Author: Rudy

Friday: Six o’clock. Phone rings. Helga on the line. Did I wake you up? Good, because 56 years ago Rudy woke me up too. Happy Birthday to you. Dad on the line. Happy Birthday! Come home soon. Goodbye. Back to sleep.

Woke up for the second time at around 8. Happy Birthday all over again. French toast and bacon for breakfast. Sue gives me a card that says she likes to be alone together with me. Tim and Alex give me a nice card that shows me sleeping in front of the TV. Just like I do every night! And some peanut butter cups. And Oakleaf pens. And movies and supper tonight. Sue and Alex went for a bike ride and returned movies to Walgreen’s before lunch.

Open-faced sandwiches for lunch. Yummy. Got in the car to look for a Weber barbecue for the kids. Didn’t find a 4-burner model. Decided to go to the 2:30 showing of the hit movie “The Hunter Games”. Great movie. After the movie we drove down to Santan Village to check out the wine store. Dick’s for a hat for Tim — no luck with that. Then we drove back up into Mesa to “Vito’s Italian Pizzeria” for our 6:45 dinner reservation. We had great pizza, great atmosphere, great service. Drove back via Superstition Springs Mall — checked for cowboy hats at Target — nothing. Went to the Cold Stone Creamery on Signal Butte — and had delicious ice cream outside in the evening. A perfect end to the day.

Back at home we watched a bit of golf on TV until (what else?) I fell asleep. Went to bed early. The end of a perfect day!

Thursday: After Alex asked me about going to the Winnipeg Folk Festival this summer, I checked out the line-up. Sunday night features Eliza Gilkyson and Mary Gauthier. Also on the bill are Iron & Wine, David Bromberg, Jimmy Lefave, Ellis Paul, and Ruthie Foster. I spent most of the morning downloading a bunch of music by those artists.
Alex and Sue went for a walk to Walgreens, where they picked up two movies for tonight.
After lunch we hopped into the van and headed out to Tortilla Flats. We went past the Flats, a couple of miles on the washboardy gravel road, and went for a short walk on a mountain trail. Stopped for ice cream in Tortilla Flats on the way back. The motorcycle accident we saw on the way in was cleaned up by the time we were heading back to Apache Junction.

Tim and I went for a 4:00pm golf game and Alex was going to have a nap. We played nine holes and then decided to go for a few extra holes before it got too dark. We golfed #10, 11, 14, 15, and 18. It was completely dark by the time we got back into our van. We got home at around 7pm. The girls were waiting impatiently, wanting to start watching movies.
We had appetizers and then barbecued pork tenderloin with twice-baked potatoes. Best of all, we had chocolate pudding with whipped-cream for dessert after watching the “Muppet Movie”. I think only Tim managed to stay awake during the second movie, “Tower Heist”. After the movie the girls and Tim headed off to bed. I read news on the computer and then went to bed too. I updated my journal in bed, just before 1:00am.

Wednesday: Today was a ‘reading and relaxing’ morning. We had lunch outside on the patio. Tim had gone to get hotdogs and the fixings, so we had delicious whistle dogs for lunch.


    


Soon after lunch the four of us went to the golf course for our 3:22 tee time. We walked nine holes. All of us had quite a bit of fun. After golf we went to visit Ed and Val, who are leaving Arizona tomorrow. We had nachos and salsa with our drinks and visited on the back patio. Then we went to the Mexican restaurant near our house. Very nice. Weather and food was very good. Back at our house we watched a bunch of cooking shows before going to bed.

Tuesday: Made coffee before 7 in the morning. Alex was up soon after that. It was already getting a bit warm outside. After breakfast the girls went on a bike ride and returned the movies to Walgreens. I worked on a logo for Oakleaf. Tim watched cooking and golf on TV.

After lunch the girls were getting ready for a big shopping trip to Chandler Fashion Mall. Ed Peters came by at 2:30 to pick Tim and me up for golf. Tim and I shared a cart. Great start. First hole Ed got a little upset about missing some putts. After that, we all played pretty good. I had some good hits, and some not so good hits. But no real disasters. By the time we stopped to pick up some beers before the second nine, none of us had scored an 8. So that was good.

              


The second nine were not as kind. First hole, a ‘9’. Next one, a ’10’. But the day was fantastic. And the golf course was eerily quiet. No one ahead of us, no one behind us. Perfect. It was getting to be around 6pm by the time we stopped for photos on hole 16. Then at 17 Val pulled up with her ‘Cyclematic’ electric bike. She took a few more photos, of the group. And okay, after scoring 53 on the front nine, my back nine score of 64 made for a total of 117 for the round. Tim had 105, Ed shot 99.

Back at the clubhouse Tim spotted 6 javelinas running across the driving range to the #1 fairway. Cool! We tried to get closer to get a better look at them in the twilight, but then they jumped over the wall into the neighborhood. Ed drove around a bit to try to get another look, but they were gone.

Ed dropped us off at our place at around 7pm. The girls were still not home from their shopping trip. Tim and I had a beer and we added up our scores. When the girls finally got home we had appetizers. Then we barbecued steak and potatoes. Had a great supper. Sat down in front of the TV to watch Frontline — and I quickly nodded off. So did Alex. After Sue had taken a few photos of sleepers, we all shuffled off to bed. Happy. Tired. All’s well in the world.

Monday: Alex and I went to Basha’s to pick up pastries for breakfast. Then, after a bit of reading outside, Sue, Alex, and I went for a hike up Silly Mountain. Tim stayed back and checked out the golf course layout on the iPad maps app.

     


After lunch we read a bit more and then we went to Walgreens to rent a couple of movies for the kids tonight. Ed Peters called an we arranged a golf date for tomorrow afternoon. At 4pm Sue and I left for Goodyear, to celebrate Robert Dyck’s 60th birthday.

We had a bit of traffic on the way, but got there in time for happy hour. Reg, Bob, and Robert were still enthusiastically discussing their just-completed golf game. We had supper with the Penners, Schinkels, and Dycks. Bob and Dorothy are planning to drive home tomorrow. We’ll probably go back to Goodyear to golf with the Dycks and Penners a week from today.

We got home just after 11pm. The kids were watching their movies. They had barbecued sausages and had pasta for supper, with lots of snacks during the movies. We all went to bed around midnight.

Sunday: We got up at around 7am. Alex got up soon after we had the coffee going. Tim got up a bit later. Tim had not really slept well, although he said it was NOT because it was too hot. Windows open, ceiling fans going, trying to keep it cool in here without the air conditioner.

After breakfast Sue and Alex went for a walk to the pool. Then at around 10:30 we went for a drive around Gold Canyon and then on down to the Mesa Swap Market. We walked around it once. Tim and Alex bought a wall hanging for their dining room which we’ll take home for them in the van.

We went home and had lunch at around 12:30. Then the boys sat down in front of the TV and watched golf (and Rudy had a nap). The girls sat outside and read. I woke up just in time to watch Tiger Woods win his first tournament in almost 3 years. I called the golf course and got a 4:15 tee time. Alex decided to go for a nap and not join us on the golf course. Sue opted out too. So Tim and I went by ourselves. We hit a bucket of balls on the range first. Tim was hitting the ball a mile.

At 4:15 we teed off on hole 1. It was slow going — the foursome ahead of us was very slow. But the temperature was not so hot, the wind was not at all, and the sun was behind the clouds — a perfect day for golf. And although we started off a bit rough, we made great progress and improved hole by hole. And we had a good time.

We got home at 7pm. Late. The girls were hungry. We had happy hour. Then I went out to light the barbecue. Out of propane! So we went to refill the tank. Salmon for supper. Very good. We sat in the living room and listened to iTunes and waited for dessert. At 10:30 Sue served us angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. Tim and I had G&Ts for a nightcap. We visited until nearly 11:30 before we all went to bed. I left the windows open so we’ll get a cooling breeze in the house tonight.

Saturday: Bacon and eggs. Cycled to Walgreen’s to return the DVD. Vacuumed the house and cleaned up. Watched some golf on TV. Called the golf course and got a 3:45 tee time. We went golfing. We both played poorly (but still had fun). No one to pressure us. In fact, as we finished the ninth hole we watched as a wedding party was taking pictures on the driving range. Came home, showered, had leftover pizza for supper.

Went to Santan Village to stock up on wine and beer. Got a birthday card at Walmart. Went to Barnes & Noble to buy a book and some chocolates for Robert Dyck’s 60th birthday (Monday). Then we hurried to the airport to pick up our kids. They were just coming off the plane as Sue went in to meet them. We also met Larry and Lynn Petkau at the airport (going to Sedona for a week). We took the kids home and had a sandwich. Very excited. Them and us. Great to see them. Got some nice gifts from them, including golf shirts, golf balls, and a very interesting (Dr Seuss) card from them. All is right in the world! They were tired although they stayed up till 11 our time before we all went to bed.

Friday: Another hot day in Arizona. We got up early, had a couple of great cups of coffee. Then we added toast (breakfast). Read a bit. Did some computer work for Smitty’s. Went for a hike up Silly Mountain. Got back at 11. A bit more computing, lunch, more reading. Alex skyped — she’s home from school, ready to fly here tomorrow from Grand Forks. Spring Break. Tim is home too. Excited.

We went golfing at 4:10. Great afternoon. No one behind us. Slow pokes ahead of us. I bogied hole #1 and birdied (with a long chip shot) hole #2. And continued with mostly bogies for a few more holes. All good things come to an end. A couple of 8’s. Final score 49 on nine holes, Sue a 47. Fun times. Warm. Gorgeous sunset. Great course.

Stopped at Basha’s on the way home and picked up a large pizza and some additives. Sue add italian sausage and a bit of mozza cheese and we called it a pretty good pizza. After supper we watched ‘Chef Ramsay’ solve another ‘Kitchen Nightmare’.  The we watched our Redbox DVD, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”.

Thursday: We read a bit and I computed. Had a call from Dave Driedger (John Prine tickets?) and Chris Koop (part-time work?). Just after 10 we headed to the Mesa Fruit Market. Sue bought $46 worth of fruit and vegetables — a record! Then we headed to the dentist’s office for our 11:00 appointments.

As usual, Sue’s teeth were great — the $29 special for x-rays, exam, and cleaning were just right for her. My mouth required a ‘level 2’ cleaning — $120 extra! And it took a whole hour. In fact, we got home at 2:00pm. A late lunch.

I worked hard on a logo job for Tim — only finished it at 4:30. Sue was busy cooking for tonight’s guests. At 4:30 I went to the driving range and continued making progress on my drives. Good times.

Our guests, Ed and Val and Bev and Lyle, arrived at our house for a BBQ at around 6:50. Sue made rice, roasted vegetables, and angel food cake for dessert (with whipped cream and strawberries). Val is brought a salad. I barbecued the chicken. We had a nice evening, eating and visiting. Ed and Lyle and Bev had golfed at Mountain Brook today after taking lessons from the old pro, Jack Kramer. Our guests were tired and left at 10:30. We watched a bit of TV and then went to bed too.

Wednesday: Read all morning. I washed Sue’s golf balls after lunch. Then I discovered I had a flat rear tire on my bike. Sue was already all dressed and ready to go — but now I needed to patch the tire first. So Sue went grocery shopping while I cycled to Walgreen’s and back to rent a DVD for tonight.

At four o’clock we went golfing again. We both shot a lot of bad shots, but the day was great as usual. We let others play through so that we could be the last ones on the course. By holes 8 and 9 we had corrected many of our issues and were playing better again.

We barbecued cheeseburgers for supper. Yummy. Then we watched a bit of TV (Kitchen Nightmare shows) before our movie. The movie was quite funny — a bit like a Woody Allen story. “Carnage” was directed by Roman Polanski and starred Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. We were zonked and went to bed early.