Author: Rudy

Wednesday: We went for a bike ride after breakfast — just to Walgreen’s and back — and I had my best (to date) speed on the downhill — 65.5 kph. After a shower and lunch we set off for our day trip. Stopped for gas in Apache Junction. Stopped at the old gold mine for a look and a couple of photos. Did not stop at Tortilla Flats for ice cream. Were a bit surprised at how bad the 22 miles of winding gravel roads were to the Roosevelt Dam. Washboard. Big time. Made me glad that I have an old beater of a van for this. Not good for Sue’s bad back.




Got to Tonto National Park just before the 4:00 cut-off time for access to the cave dwelling a half mile walk up the hill. But we got in. And we all walked up. Visited with the park ranger up there — he showed me his photos of flowers and wildlife. Paul was quite afraid of heights and had to have Kathy assist him on the way down. We were doing the drive clockwise for the first time, so after the park we were looking for a cup of coffee. Stopped at a small pub (Boston diner) and got a pepsi. Drove through Superior on our way home.




Stopped at Basha’s to pick up imitation crab and a baguette. Went home and had happy hour and crab appetizers. Then we changed into long pants and walked out to the Mexican restaurant near our place for supper. Paul and Kathy were taking us out for supper. Sat outside under a big heater and next to the fireplace. It was very nice. Had a great Mexican meal. And fried ice cream for dessert. Walked back home — the evening was quite cool by now. Once home, we watched a bit of The Godfather on TV. Everyone was tired and went to bed at around 11. I stayed up and worked on a couple of projects: a logo for Tim, name tags for Len Loeppky’s tour. Then I wrote my journal. It was after 1am by the time I went to sleep.

Tuesday: It’s a slow news day when the biggest event of the day is that Mitt Romney wins another state. After breakfast this morning we sat and talked until lunch. Leftover pizza and then the girls went off to the Chandler Fashion Mall for an afternoon of shopping while Paul and I stayed home. I gave a bit of a demo/tutorial on Photoshop to Paul. Then Paul sat in the backyard and read his book while I cycled out to Walgreens to return my 2 (unwatched) DVDs. I watched a few TED talks. It sure was taking those girls a long time to find their way home! Wonder what we’re going to do for supper. Finally the girls show up and I was surprised at how few bags they carried in. Sue had taken my broken AC adapter for my Macbook in to the Apple store and they gave her a new one. That was good. We barbecued cheeseburgers for supper. The news was reporting a Romney win in Michigan and Arizona. After supper we watched a 2-hour PBS documentary about the Amish, followed by a rerun of 60 Minutes. Tired, we went to bed at around 11:30.

Monday: We slept in until nearly 9 this morning. We had breakfast and sat at the table long enough to have our first meal run into our second. A piece of leftover pizza for lunch. Then I got on my bike and went for a ride — while Sue sat on the lounger in the back yard and tried to get the warmth from the sun help her overcome her back ache. Paul and Kathy went for a walk too. I stopped at Walgreens to pick up a couple of DVDs for tonight. I also went by the golf course to see if anyone was golfing on such a windy day. Yep, they were. But not me. After a shower and happy hour we enjoyed a delicious chicken barbecue prepared for us by Paul and Kathy. We again sat around the table while I went on and on about our trip to China and Mongolia. Then we moved to the living room and we watched the first half of the James Taylor concert DVD. Discussed plans for tomorrow (shopping) and then went to bed.

Sunday: Are you kidding? it’s 2:16am and I’m supposed to still write my entry for the day? 

No French toast for breakfast. Fareed had a great show today. Didn’t get to watch Reliable  Sources because we had breakfast (well actually toast) at that time. Then Sue and Kathy went to Santan Village to do some shopping. I tried to read a bit. Paul sat outside and read. I made myself a sandwich at around 1. Then I watched golf — Match Tournament in Tucson. Rory McIllroy lost. The girls came home at around 4 and so I hopped into the van and went to the driving range. Blasted a bucket of balls. Came home and showered. Went back to the Firehouse Bar to pick up a couple of pizzas for supper. We ate them and watched the Academy Awards, which started at 6:30. Show was kind of boring. Hugo won a bunch, The Artist a bunch more. Billy Crystal was playing it a bit too safe as host. We all marked down our scores but didn’t really compare. Then we sat down around the dining room table and played ‘Speed Scrabble’. And then we sat around and visited. For hours. And hours. And now I’m going to bed.

Saturday: Bacon and eggs with Paul and Kathy. Decided to go for a walk up Silly Mountain before lunch. The walk was an hour, not too fast, with quite a bit of visiting along the way. Paul wanted to have a bit of an itinerary for the next week so we sketched that out. Then we had lunch. Paul went for a nap, Kathy read, Sue went outside an read, I watched a bit of golf on TV until I too fell asleep. We all got into the van and went on a little tour of Gold Canyon and watched the sunset. Then we came home for happy hour. We barbecued salmon for supper and sat around the rest of the evening, visiting. We watched a couple of TED talks on TV and discussed the future of ‘the church’. Went to bed after midnight.

Friday: Another warm day in Arizona. Maybe the warmest this year. After breakfast I downloaded some new music and listened to it. Then we hopped into the van and went to the fruit and vegetable market to buy some fresh fruits. We also stopped at Fry’s, a big grocery store, and bought a few more groceries there. Then we went home and had lunch. After lunch I vacuumed the house and Sue did some laundry and cleaned the bathrooms. The she went and sat outside and read. I went to wash the car and then hit a small bucket of balls at the driving range. Then I went home and we had a little afternoon snack to tide us over until our late supper.

We drove down to the airport and Sue headed into Terminal 3 to pick up Paul and Kathy. We waited in the ‘cell phone waiting’ parking lot for about 30 minutes and then picked them up at the terminal. We drove back home along the 60, and got home at around 7pm. Sat around the table and visited.

Sue made a big Mexican tortilla for supper. Good — but we’ll need to be a bit careful not toe serve food that is too spicy for Paul. Then we sat around the table and visited until 11pm, which is 1 am for our Ontario guests. Pretty impressive. We went to bed after that.

Thursday: I wasted most of the morning on the internet while Sue went out after breakfast to shop for groceries. Her back is still not very good and so today was a ‘no exercise’ day. Actually I also watched the last 45 minutes of last night’s movie, “Take Shelter”, since I’d slept through it yesterday. I skyped with Jill a bit — talked about our neighbour’s trip to the hospital and possibilities for us to stay past the end of March. After lunch Sue spent the afternoon on the lounger in the back yard, reading. I finally finished my book (Mark Whitaker’s autobiography). Then it was time to head out to the golf course for our final golf game before Paul and Kathy come for a week. It was 80 degrees today — a beautiful day — and I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised it was a busy day at the golf course. So we ended up golfing with that same couple who were ahead of us (and golfing rather slowly) on Tuesday. But it was okay. We learned that they were leaving to go back to Ohio tomorrow — they have a house here in Peralta Trails. The golf didn’t seem to bother Sue’s back too much. And we had fun. When we got home I barbecued cheeseburgers and traced a logo on the computer for Tim. After supper we watched Jon Steward and Colbert before sitting through 90 minutes of dancing — which is the Oscar-nominated “Pina” (Best Documentary Feature). What a waste of time. But the second film (also one of my downloads) was quite a bit better: “My Week with Marilyn”, nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. I think we’ve now caught up with all the movies we need to watch before the Oscars show on Sunday. We’ve not seen “W.E.” (1 nomination), and I have not rented “Transformers” and “Harry Potter”, two movies with 3 nominations each. But in all the major categories we are good to make our own Oscar picks. We ended the night with a bit of ice cream and cookies and watched the last part of Letterman followed by Jimmy Fallon.

Wednesday: Woke up from a great sleep — I guess it helps when you go to bed after 1am (watching Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report). Breakfast was interrupted when what sounded like a school bus or big truck running on the street in front of our house turned out to be a big fire truck and an EMT van — and then I saw our neighbor lady being taken from our home in a gurney with an IV attached — YIKES! At around 11 Sue and I went for a walk — went to Walgreen’s to pick up the movie “Take Shelter”. Stopped at Bashas on the way home to pick up some fish (and imitation crab!) for our supper tonight. I also printed out the Cactus League schedule at UPS — looking forward to the start of spring training. After lunch Sue did a bit of laundry and I read.

Tonight the Republican Presidential debate takes place in nearby Mesa. The public will not be permitted into the venue although big outdoor screens will be set up in the area. Sue wanted to go see it. Maybe a chance to see Anderson Cooper close up. Or maybe Rick Santorum.

At around 4pm I went to the driving range. Sue stayed home. Worked on hitting my 5 iron. When I got home I talked to neighbor Mike for a bit — found out that his wife had fainted at breakfast and he called 911. They’re keeping her in the hospital for observation tonight, but she should be home tomorrow. Probably a lack of electrolytes he thought.

We had fish and chips for supper. Then we watched the Republican debate from 6 to 8pm. And another 60 minute news show after that. And finally at 9 we put in our movie, “Take Shelter”. It was okay. I had trouble staying awake for all of it. Then off to bed.

Tuesday: Hanover School Division cancelled classes today because of a big snow storm. Lucky Alex. Weather here was just fine. After reading for a couple of hours we went for a bike ride. Went to return the movie at Walgreens. Then we stopped in at the Mountain Brook clubhouse and asked whether anyone had turned in a Titliest 7-iron (Wayne Peters thought he left his club lying on the front nine here last week Wednesday). Yep, we got the club back. I tried to tie it to my bike for the ride back home. So finding the missing club was the first really good thing that happened today. But there were better things to come.

Riding back along our loop, just as we were passing some of the great holes on the Dinosaur course, I spotted a big dog running across the road just ahead of me. That’s weird! I never see loose dogs running around here. Hey, that’s not a dog. It stops on the road to look at me as I approach. It’s a mountain lion! Right here in town! It turns away from  me and saunters into the ditch and onto the golf course. I’m waving my hands like crazy, hoping Sue will see it too. Nope. She thinks I’m pointing out some features on the houses in the distance.

We’re getting close to the new fire hall they’re building on Don Donnelly. Sue thinks this may be enough cycling for her still-sore back and heads homeward, but I take a little diversion through a big open gate and cycle through the exclusive gated community of Superstition Mountain. Very nice. Nice golf courses, very nice roads, nice houses. Luckily a couple of cars were just leaving through the gates as I was cycling up to the guarded entrance and the I ‘escaped’ through the gates just as they were closing. So that was cool, too.

Lunch. More reading. Sat outside in the warm sun. Then at 3:30 we left for the golf course. Four o’clock tee time. Had to wait for a slow foursome ahead of us. But we still finished just as the sun was setting and the mountain looked great. Sue’s game was pretty good — and that was with a bad back! No excuse for me. I’ll be hitting the driving range tomorrow.

Back home for some leftover spaghetti. Then at 7 we watched part 2 of the two-part Clinton special on PBS (excellent) followed by a 2-hour Frontline about gang violence in Chicago. Sue was tired and went to bed. I wrote my blog entry and watched late night TV.

Monday: Sue’s back was a bit better today — I think the ibuprofen is working for her. She’s still very tentative when she moves around but there is less wincing and grunts of pain when she turns the wrong way.

So, although it’s Presidents’ Day (2 for 1 entry fee at the Renaissance Festival today!) and the weather is great, there’ll be no exercise activity today. Actually, just because Sue has a back issue doesn’t preclude me from having a bit of exercise. Ironic then that Sue went for a walk around the block today while I sat inside and read my book.

After an early lunch we headed into Scottsdale for the afternoon. Went to the Harkins theatre at Camelview 5 to see the 12:45pm showing of “Albert Nobbs” (nominated for Best Actress, Supporting Actress, and Makeup). It was better than we expected.

Then we headed up on Scottsdale Road to the Harkins at Shea Blvd for the 4:10pm showing of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” (nominated for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score). We had almost an hour to kill first so we went to a great coffee shop in the strip mall there and had coffee and watched people around us. After the movie (plot was too complex; we’ll need to either read the book or watch this movie again — or maybe watch an earlier version of the movie — to catch on to what actually happened here) we hightailed it home. Stopped at a Carl’s Jr along the way to try to drop of our Redbox DVD rental but the machine was out of order.

Got home at around 7:15. Sue got going on making supper (spaghetti and meat sauce) while I called Paul and Kathy to talk about their visit here, arriving Friday night. After supper we sat down at our respective stations in front of the TV and enjoyed part one of two 2-hour specials on PBS about Bill Clinton (Sue’s hero). Pretty good. And after that it was beddy-bye time.

And a final note of explanation to my two readers (Sue and MaryLou): Why am I writing this drivel? Is this really a ‘blog’ for anyone else to read? Why is the most interesting detail I write about every day what my snacks and meals consist of? No, this is not a general interest blog. It is a record of the ordinary mundane events of my life. In Roy Loewen’s research about the pioneers of Blumenort he reads the journals of long-dead farmers who recorded the daily weather and how much they sold their grain for — boring stuff. Okay, the weather today was sunny and about 68 degrees. The same as always. And the movies cost $6.50 for a senior ticket. That’s it for today’s important news. See you tomorrow.