2015.01.22 Sunset

We could tell that it was going to be a beautiful sunset, so we went for a quick ride out in the desert by our house to watch. One thing about Arizona, the sunsets are fantastic.

2015.01.21 Love Bug

Here is the finished product. I am so excited. It turned out exactly how I had envisioned, with just a little bit of spray paint and some stickers.  

2015.01.20 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

The four of us decided it was time to take a road trip and we headed down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument today. It meant getting up early and giving up pickleball this morning, but Dona and I made the sacrifice and went with the guys. (It is hard to give up the pickleball in the morning.) The trip proved to be well worth the effort though. It’s a beautiful National Park with plenty to see. This is the only place in the US where the Organ Pipe Cactus will grow, as they cannot take any type of cool weather. It is also along the route of drug traffickers and illegals trying to sneak into the country. We did not see anything suspicious, but there were warning signs around.

Jeff has been wanting to find a dead saguaro in good condition so he can set it outside our house. Here is one, but he didn't dare cut it down inside of a National Park. He really wanted to though. =D

There is a humanity group that puts water out for the illegals trying to make their way through the desert. They are marked with the flags, and we were told that they have blinking lights on them at night.

I don't think that Mike likes having is picture taken all the time.

But Dona will always put a smile on her face and pose.

Jeff checking out the Organ Pipe Cactus.

Ain't she cute?

Lunchtime!

We had stopped in the vehicle to admire this little squirrel. Jeff was trying to call him over by making some little squirrel sounds. All of a sudden Dona made a BIG "Caw" yell from the back seat. Jeff jumped out of his seat and the squirrel was gone, just like that!

We had a great day!

2015.01.19 Work in Progress

I was able to get started painting my golf cart this afternoon. It is a little bit more yellow that what I had anticipated, but I am really going to love it. It still needs a couple of more coats of paint before I start taking all the tape off.

2015.01.18 Game Day

We spent the afternoon with Dona and Mike watching football. The Seattle Seahawks were hosting the Green Bay Packers with the winner going to the Superbowl in Phoenix. Green Bay led the game until the fourth quarter when the Seahawks finally came alive and went ahead. The Packers tied the game with just a couple of minutes left so it ended up going in to overtime. The Seahawks scored on their first possession, so they are heading to the Superbowl in a couple of weeks. I was cheering for the Packers, since there are quite a few from our family that are going to the SuperBowl and they are die hard Packer fans, but it just wasn't meant to be.

2015.01.17 Golf Cart and PickleBall

Fortuna de Oro hosted a pickle ball tournament against Westwinds park this morning and I was one of the participants. There were eight women and eight men from each park playing. We played a type of round robin to begin with and kept track of our scores. The top two women and the top two men from each park then competed for the championship game. Jeanne and I ended up being the top scoring women for Fortuna de Oro so we played as partners in the championship game and we won!! The final score ended up being 11-9 and we had to come from behind to win. It was a great time.

I then spent the afternoon hanging out at the house and catching up on some work. I have big plans for our golf cart, so I started the prep work on that. Hopefully I will be able to finish it on Sunday if the wind isn’t blowing.

2015.01.16 Imperial Dam

Jeff said when he bought the boat that he wanted to use it at least once per week and Friday’s seem to be the day that works out best for us. It’s pretty cool here in the mornings, so we play pickleball for a couple of hours, then get ready to head out. Today we went to Imperial Dam, which is about a 25 mile drive. It’s right on the Colorado river with the Chocolate mountains as a backdrop. It’s very beautiful country. Dona and I sit up in the front of the boat and just enjoy each other’s company as well as the beauty of the country. Jeff and Mike may try to fish, but it seems that we’ve always had to use plan B. So far, no one has had to clean any fish.