mon-Wed and Sat for the following two weeks. It's nice that she is getting four full days per week this year. That is, until the holidays roll around and then she goes into marathon mode.

It was pretty much a normal day yesterday and will most likely be that way again today. I hope to get the cleanup done from the winds and messy tree, and maybe get some work done on my cross stitch. If the weather is nice, I'll probably get some time outside reading some magazines to catch up on those...

Story is About the Wind

We do love this place at Lake Pleasant but the winds are very unsettling. We remember the winds from last year, and it is when we get several days of non-stop wind that we want to leave. The last three days have been mostly sunny, and a little cool, but we have had winds in the 24, 27 and 29 mph range each of those days. That means that we cannot do anything outside and also means that we have a cleanup to do on the site when the winds eventually stop.  I'm sorry to say that for these reasons, our future here at Lake Pleasant will probably be shorter than longer. We have some tough decisions to make regarding our abode for the winter season.

Josie had a sort of reunion yesterday at her shop. Her schedule started on an off day for her manager, Kathy, on Monday, and yesterday she was working along with Alex who is the GM and person that champions Josie's cause each year. They all had a grand time catching up on each others' summer. Of course, the work also got done. The only consideration for her this year is the added distance and time for her commute. The fact that she is working longer days helps.

All of the paperwork is complete for our jobs at the Super Bowl early next year and I will scan those into the computer and send them to the HR people today. We expect our training to begin in January, probably around the 10th or so. Josie has already informed the flower shop of this exciting duty and they said they would work her schedule around the training for the job. Nice gesture.

The windy days are allowing more time for my cross stitching project as I near completion on the piece that will most likely be entered in next year's Teton County Fair - if all goes according to plan. Right now, we envision a fourth year in Jackson for the summer and unless, or until, something better comes up, that will be the target for the next summer season...

Another Milestone

When I began this blog almost 6 years ago, I never expected to go this long - 2000 entries as of today - without missing a day. There have been some days when I could write forever and have lots of pictures to show, and others where it has been difficult to write even one paragraph. Some days are busy, some days are without activities. There have been near misses - like when I have had computer problems or there was no internet access as a result of being in a "dead" area, but 2000 consecutive days is something I never imagined. There will come a time when the streak ends, but for now, I am happy to keep going and report all that we do, even when it's not an exciting read.

Josie's first day back at work at her new location went fine, and she made the trip in about 50 minutes with construction delays on Carefree Highway and accident delays on the freeway. It appears that her schedule and working conditions will be fine for this season.

I started to complete all the paperwork for our job as cashiers at the Super Bowl working in one of the concession stands. Josie has the experience as a cashier in this environment, but it is a new experience for me. Nonetheless, it will be exciting for both of us.

The winds have returned as we had 20 -25 mph winds and rocked-and-rolled in bed all night long. It is impossible to totally eliminate the movement even though we have stabilizers all around the fifth wheel. It comes with this area, I guess.

I'll end this 2000th entry in the blog with this nice shot of another pretty Arizona  sunset that Josie took on her way home last night:

Change in Mode

We didn't do too much yesterday except some laundry, making and eating some cookies and watching football on TV. Not the healthiest way to spend a day. Today will end all that. Josie is starting work today and we both are disgusted with our eating habits and will begin taking care of that business today.

While Josie is working, I plan to take care of some other business - like getting our applications all completed and sent to the HR person for our participation in the Super Bowl game for Aramark. I followed up on the email I received and asked if Josie could also be included in that activity. She was also accepted, as expected, since we have the experience and a good track record with Aramark.

There are also some small projects that need attention in the fifth wheel that I will begin tackling today. There are some "normal" wear and tear items that need repair and a few other actions that need to be taken care of before they get out of control. One of those is spraying the entire periphery of our fifth wheel with Home Defense spray to eliminate the insects that are beginning to feel like they have open season on our rig. We are also still dealing with the "messy" tree on our space, and that requires constant cleaning to keep up with the winds that create the mess all the time. I had thought about emptying a gallon of Round-Up on the tree to be done with it, but the shade is too valuable to lose while a new, replacement tree would be growing.

That's about it for this morning as we get underway on the business part of our season here at Lake Pleasant...

Drive to Scottsdale

There are many options that we are looking at for future living arrangements. One that we have talked about but never investigated, is the option to move to our original area within Scottsdale where our initial AZ home was purchased. Although not interested in buying another house, we wanted to look at the possibility of renting either a condo or home in that nice area.

There were several nice places that we saw online that were appealing, so we contacted the Realtor of one of them to see if she might be able to arrange for us to see them. We met Lynne Ramey, Realtor, in the first condo which happens to be the complex where she resides and is also just down the street from where Patty and Mark used to live in Ancala Country Club. It was a beautiful condo that sits right on a large lake in Scottsdale and has this view from the large patio:

Yes, it was an exceptional view and the condo was perfect inside. The only downside was that the owner is a couple from New Jersey that only wants to rent it out until they can sell their home in New Jersey. We are looking for something that will be available for at least 2 years, and longer, if possible. The rent was also at the top end of our budget for rentals.

The second condo was not too far from the first, and still not far from Ancala Country Club, and also had a spectacular view from the large and private patio:

Although it was a bit hazy yesterday, you can still make out Camelback Mountain in the distance and the city lights at night would be spectacular. Although this condo was well within our budget and available for multiple years, it was a second story unit that we aren't crazy about.

The third and final option was one that was further north and Josie and I went to that one ourselves. It was east of Cave Creek, still in Scottsdale, but was a horse property - and house - that was available on a long term lease. The home was beautiful from the outside:

but, was in an area where the road was unpaved and we could see where it had been neglected for some time. We could also see where the water from the summer storms had run through the property and that scared us. It was a place where we could keep our fifth wheel at the property, but we had no need for the stalls and horse equipment that occupied the one acre property.

The Realtor we met promised to do some investigating of other options but we are not in any hurry and made it clear that we are just looking at options. The idea of renting somewhere in Scottsdale where Patty and Mark plan to return in about four years appeals to us.

Austin's team (Western Michigan University) won again over Miami of Ohio yesterday to take their record to 6-3 for this year. What a nice turn around from a year ago - and they are bowl eligible now.

There is one more day - today - before Josie begins her work schedule at Phoenix Flower Shops. She has some laundry to do and we have a few chores to finish outside, so we are looking for a relatively calm day at home...

Halloween Dud

Our first hike - or walk - around the lake occurred yesterday. We walked a total of 3.5 miles down to the lake, around the edge to the marina and back again in about two hours. That included a stop at the Marina store to pick up a drink and to rest on the dock.

The lake is a mess. There are remnants of a new dam that was constructed on the north side of the lake and all the debris has floated, or blown down to the south end. Here are the shots we took while on our hike. The first is of the lake from the top of the hill:

The "scum" on the lake is visible in the lower center portion of that photo. Here is a better view of the mess:

We didn't follow any path on our walk around the lake and there were parts of the edge that were washed out from the heavy rains this past summer. We did eventually make it around the lake, and these two shots are of Josie along the way:

The marina bar was not open when we arrived there, but the marina store was. We bought something to drink and sat in the nice lounge area on the dock:

Our walk around the lake was followed by a brief trip to the grocery to pick up a few things and to get ready for Halloween night. Last year, we had about 20 kids and there was no guarantee that this year would be any different. It was. We had everything ready for the kids as the sun was sinking in the west:

All of the goodies for handing out are in a bowl that is with the candles you see in the lower right of the photo. We sat at our table and waited...and waited...and waited. No kids at all came by and at 7 PM, we closed up and came inside the fifth wheel. Last year, there were several families around us that had children and this year, we haven't seen any which must explain why it was a dud.

I received an email response from my effort to be part of the Aramark team at the Super Bowl in Early February. It will be played at the Glendale Stadium where the Cardinals play. I was accepted for a warehouse spot or a cashier, whichever I prefer. It looks like I will be attending the Super Bowl - and getting paid - even though I probably won't get much of a chance to watch the game. It should be a fun experience with all the excitement. Training begins in mid January, about the time my unemployment payments stop from Wyoming...