Happy New Year

The weather is gorgeous in the mid 70s and the weather forecast (and we all know how accurate that is) is predicting in the 80s for Thurs. & Fri. We've enjoyed golf in the afternoons in this beautiful weather. Our boat cruises in the evenings are quite pleasant, even though it really cools off once the sun goes behind the mountains. And the dinners at the restaurant have been spoiling us (plus giving us a few extra pounds).

We noticed that we had some landscaping lights out in the fountain and at a tree, so we proceeded to check this out and discovered that the one in the fountain the light fixture was broken and the one at the tree was corroded, so off to Home Deport to get replacements. The one in the fountain was not an easy fix, Jim also needed to replace the junction box as it was all corroded also, so back to Home Depot.

 Jim finally got the lights in the fountain working - turned on the pump to the fountain and no water - now the pump went out. Guess what? The fountain is drained of water and is just a statue of rock with lights.

Then the light went out on the tree that he fixed - tried to figure out what went wrong - rewired but to no avail. Ended up the new light bulb had burned out. All lights are now working.

Here are some flowers in our small flower bed that the landscaper charged us $180 to plant. They're pretty, but a little too much money for the amount of flowers. Need to have a talk with our landscaper.

Yesterday I decided to cause some excitement by having an accident on my bike. I was riding on the sidewalk on 48th Avenue outside of the park when I tried to go around the maintenance cart that was parked in the middle of the sidewalk. Rode up on the grass but when I came back down to the sidewalk my front tire got caught on the edge of the cement and over I went in a graceful (not!) landing. Luckily I got up with no broken bones, but my legs are pretty cut up, especially my right leg which has a nasty fairly deep cut. I thought it should be looked at by a doctor or nurse, so off we went to find an Urgent Care center. The first one was over a 2 hour wait, so went to a 2nd one which was also a 2 hour wait (didn't know there were so many sick people), so off to Walgreens to pick up some antiseptic and bandages and back home to have Dr. Jim take care of me. Surprisingly I'm not sore, the cuts don't hurt and am no worse for wear except my right leg looks like a pack of dogs attacked it. Jim took a picture of my legs, but didn't include it because it's not a pretty picture.

Tonight we will celebrate New Years Eve by grilling a ham and giving a toast at about 9pm before we hit the bed. Don't remember the last time we stayed up till midnight.

We are heading back to Tucson on Sunday bright and early to miss traffic and will probably park the motorhome for a couple of months before we head out again.

I wish everyone a safe New Year's Eve and a prosperous and wondrous 2014!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a joy filled, fun packed, and blessed Christmas Day! We are in Indio enjoying the beautiful 70 degree weather, bright sunshine with light breezes. We arrived last Thurs. after a mostly uneventful trip here. There was an accident about 40 miles out of Indio that caused a 45 minute delay. But all was well once we got beyond the mangled cars of the accident.

Jim was nursing a bad cold (a gift from our Portland trip) so we played it low the first few days. Didn't even take the cover off the boat. Had dinner at the restaurant the first 4 nights which included their specials of prime rib, steak and lobster and baby back ribs. The last 2 nights we had to cook on our own (how fast we get used to going out to eat and not having to cook). Tonight for Christmas dinner we are doing something unordinary on the grill - Corned Beef & Cabbage. It was in the freezer and sounded good.

Jim is still suffering with his cold, but he graciously gave it to me so I could suffer along with him. Even with our colds we are still doing our morning walk/bike rides and playing golf in the afternoons. Our golf games are a little bit to be desired, but it's enjoyable just getting out in the beautiful weather.

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." - Henry David Thoreau

Have a Joyful, Peaceful and Merry Christmas!

Did We or Didn't We?

Sorry to keep you hanging whether we purchased the mustang or not - yes we did. The seller got the car running by sat afternoon, but by then we were enjoying the wineries, so met him Sunday morning bright and early. Car ran good - took it out for a spin. Jim came to an agreement that he would fix a few things and agreed on a price, so the little mustang will have a new home.

We will get it shipped to Tucson in January. We flew out of Portland Sunday morning back to warmer climates (like I've been wearing my shorts this week). Tonight is the family Christmas dinner then we take off in the RV tomorrow for Indio for a coupe of weeks. We should get there in time for prime rib dinner at the restaurant.

Gorging at Columbia Gorge

Since we have a day free, we decided to take a drive through the Columbia Gorge to view the beautiful waterfalls and visit some wineries. Our first stop is Wahkeena Falls.

Then we came upon the well known Multnomah Falls.

As you can see it's quite cold. But quite beautiful with all the frozen water.

Jim "ran" up to the bridge for a photo op!

The waterfall was quite impressive.

From there we continued east and found a few wineries. The first is Cathedral Ridge which we didn't find anything we liked.

From there we continued east then finally crossed the Columbia River to the Washington side. Our first stop was the Maryhill Winery. Really enjoyed their wines - so much so that we bought 6 bottles to be shipped home.

We stopped at another winery but didn't find anything we liked. Then stopped at Cascade Cliffs and fell in love with their Merlot and Cab. A case of wine will be showing up at our front door soon. The asst. wine maker gave us a tour of the winery and gave us a lesson on wine making. Included in that was tasting right out of their 2012 tanks that will be bottled in January. We had a great time.

By the time we left there we had consumed enough wine so headed back to the hotel.

We are meeting with the car seller tomorrow morning to see the car again. He's got the vehicle running, we'll see, still have reservations. Then we fly out at 11 am and get back to some warmer weather and out of this damp, dreary place. If we came here in the summertime, it would be a fantastic trip. But now I'm glad to leave.

Portland OR?

Why would anyone want to go to Portland OR this time of the year??? Especially on my birthday - we should be going somewhere that has bright sunshine, palm trees and 80 degree weather - not 40 degree bleak, dismal, dreary, wet weather. 

Yes, we are in Portland for Jim to look at a 1968 Mustang Shelby GT500. Flew out of Tucson at 7 am and got into Portland at 10:40 am and drove about 15 miles to Vancouver, WA to see the car.

The car seems to be in good shape. All the documentation is there.

Everything is going good except when he goes to start the car - it won't start. Worked on it for awhile then told him to call us when he has the problem fixed and off we go for lunch. Ended up at Beaches right on the Columbia River (WA side).

Sat at a window table overlooking the river.

Pretty dismal out there isn't it? Jim had fish & chips and I had salmon, pretty good. From there we checked into our hotel -The Sheraton at the airport where we get the Club Lounge again except here they limit your drinks to only two free ones. 

Heard from the car seller and probably will go back to look at the car again tomorrow am.