Author: Rudy

Got up just before 7 — and there were Alex and Max sitting in the living room. All happy. All had slept well. Sunday morning. The shortest day of the year. Let’s see how much we can pack in.

Sue warmed up those frozen cinnamon buns and cut up some fruit for breakfast. I made a pot of coffee. The booster seat we bought for Max to use works great. He is such a happy (and talkative!) boy. After sitting around in the morning it was determined that we would need some more toys for Max. So we all piled into the van and headed off to the Mesa Marketplace. We did a big loop around, looking at the displays (of junk), Max riding in his stroller and conveniently just out of reach of most of the things he all wanted to have. Not too much in the way of toys there. What next?

Well, there’s a big Walmart just around the corner. Let’s try that. Surely it won’t be a zoo of last-minute Christmas shoppers this morning. And it was okay — we had some success there, coming home with a truck and trailer and some Hot Wheels and toy animals. Of course, Max would have liked to have pretty much ALL the things he saw there, but eventually we put all the stuffed Disney toys back into the display bin.

Back home, we had lunch. Sat around a bit and then Tim and I went to Mountain Brook for a game of golf. Nice sunny day. Shirt sleeves until around 4pm. And while the women and child went for a long walk around the neighbourhood, Tim and I scattered balls around the golf course. Shot not so good a game, but had fun. The course was open and we finished 18 holes before dusk.

Sue had been making hamburger patties in the afternoon, so after a quick change and a chance to warm up a bit, Tim barbecued those for our supper. Max was busy flitzing around the house. His favorite activity is getting chased by one of the adults. Lots of laughing. Meanwhile, I settled into my place on the couch and did my best to stay awake just in case the Cardinals staged a massive comeback against the overwhelming Seahawks. But it was not to be. And by the time that sorry game ended we’d lost Max and Alex to their beds and Tim and Sue were fading fast. So was I. So are the prospects for the Cardinals in the playoffs. Oh well. What did I expect?

Tomorrow will come soon enough — and the days will be getting longer.

After bacon and eggs for breakfast, we went for a hike up Silly Mountain. We stopped at Bashas on the way home. After lunch Sue and I went to the driving range and hit balls for nearly an hour. And then it was time to go to the airport. I checked the flight — all good, on time, maybe even a few minutes early. We got to the airport at 3:20pm — just about the time the plane landed. And there they were! Three smiling faces. Oma got a big hug from Max and so did Opa. While we waited for the luggage Max and I went for a walk around the parking lot. Counted the yellow taxis all in a row. Watched a puppy and his owner waiting for visitors to come through arrivals.

We drove home — and I guess I was so excited I missed the turnoff to Gold Canyon. After a short detour we got to our house. After a snack Max and I went for a little hike up the mountain behind our house. We saw the sunset from up there. Then, before it got too dark, we headed back down. Tim was barbecuing chicken and Sue had made potatoes and salad. Supper. Lots of visiting and enjoying Max. When I tucked him into his own bed at around 8pm he went quietly to sleep. Nice kid. The rest of us did our best to stay awake but by 10 o’clock we too were in bed.

It feels like Saturday. Well, except for no bacon and eggs. When I looked at the list of movies playing at Superstition today and suggested to Sue that maybe we should go to a movie this afternoon I got a VERY quick and stern “NO” back. We are BUSY today. We have a lot of things to get ready for our visitors. Yeah, but they’re only coming in the mid-afternoon. Rudy, I have a LONG list of things that I need to get done. Okay, that settles that. You’d think the king and queen are coming. Well, okay, they are, and they’re bringing the prince with them.

While Sue did laundry and cleaned and reorganized the bedrooms and bathrooms (we’ll be sharing a bathroom for the next two weeks), I got out the Dirt Devil (first time since we’ve been here!) and vacuumed the house. The carpet remnant we found in one of the closets has been neatly trimmed and rolled out in the middle of the living room — that’ll be Max’s play area. One of the extra chairs came out of that same closet and now has a new ‘booster seat’ attached to it at the dining room table. Toys and presents are now wrapped and bagged and parked beneath the fake fig ‘Christmas’ tree. It was all Sue could do to keep me from taking the van to the carwash, which I haven’t done since the day we arrived (and really don’t need to either, but when I saw the photo on SteinbachOnline of all those filthy cars driving along Main Street, I got a little itch to wash the car).

After lunch Sue took our (nice shiny clean) van to Bashas and re-stocked the pantry. More or less reorganized the kitchen, to make room for everything. Those kids of ours better eat a lot! Speaking of which, one of the things I’m most looking forward to is that after tomorrow the topic of our conversation on our daily walk will NOT be ‘what should I make for supper for when the kids arrive on Saturday’. Speaking of which, we went for our afternoon walk after the groceries were all packed away. I still can’t seem to get my little MapMyRide app to stay ON for the whole walk — so once again, about a mile into the walk, I check my phone and, sure enough, that damn thing is on ‘Pause Workout’. And I didn’t even touch it! Instead of ENHANCING our walks, that phone is turning me into one of those people who walk down the street and bash into other people or hydro poles. Sort of like spoiling a golf game by having to look at your phone for yardage after every shot (you know who I’m talking about!) So, to compensate for the spoiled walk (maybe even the spoiled day), Sue agreed to stop at the Hitching Post for a quick beer on the way home. Which we did. And we had deep-fried mushrooms to go with our ‘Kilt-lifter’. Ah, it doesn’t take much to make the boy happy.

Back at the ranch, we showered and watched Brian Williams read the evening news. Then, after supper (leftover chilli — not serving THAT to the kids!), we watched another of my movie downloads — this one did NOT feature Chinese subtitles, although it too began with a couple of screens addressing us as ‘Members of the Academy’. (Yikes, with all the emails I’m getting from Redbox offering me codes for free rentals you’d think I’d be content watching legit movies!) Well, this time we struck out. “Mr Turner” was about as boring as it was long. As members of the academy, we will NOT be nominating this one.  I have no idea what we watched after that but Sue managed to stay awake and do a bit of channel surfing before somehow dragging me into bed. One more sleep.

It’s cold here today. We decided to ‘warm up’ by going for a brisk walk before lunch. We walked across Gold Canyon to Bashas — picked up some bread — and back home again. According to that new ‘MapMyWalk’ app on my phone we waked almost 9 kilometres.

After lunch (the ‘usual’, sandwiches, but with very fresh bread today!) we drove to Mountain Brook Golf Course. We’d booked an ‘online special’ for 1:45pm. I guess the weather forecast (cold, cloudy) meant few golfers were booking tee times — we hardy Manitobans will brave any kind of weather for a ‘deal’! We ended up being paired up with a couple of older guys who are parked in the RV Park across the road for the winter.

After the first two or three holes the sun came out and it warmed up a bit. Golfing was fun, but our games were not very good. And by the end of the afternoon it was quite cold again. The old guys didn’t have jackets and they looked VERY cold. We finished our round (both shot 106) and went home to warm up. Leftover Chinese for supper.

We finished the first season of ‘Suits’ tonight and followed that up with a LONG movie, ‘Boyhood’. I’d heard that it’s Obama’s favorite movie of the year. We both liked it too. It was filmed over about a dozen years, and it follows the growing up of two children in ‘real time’ so the main characters actually grow up as the movie progresses. After the movie we watched the ‘At Issue’ panel on CBC and the Daily Show before going to bed.

Sue finished her book (Lisa and Laura Ling’s North Korea book — how fitting, since today Sony Pictures announced that they will cancel the Christmas opening of their anti-Kim Jong-un comedy “The Interview” because of threats from hackers — reportedly backed by North Korea!). I did some computer work — although very little ‘hacking’. Then, before lunch, Suzy Homemaker got out her oven mitts and made another batch of chocolate-chip cookies. Yep, we’re getting ready for the holidays here — we can hardly wait until the kids arrive on Saturday. I can hardly wait until I can have some of those ‘treats’ Sue has stashed in our pantry and on top of the fridge — chocolates and peanuts — no, don’t open that, it’s for when the kids come for Christmas!

After lunch we went for a walk. I tried using my ‘MapMyRide’ app again — it counts all my vital statistics while I walk and even maps my route. Except it STOPPED halfway through the walk, when Sue and I were walking the golf course. We were walking the golf course because it was kind of cool and misty — no golfers out today. We stopped at Walgreens on the way home and Sue picked up more Christmas lights for our tree. Sue decorated the fake tree and even tried to hang a stocking for Max. It’s looking festive in here. We watched “Locke”, one of the many new movies I’ve downloaded before supper.

I picked up Chinese from the Great Wall restaurant at the corner for supper. After supper we had the usual: a couple of episodes of Suits and the CBC News. Ice cream and (freshly baked) cookies for snack. Three more sleeps.

Today we did some counting. Mostly, Sue did some A-ccounting. All morning she was busy with her calculator and her iPad and her little notebook and pencil. And I had the printer hooked up to the computer and was printing out statements. Once a month I have to answer questions like “What’s this $32.45 charge from VALEROINTHEZONE for?” and I have to stop whatever I’m doing and try to figure out what the MasterCard shorthand stands for and what I (or often Sue!) bought there. The more we are not ‘in business’ the more accounting we do. By the end of it all, in spite of all Sue’s worry and warnings, we’re not broke (yet). (And it seems that the less I use Sue’s iPad, the more I am at fault for icons and buttons that may have changed position or function since the last time we ‘did the books’.) Anyway, all that doing BUSINESS meant that we did NOT go to the driving range this morning as planned.

In fact, we had to hurry through lunch so we could get to Mountain Brook for our 1:45 tee time. Cool weather today, but once again, the afternoon sun meant that we golfed in shirt sleeves until midway through the back nine when the layers started to come back on. I tried out a ‘demo’ driver from the pro shop — and, for the most part, it worked pretty well. Not as well as when I pulled out Sue’s driver by mistake and hit the ball straighter than I had with the trial club! But I’ll give the driver another try — maybe with a “senior flex” shaft it will be right for me. We skipped Hole #2 because 3 old ladies, one of whom could barely walk!, were ahead of us, so we jumped ahead to Hole #3. We figured we’d rather golf 17 holes than watch this gong show and get in at most 9 holes all afternoon. So in the end, just like our ‘accounting’, we had to ‘estimate’ what we might have gotten on Hole #2 and ’round up’ our scores. While we’re not getting much better golfers, we’re probably not getting worse either. And we had fun.

In the spirit of the season, Sue made a pot of chilli for supper. It almost felt like we had gone for a sleigh ride and carolling with our church group! After all that whacking the ball around in the cool afternoon, I ate heartily. Actually, I ALWAYS eat heartily. Then ‘the usual’ — a couple of episodes of ‘Suits’ (with appropriate ‘snack breaks’ while Sue visits on the phone) and the CBC News before going to bed early again.

We went for a long walk in the morning. I was trying out the ‘MapMyRide’ app on my phone — it tracked where we went, how far, how fast, how high, how many calories… Yikes! that can take the fun out of a boring old walk pretty fast. But we wandered around another residential area and saw some great views of Dinosaur Mountain.

After lunch we went into town. First to Apache Junction. Knick-knacks, some groceries, some Christmas things, etc. Even a stop at the Fruit Market for more of that. Then we went back to IKEA one more time. Those $5 seat cushions are costing us about $15 in gas! Now the ‘new’ ones are even shorter than the first set we bought, so we went back to exchange them for the original ones. And, just for the ‘fun’ of it, I took the scenic route there. Thirty-five miles each way. Through Gilbert and Chandler and Tempe. We enjoyed some rush hour freeway traffic on the ride home.

I over-barbecued (according to Sue; I thought they were just right) some pork chops to go with the fried rice and salad that Sue made for supper. Then we watched another two episodes of ‘Suits’ before switching over to Monday Night Football. The game was in the last quarter and the Saints easily won over the Bears. Two pathetic teams. Then the news and off to bed.

Breakfast while watching our Sunday morning shows. Then, after Fareed, I watched NFL Countdown — the countdown to another Sunday of football at our house. And from 11:00 until sometime in the evening when it became clear that the Cowboys would beat the Eagles, I sat on the couch and watched football. (Giants won, Vikings lost, Cardinals didn’t play. Seahawks, Broncos, and Patriots won, and the Packers lost! Oh well, for what it’s worth, I still think that at the end of February the Broncos will beat the Packers in the Superbowl.) It’s my last ‘football-all-day’ Sunday this year. Sue is happy about that. She had to get out of the house, just to get away from the TV noise, and go for a long walk. Bonus: She came home with boxes of Christmas chocolates from Walgreens.

Although it doesn’t feel at all like Christmas here in our place, the countdown to Christmas has begun. Next Sunday our kids will be here. Sue and I are looking for things to do with them. Sue’s marked her calendar for local church Christmas programs. She’s got baking and cooking to do. We have bags of goodies that I’m not allowed to touch — “they’re for when the kids come!” It’s all I can do to keep her from stringing up ‘icicle lights’ on the house! If it didn’t feel so wrong, we’d have stopped at one of the Christmas tree lots next to Walmart and jammed one of those poor spruce trees into the van next to the golf clubs. And, in all truth, I’m counting down the days too. I too am looking for things to do and places to go with our visitors. I only hope that we have enough time to do all the things we’ve got to do! Let’s hope that Tim and Alex don’t want to come here for a RELAXING Christmas vacation — that ain’t gonna happen!

Apparently we won’t have a ‘special’ date format like this again until 01-02-03, 89 years from now. We started off our Saturday morning with a FaceTime call from Alex and Max. Today Tim and Alex are having their big annual Christmas Dinner Party, so it’s a busy day for them. After making our morning coffee and bacon and eggs, OUR day wasn’t all that busy! It was cool and RAINY this morning! low, heavy clouds hid Superstition completely from view. And it poured at night — all our patio furniture was sopping wet.

We didn’t know whether the golf course was even open today, but Sue called to confirm before we headed to Mountain Brook for our 12:30 tee time. Not too busy at the course, which was great for us!

It was cool, sweater and jacket weather, winter gloves and hat and scarf weather for Sue! But we had a great afternoon. We both golfed pretty well, under 50 on the front nine. And it seemed to get nicer — warmer and sunnier — with every hole we played. By the time we were halfway around the back nine we were sorry we hadn’t worn shorts and short sleeves! My 45 on the front nine didn’t hold up and I finished with 100. Still, okay for me.

We came home for happy hour and skyped with my parents. They’ve had some exceptionally nice weather at home too. Here the sun, which had burned away the shrouding around our mountain, painted Superstition in pinks and purples. Sue made a delicious curried pork and mashed potatoes dinner. And then we settled into our stations in front of the TV and watched an episode of ‘Suits’. After that we watched a bootleg copy of “Still Alice”, a movie based on a book by the same name. Sue’s bookclub had read four years ago. The movie was great! We watched the first 1/2 hour episode from “The Trip to Italy”, a British comedy series, before going to bed.

Today, before lunch, Sue and I went to the Gold Canyon Golf Course to hit balls at the driving range. We swung our clubs for over an hour. I actually tried out a TaylorMade driver from the pro shop, but was disappointed. I can hit the ball very well with Sue’s driver — so I’m tempted to buy one just like it for myself.

As has become my custom, I watched “Holmes on Homes” on TV while we had lunch. The hour-long show was followed by a second episode, so I stayed on the couch to watch it as well. When I woke up I heard Sue, sitting in the bedroom, talking on the phone. I went outside and practiced my putting. I’ve been putting better lately, in part because I’ve been practicing on our little backyard putting green. Until today, I just couldn’t seem to get all four golf balls to sink in a row. I could sink three almost any old time, but until today I could not get the fourth one to follow. And, if it’s anything like the game of golf itself, once you break a hundred (or ninety, or maybe someday, eighty) apparently it is easier to repeat the feat from then on. And so I expect to be able to putt four in a row from now on.

I noticed that my internet was acting up — I couldn’t access any of the sites on my server. So I spent an hour on the phone trying to get to the root of the problem. I ended up in a long ‘chat’ session with Mediacom, our ISP here in Phoenix. I’m convinced it is their system that has me locked out — but the ‘techie’ on the chat session wasn’t very helpful. I’m hoping that it will get corrected soon. In the meantime I’m using my phone as a ‘hotspot’ to connect and to post to my site. Not ideal.

After supper (pizza) we sat in front of the TV and watched a couple more episodes of “Suits”. We also watched a movie on Netflix (“Stuck in Love”). So-so. News at 11:00. Good-night.