Longer Work Days

The week before Christmas is noteworthy for one big change in our daily activities - Josie will work longer days. She left at 7:30 yesterday AM and didn't return home until after 5 PM. It seems that every day will be at least that long until Christmas Eve day.

I sorted through some boxes that we stowed away in our basement that were filled with old magazines and papers that we shoved in a box before we hit the road to go to Wyoming this past summer. I came across some items that we thought we had lost or thrown away, so the time was well spent for me both for lightening our load and for following up on some items we misplaced. I just need to rearrange the file cabinet to find a place to keep those papers that we will need for awhile - to do taxes, at least.

We had to go to the store after Josie got home last night and we went just in time to catch the rising moon over the hills to the east:

The days are about as short as they will get for the winter season, so it doesn't get light until close to 7 AM and darkness is here by 5:30 at night. Winter hasn't officially arrived yet, but you would never know it by watching the national weather forecasts.

Even with the longer work days, Josie has found time to finish up another hat that she crocheted in one night:

Her collection of hats is growing and she still has some ideas for other hats, so expect to see more "fashion" ideas from her in the near future.

That's about all there is to report for this day, so we'll see you tomorrow...

Marina Party

There was a notice in our mailbox about a week ago regarding a holiday party that was being held at the Marina. The flyer indicated that there would be complimentary music, hamburgers and hot dogs, along with free boat rides to advertise the boat rental program. It was a chance to get in some exercise by walking to the marina and also to check out the boat rentals.

The party was to run between 1 PM and 5 PM, and the weather was terrific. We started out to go to the marina at 2 PM. The walk is one that we've taken before, but the views never get old:

We could see lots of people and smoke from the barbecue fire as we got closer. The music was also loud as we entered the walkway to the marina:

It appeared to us that the level of the lake had risen substantially since we last visited about a month ago. It didn't take long to see where the action was and we went immediately to the food line:

The party was in full swing and Josie and I each picked up a burger with some chips and a brownie from the desert tray. We also had a beer that we bought at the small bar that was set up before the food line. We sat at one of the many tables that were there and visited with some nice folks from Bellingham, WA that were also staying at the resort.

The only complaint we had about the whole party was that the burgers, although appearing to be ready to serve, were very rare, and Josie even went back to get a second one after only eating half of her first burger. The second one wasn't any more done than the first, so she ended up eating about one burger from the two she picked up at the food station. It was still a nice setup and we had a good time while visiting the rental boat station and picking up all the information for future reference.

The walk was good for us and we were thankful for the beautiful, warm and calm day. We vowed to increase our exercise and to get onto a regular program, of some kind, after the first of the year. We are holding pretty close to our goals - weight wise - for the holiday period.

It's back to work for Josie today to start the final, big push for the busy week before Christmas...

Ready for Christmas

Yesterday completed all of the remaining actions to declare ourselves ready for Christmas. We picked up the final gifts, packaged everything and sent them on their way to be delivered in Santa's sleigh on Christmas. The only problem we had was finding the nearest post office. Our GPS indicated the closest one as being in New River. When we went to that location, there was nothing there but an elementary school. The next best location was behind the Outlet Mall in Anthem, which is where we ended up going. It was not a bad experience at all as we anticipated lines out the door with folks trying to mail their Christmas packages. We stood in line for maybe 5 minutes, got all of our transactions completed and left. There was actually a second trip to the post office to mail one final package for which we needed to verify the address. Done!

The afternoon turned beautiful with calm winds, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy that before dinner. The winds picked up again during the night - 32 mph gusts - and it is now calm once again. I feel bad for Josie trying to sleep through these windy nights as the topper awnings on our fifth wheel flap like crazy during the winds and I can't hear them without having my hearing aids in my ears. I do feel the rocking motion that is created by these winds, but she endures much more than I. When the winds blow long and steady like this, they come from the east or from the northeast which is where our rig faces, so we get the winds almost head-on. Occasionally, we get high winds from the west, which is to the rear if the rig and we don't feel those as much. Of course, our bedroom is in the front, so that makes for more motion from those head winds.

It looks like another beautiful day ahead with temperatures in the 70's, so we will have to plan something to do outside. Exercise maybe?...

Wind Returns

I hate to beat a dead horse, but the winds have returned after only one day of relative calm. I got up in the middle of the night to raise our awning again and we are now receiving 14-17 mph steady winds with gusts to 26-28. It's hard to believe that such a change could occur after having a couple months of just occasional winds. There appears to be some strange and unusual weather patterns everywhere, so this is probably just a freak. I hope so. We (Josie) did get another nice shot of the sunset last night:

There are errands to run today as the main activity. When Josie is working so many hours, it's tough to get a lot done during the week. We will make a trip to the grocery store along with a stop at the bank. One thing we miss while in Jackson is a local Bank of America which we have here just down the street. There are none at all in Wyoming which makes one wonder why Bank of America doesn't want to do business there. We also will stop at the post office to pick up Priority Mail envelopes and a couple boxes. Hopefully, all the Christmas presents will be sent today.

If the winds stop for an extended period this weekend, we may even get a bike ride in at a local trail that we have been wanting to travel. Brian told us about a bike trail that begins in his area and goes to Carefree, AZ which is a nice, long ride. We hope to give it a try...

Holiday Plans

After talking about options for taking a short trip over the holidays, we settled on a trip that will take us to western AZ over New Year's. There are a couple of RV Resorts that we want to check out. One is in Yuma - actually, a small town just east of Yuma called Wellton. The other one is in Lake Havasu City which is north of Yuma on the way to - yes, Laughlin. We will stay one night (December 28) in Yuma at the Best Western Hotel, one night in Parker, which is about half way to Laughlin, on December 29 at the Bluewater Resort and Casino on the Colorado River, and finally, arrive in Laughlin on the 30th and spend New Year's Eve at the Aquarius Hotel and Casino. It's been awhile since we've been to any casino, so the trip should be a fun one.

One of the options we have considered for the future, when we don't want to travel in the RV, is locating a Resort where we can place the fifth wheel to use as a permanent location and as a home base. An important aspect of any RV Resort is that we own the space and don't pay a monthly fee to live there. The two that we will be looking at - Copper Ridge near Yuma, and  Havasu RV Resort - both satisfy that requirement and are reasonably priced. Since they are not too far from Laughlin, and we haven't visited there for about a year, it made sense for us to spend the New Year at a familiar location. The town will be jumping that weekend and we are looking forward to a great time.

Josie is plugging away with her long days and she still has found time to finish up a Christmas present that she made for our grand daughter - Harmony. It is a scarf and hat that she crocheted and we will send it to her this weekend:

It turned out great, and we think Harmony will love it as they are done in her favorite colors.

TGIF and it is the final work day this week for Josie. We have some local errands to run this weekend and maybe we will be able to throw in some exercise, so we are ready for the nice weather that is in the forecast for the weekend...

Coping

The day started for Josie by snapping this photo of our beautiful sunrise yesterday morning as she was leaving the resort:

Her days are getting longer as she worked from 8 AM until almost 5:30 last night and the same hours are expected today and tomorrow before getting the weekend off for some rest. Starting Monday, she will be working those hours every day until Christmas Eve.

It has been a real challenge the last four days to cope with the winds that are still blowing. There was a period yesterday - between about 2 PM and 4 PM when it was basically calm, but the winds started up again at dinner time. My weather station records the average winds each day. We've had only two days since we arrived in October where the average hit 4 mph for a day, and the normal is between 1-3 mph. For the last four days, the averages have been 7.7, 4.4, 4.6 and 7.1. That translates to extended periods of high wind gusts and I am at a loss as to why. We have had several changes in air pressure - from low to high and high to low - so there are more things happening than just the air pressure changes. According to the material I read the other day, it only occurs when air pressure goes from high to low. The barometer has shown steady air pressure for the last two days. I give up.

We're still not sure what our plans will be for the holidays, but we already have invitations from George to have Christmas Dinner with his family at their house and to join them again on New Years Eve for dinner at a yet to be named restaurant. We would like to go somewhere for some of the time between Christmas and New Year, so those plans will be made soon...

Researching Wind

It was such an unusual occurrence (for us) to have such high winds for such a long time - over 30 hours. I did some research yesterday on the causes of wind and really didn't find out much more than I suspected before. It is a confusing phenomena that is a combination of : air pressure changes, friction on the earth's surface and the rotation of the earth. After trying to discover the reasons for getting more winds here at Lake Pleasant, I just concluded that there aren't any buildings or trees to help block the wind and the area is located on higher ground. We'll just deal with it the best we can.

The winds stopped for a few hours in the afternoon and I was able to set up the space again. I opened the gazebo, reset the tree that Josie made, set out the poinsettias again, placed the plants back in their locations and attached the water lines back in the plant containers. I'm not sure if I didn't jump the gun as the winds picked up again during the night and we are seeing more steady and fairly strong winds at the moment. No matter what the scientific explanation is for these winds, we seem to be getting a lot more than any of the surrounding areas.

It's nice to see the temperatures warming up again. Maybe, if we can get rid of the winds, we can sit outside again and enjoy some activities outdoors.

It appears that the twins' football season has come to an end in FL. They lost in the National Championship series and will play on Friday for third place honors. That is still a terrific accomplishment and we are very proud that they made it to FL to defend their Championship from last year...