WOW!

I gotta tell you about my Uncle Cal. This past week, Mike and I visited Uncle Cal and Aunt Patti at their beautiful home in Rio Verde (by Phoenix). When I initially contacted Patti by e-mail a couple of weeks ago, she suggested that Cal and Mike might enjoy 9 holes of golf. So when we got there and found out that Cal had already played 18 holes that morning, both of us thought that plans had changed. We were wrong. All four of us enjoyed a delightful 9 holes on the well-manicured and very scenic course on which their home is located. Now that in itself might be noteworthy, but what makes it a WOW is the fact that my Uncle Cal is 85 years old! Yep, 85 and he played 27 holes of golf in one day! That is impressive!


When we finished golf, we went back to their home and played "hand and foot" until dinner was ready. Patti prepared pork chops with dressing and salad and and even made my favorite apple crisp (from mom's cookbook) for us. After dinner, Mike and I got our butt kicked in the card game and shortly after nine, we were all ready to call it a night. As we were making plans for the next day, Cal said he would be quiet when he left at 6 a.m. to go to his exercise class. So the next morning, Patti, and Mike and I slept in while the oldest got up early to go exercise. WOW!



The local casino had a $1.95 breakfast special so that is where we headed when Cal got back about 8:30. Then a bit a gambling and it was off to "The Ranch" to check on Cal's horse.

This is my Uncle Cal with his horse, Wildfire. Yes, he still rides her. Wildfire is 27 years old and had been having some foot problems but they were out a week or so ago. As we talked, Patti and I tried to convince Cal that he probably should not be riding alone any more...

Patti showed us the picnic area at The Ranch, down by the Verde River. And she posed for a picture by the well. I was going to tell you that times were tough for this couple and they were reduced to a simpler life, but no one would believe it. A woman never tells her age so I won't tell you Patti's age. Just trust me when I tell you she is another WOW!

We headed back home around noon having spent a delightful 24 hours with two very impressive people. I only hope I have half of Cal's ambition when I am his age... I don't even have it now!

And now a few scenery pictures, from the area in which Cal and Patti live, because I just can't resist shooting Saguaro.

Cal and Patti's home is just a few miles from Fountain Hills and we were lucky enough to pass through town when the huge spout of water was going off. To get an idea of the size of this fountain, compare it to the palm trees and people in this picture.

Oh and did you know they raise cotton in Arizona. This is harvest time and in the fields you see huge bales ready to be loaded and hauled away. These pics were shot "on the fly" on our way home.



And now we are getting ready to head to Tucson to spend a couple of days with Bonnie and Barry at their home. Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am thankful for our life and for all of you who care enough about us to read my ramblings!

"Hey Mike, Maybe We Should Do A Craft Show?"

Those were the now famous words that I uttered back a couple of weeks. He didn't disagree (or if he did I wasn't listening), so I signed us up. And we spent the last two weeks getting our wares in order. Mike worked on mirrors and I made some tiles and a few more cards and such. We spent $10 on a display board of sorts and borrowed a table from a lady I met at water aerobics. We packed up the car on Friday night. We were ready.

Then, it was Saturday morning at 7 A M and the temperature was 25 degrees. We dug out our winter coats, poured coffee in our travel mugs and mumbled the 8 miles to the OUTDOOR location. When we arrived and located site number 75, we were one of two sites without a tent. To me, no tent sounded like a good idea since who wants to be shaded when it is so cold. We got busy unloading and Mike assembled out display.

(Note the guy in the upper left of the picture - he had $35 pens and after an hour had not sold any, so he packed up his card table and his pride and went home! One might say, he was the smart one since he left before the good padre came to collect the site rent!)

When we got everything all set up, it didn't look too bad, if I do say so myself. The display board held the mirrors,

the cards looked good in the suitcase,

and the borrowed table held all the tiles.

By 9:45, we were ready for the buying public... when we went home at 4:15, we were still waiting for the buying public!!! The weather had improved to a balmy 70, but alas the customers didn't materialize.

We received many compliments, but we didn't make our site rent that first day and Mike was ready to pack it up. I am kind of an optimist sometimes and so I believed the young gal next door who said, "The buyers come on Sunday." Now in all of our 20 some years of doing craft shows, Sunday has never been a good day, but what do I know, we have never done an outside show, nor have we ever done a show in Arizona. So, maybe...

When we got home on Saturday night, I called my mom. Now this is a lady who did craft and antique shows for 30 + years so when I told her about our lousy day, she says, "Did you make more than a quarter?" "Yes", I replied. "Did anyone die in a booth close to you?" "Good Heavens, No" said I. "Well then, it couldn't have been that bad of show." She went on to tell me about two shows that her and dad had done; one where they only took home $.25 from a two day show and the other where a vendor at a neighboring booth fell over of a heart attack. Somehow, that put our lousy show in perspective.

Ah, Sunday. It was tough to get excited and when the alarm went off, we both rolled over for a few minutes. But, heck, it was going to be good - the lady next to us had said so. When we got in the car, we realized it was already 32 degrees - maybe it was a good sign. When we arrived at

the place with the really big cross just down the road from our "home park",

the peacocks greeted us,

and the alpacas arrived not long after.

This has got to the be the strangest place we have ever done a craft show. It turned out that the sales were no better on Sunday but we did manage to make our site rent and have enough left over for a good dinner! By 3:30, we were packing it in with thoughts of beer and pretzels dancing in our heads.

Sure enough, when we got to the park, dropped up the display board for the office to keep and returned the table to Nina, it was time for happy hour at Bob and Betty's place next door. After that, 6 of us went for dinner and a couple more beers... turned out to be a pretty good day!

I bet you expect me to say that we will never do another show... wrong! I learn slowly, besides we have inventory... I already signed up for a show this Saturday here in Casa Grande at the campground. Sites are free and Mike said he would "help you set up but that is it" so what the heck!

More news later...

God Bless The American Soldier

Yesterday was Veteran's Day and signs of the significance of the day were all around us. Gosh, even our favorite morning show, The Price Is Right, had an all Veteran audience. The local television station carried part of the Tucson Annual Veteran's Day Parade - one of the oldest in the nation. The campground we are staying at offered a free lunch to all Veterans. Mike broke out his Nicollet Legion cap, complete with pins, and we both put on our "flag shirts" (you know the ones stores sell around the 4th). Others in the park had their flag shirts on and even flag earrings. After lunch we decided to go golfing and the driveway to the course was lined with flags; Mike's golf was free. The recognition of service on Veteran's Day is nice.

But what got me out of bed to write this is thoughts of our next door neighbor. We sat next to Bob and Betty at lunch and then later 7 of us had tacos and beer together. Bob is a World War II Veteran and he spoke proudly of his recent visit to Washington, DC to see "his memorial". "I'd seen the other memorials (for other wars and other soldiers), you know, but this one was special." He even had a DVD he wanted to share with the group, but the machine didn't work... or no one knew how to run it...

Today, Bob is on an oxygen tank and has his bad days and good days with way too many doctor appointments. But if you look past that you see a man who graduated in 1945 and then proudly went to serve his country. You see a fellow who admits to "using Vet's Preference to get a job once, but only once." You see a man with a gleam in his eye, who still flirts with the opposite sex, while his wife of 50+ years rolls her eyes. You see a proud American Soldier.

Mike served his country in "peace time" (early Vietnam era) and he did not see combat. Like Bob, he graduated high school and then proudly went to serve his country. He too is a proud American Soldier.

I came of age in the Vietnam Era and like many of my counterparts, I protested that war. I cut up the American Flag and sewed the stripes in one leg of my bell bottoms and the stars in the other to demonstrate the division within our country. I went to rallys and handed out flyers on the corner of my little college town. I cared passionately about the war and about my country. I thought little about the soldiers, except they shouldn't be forced to fight a war "nobody believed in".

As we were consuming our Mexican food last night at the local brewery, I couldn't help noticing an adjacent table of 5 men and a woman. Their haircuts and age told me they were soliders. I thought about what was going on in the world right now and what their futures might hold. I thought about Bob and "The Greatest Generation" and those soldiers in Vietnam who would have been my age had they lived. I thought about Tiny who had nightmares years after returning from there and Richard who spent his life in service to America, and Andrew who gave his life in Iraq.

I still don't like war; perhaps I should be more passionate about that even now. But, I do love the American Soldier. Thank You to each and every Veteran. And Thank You to the wives, and mothers, and grandmothers who stand by them.

God Bless The American Soldier!

I Miss The Political Ads, Don't You?

Of course no one misses those ads; weren't they terrible this year! One of the many pleasures of our life style is that we get to see ads for different opponents and not the same faces for months on end. I really can't leave this election behind without a few comments.

We are in Arizona where McCain was handed a huge win for his FIFTH term in the Senate. That is excessive! It doesn't matter how honest or patriotic or great the guy is, five terms is too many.

McCain's success at the polls did not bleed over to those in southern Arizona that he endorsed. Now those ads were interesting; you put a 28 year old female rocket scientist (no kidding) against a short 50ish Hispanic man (read man of the people) and ads are good. Raul Grijalva won but remember the name Ruth McClung as I don't think this will be the end of her in the Republican party.

A few weeks ago we were in New Mexico and "enjoyed" the vicious ads placed by two female opponents for Governor of that state. If you believe any of the info in the commercials, they both should be jailed instead of sent to Sante Fe. One of Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" was elected and Suzanna Martinez becomes the first Hispanic Woman Governor (R) in the nation. In South Carolina, there is the first Indian Woman Governor (R).

A plain old, but very rich, woman (R) in California lost to Jerry Brown, an old Democrat who has been a player in CA politics for many many many years; he was Governor 28 years ago. If the news is to be believed Meg Whitman poured millions of her own money into the competition and it may have been an Hispanic woman who worked for her that put a nail in her politic coffin - who knows.

The self-proclaimed "worst legislator ever" is now the Democratic Governor of Minnesota. Mark Dayton survived his own history... but wait, the race may be recounted as it seems too close for Emmer to settle for defeat. Seems to me that voters in MN really didn't have much choice this year... Surely there is a rocket scientist somewhere in MN that is waiting to run...

Late Breaking News: Medical Marijuana Issue is too close to call in Arizona. Really, the count this morning is only a thousand votes apart. Maybe AZ will join CA on that band wagon; from listening to the news and ads lately, I am surprised.

The word from Colorado, where we were a month ago, is that they will not have a board to deal with "space creatures". No kidding, there was an issue on the ballot that would have established a group to deal with reports of extraterrestrial beings... Sounds like marijuana is already legal there!

So, Republicans took the House and some Senate seats; that was certainly expected. I personally look forward to the next year in Washington. The "Balance of Power" created by this election should make for some interesting politics; hopefully all are up for vigorous discussions.

My predictions:
The Health Care Bill will not be repealed; hopefully it will be made better.
Tax Cuts promised by everybody will not materialize; realistically how can they.
Job Creation will happen, but it won't be driven by Washington... It needs to happen locally with good people taking a chance just like we have always done in America.

OK, now I can leave the whole political season behind me. Hopefully, you can too!