March 1st

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 3 degrees, Calgary 6 degrees, Mesa 34 degrees”

I first have to say something about retirement. First of all EVERYONE should attempt too retire as soon as possible. As we all know the life expectancy in Canada average is 83 yrs old, less for men. Retire at 65 and you have 18 summers to enjoy yourself. Your health currently and your dollars saved unless you are fortunate to have a lucrative defined pension have to be considered. I will say you DON’T NEED as much money as any advisor or financial expert says. They are in the business to keep your money in the bank. It is your business to decide to live life and spend it.

This is Jackie and I’s 12th yr anniversary of retirement. It has been wonderful, we have experienced so many things, and we have gone on some amazing trips. I will say we are both healthier now than when working.

Not a regret but a wish per say is that we would have saved more money. We do not have pensions, but our plan is still intact. We are doing quite well mostly due to a strong stock market. The only difference if we would have saved more is replacement of cars sooner. At retirement we made a plan to replace our vehicles every ten years. We replaced Jackie’s at 9 years and mine is still around at 14 yrs old. It was the excessive mileage we put on so fast that was surprising. The increase in cost on a new vehicle is astronomical .In 20 years they have doubled. We have taken as many trips as we wanted and some more planned but I foresee in the near future more domestic travel versus world travel. It is getting more difficult as countries add rules, conditions and visitors are looked on negatively. We planned to take a large trip every two years and a smaller one every year and it has worked out well. There are not a lot of places I really want to see. Scandinavian countries would be a nice cruise, no interest in Asia what so ever, Europe river cruise, Hawaii cruise/ land trip comes to mind but never say never to anything else.

Our best decision we made for our retirement was to buy in Viewpoint. This place is our home away from home and is thoroughly enjoyed. To spend 4 to 5 months every winter in a warm, physical active and social active spot is worth every penny. The same cost for 6 months versus a 3 week “vacation”

We are aging pretty well. LOL

We are capable walkers. We can descend, ascend, and walk long distances. We also like to stay up late but do not get up early. Sunlight is not something we are “scared” of, even though it’s no longer our focus. So a cruise to a cooler spot is just as enjoyable as a hot spot cruise. I have never hated a vacation, cruise, or trip. Some of them have very interesting stories associated with them for various reasons.

Yesterday was hot. I was working outside and I had to come in to the ac. I am having a issue with my charger for the golf cart. Remember I said I never wanted one. I always find it funny as golf carts are a pain in the ass. I think the circuit board is shot. I have to pull it apart as it has a build in fuse which will be checked first. Luckily I had a spare one as Tim moved his cart over to Lithium.

Last night we had our monthly block party. A great turn out. I will say it was the poorest selection of potluck for a long time. People must have busy or the heat got to them. No Deviled eggs ! Meat and cheese plates were abundant. But the group, the shady area and the idea to move everyone around to meet different people was awesome.

Always a fun gathering.

I had a lot of fun talking with Wade & Deb who used to live on our block. They came to the party as his brother now lives on it. Nice couple. Going home to a planned birth date for another grandkid. They now have 6 grandkids so either Mormon or Catholic.

Two great movies in row at night so I am happy but you can’t go wrong with a Jason Stathman movie.

Daisy missing her Mom.

While Jackie is in Calgary she got to see a hockey game of Jackson’s.

Dave came over this morning for some back pain pills. He has had a bad back for a long time and these things work like a charm. Pain and muscle relaxant build in one pill and not available in the USA. I find it funny how people are scared of certain medications. They will take a Statin, blood pressure pill, and aspirin. However, when it comes to pain relief, they claim it may harm their liver or kidney. A statin is extremely detrimental to the liver never mind the brain. Aspirin was once considered the holy grail of cures for doctors. It isn’t what they thought, and they now view it completely differently. Blood pressure medication can cause numerous side effects, including dizziness, irregular heartbeat and frequent urination if combined with a diuretic.

Most medicines in moderation our bodies adapt to. So if you are in pain FIX it with medication in moderation and live. If anyone takes anything in excess complications will happen. The daily dose for my pain management is 8 pills in 24 hours. I take two in 24 hours but add two beer 6 hours after taking it. Balancing act.

I sweated today outside changing my lights. You read right. I never sweat but they said only 34 degrees today and at noon it was already 33 degrees. I had to be careful with the ladder climbing up and down to keep my balance. I had to change my lights as when we are playing cards outside it was just a little too dark. It hit 35 degrees according to AZ news which is 95 degrees. It is a warm one out there.

I touched up the side door with stain. But did not have any more foam brushes so didn’t do the front.

The neighbors next door had their Lampman Sask party today. A town with a population of 637 and they had 22 Lampmanites for the gathering today. It was a win for me as Donna walked over with an amazing omelet and a pudding shot. She asked me to take a picture of them all on the street. I started by saying, “Isn’t it nice to get all of the cousins together for a picture?” There were groans, laughs, and heckling. But it was funny

Lampman has a community complex that includes an outdoor swimming pool, ice hockey arena, curling rink with four sheets of ice, and five baseball diamonds. The town also has a racetrack, golf course, campground, parks, and a walking path. Better than Calgary !!

Nice people and a great group.

Someone the other day commented on the amount of homes for sale in the park. Like media old people love to gossip and spread negativity. I will agree it appears so but it is cyclical thing. The elderly leave and new ones buy in and away we go again.

Here is this years Memorial of about 60 people. That is potentially 60 units up for sale due to death. Add another number caused by illness. Add more due to aging out or insurance. You have a lot of homes every year for sale. Get used to it. On our block of about 30 homes Jackie and I will be longest residing after next year. Ardon is moving closer to family and Ian has decided not to come back. Ian is 18 yrs like us and Ardon is longer. We have seen changes. Change is good. A lot of nice people have left over the years. The new ones just seem to melt in. We carry on.

Spaghetti with Italian meatballs and red sauce tonight along with garlic toast and a small salad!!

A long walk in the dark at 7 pm and still 28 degrees. Daisy is funny as she loves the walk but I think she does not like the dark. Loves to meet people though.

Thought of the Day

You know it is hot when the chickens start laying omelets

March 2nd

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -7 degrees, Calgary 9 degrees, Mesa 34 degrees( 93F) “

Amazing weather. Another plus 90 degree day with no wind. Full sun.

I had to get up to book tee times at 6:30. I stayed up and took Daisy to the park. It worked out well this morning. She did her business quickly and we headed home. Showered, dressed and readied for golf.

Everyone was happy we had a morning tee time as last week some were dragging their feet in the heat.

The course still is not up to par, unfortunately. But we had some great golf today. One guy in particular was sick. Par on Viewpoint is 71. Ian shot a 71 today. He also won the closest to the pin contest on all 5 Par 3 holes. He cleaned up on the money today collecting $30. I was happy with my 78 as it earned me $5.

Some great golf, nice guys and a lot of fun enjoying the retirement life. I hope Daisy is having as much fun. I take her for a walk every night around 7 pm when it cools down a bit. Tonight at 7pm it is dark and the moon is shining and still is 30 degrees.

It is funny as I spend a lot of time outside and just don’t turn a color. I am not golden brown like a lot of people. I do not use any oil or lotion. I do not lay in the sun though but you would think I would color up a bit. Only three weeks left to turn. LOL I do strongly believe people are hurting themselves. They apply toxic lotion to their skin. They wear sunglasses which prevent our natural ability to protect ourselves from the sun.

I have a few things on the agenda for tomorrow as far as repairs etc to do. Wash the car first thing as it is a little dusty.

Thought of the Day

I’m not addicted to warmth… I can quit any time. Right after summer. And maybe after my next nap in the sun.

March 3rd–5th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton -11 degrees, snow, Calgary 10 degrees, Mesa 32 degrees”

That is a huge difference between Edmonton and Calgary. My guess tomorrow in Calgary as the winds of the north brings down the cold.

The dog park was not busy today. With the heat either people are going earlier or just not going. At 8:30 when I arrived at the park it was already 22 degrees.

Last hot day as the next 5 are all below 30 degrees running 25 to 28 most days.

Daisy tried to play with HUGE black woolly dog. It was funny as it’s head was bigger than all of Daisy and Daisy was teasing it to play.

I loaded up Daisy and it was a father/daughter shopping day. PetSmart was fun as she loved the Gerbils and birds in a cage. I think she loved the smells too. As usual she draws attention.

Then off to Home Depot as I was adding another shelf in the shed.

After a lunch I started to work. It is HOT outside and I had take a couple of breaks. I got the shelf in and moved some stuff around and will re-sort the pegboard to spread things out.

I have to admit I came in the house to talk to Mom and it was nice. I think Daisy loves it too.

I watched the news after and I will say the world s a mess. The stock exchange took a hit today and I predict more to come. It is double whammy as the price of everything is so inflated and the bank account shrinks. Not the perfect word by any stretch. It seems every so many years something comes along to hit us hard. I do not want to believe on purpose. I did find Trump’s comment on England’s Prime Minister, “He is no Churchill,” hilarious. Trump and Churchill were/are jingoistic as part of their charisma. This charmed a lot of people and turns a lot of people against them.

Some great movies tonight and a long walk in the dark.

Daisy walked so fast I had to walk faster than normal to keep up.

I got busy and didn’t keep up so I have put three days into one.

Today I was golfing at a new course that I have never golfed before. It was a pleasure t have greens that were nice. A decent course at a decent price. Not 5 star but very good. It was longer than normal at 6400 yards. But the difficulty of this course was the Par 3’s. They all were too long at 180 yards to 200 plus yards. Too difficult to score well on the Par 3’s . It was one of those days. I shoot a 78 and then 2 days later a 93. Having said that a 6 on a Par 3, a 7 on two Par 4’s. That is 9 strokes.

I played with Ian, Sandy, and Doug all of which played Wednesday’s in Bill’s group. So it was nice. Too bad about the scoring though.

Another walk tonight with Daisy which was funny. She “ran” to the park, peed and then wanted to run home.

A picture is worth a 1000 words. Daisy wanted a treat.

Last night was funny. Daisy was laying on the couch when i started to close the blinds extra to ready for bed. I crawled in bed and she didn’t come. 1/2 hour later she figured she wanted in my bed. LOL

If you look at my main page March 2014 I stated a person should never retire away from their job but retire to do something you want and different. The reason I bring this up some people retire and have no plan. I am not talking about money, or travel per say but a everyday life plan. It is very important to keep your mind active, it is important to stay engaged in something. Boredom is poison to the mind. Lack of fulfillment is poison to the spirit. Not having any hobbies is poison to your person and direction. Not having activities where you can set goals is detrimental. Achieving desired accomplishments is crucial for success. Otherwise, it slowly erodes your energy. It diminishes your desire to win and will suck the life out of you.

That is the reason you see a lot of people still working in their 70’s. They say it is enjoyable. However, it involves their fear of losing their identity, power, and self-worth compared to needing the cash or enjoyment.

A goal of watching TV all day or reading a book all day is not quite what I am talking about. Movement and agility is as important as mental stability in retirement. Doing 20 up and downs from your chair is a great goal. It helps strengthen your leg muscles and combines well with reading.

Playing games, adding a scorecard, memorizing numbers, balancing your check book, simple budgeting, organizing functions, cooking, cross words, even though I had to say browsing as long as the material is too stimulating or upsetting, all contribute to better cognitive retention and enjoyment.

I would say I am 10 x more knowledgeable than when I was at 40 yrs old but not as quick or clever. I think it is mostly memorizing and comprehension that is slightly less when I say clever. I study instead of read once and go. Annoying really. I do still enjoy a challenge to figure out something that is complicated or new to myself.

If on a timeline I think 40 to 50 years old as a human we are in the prime. Just over prime on the physical side but right at prime for mental knowledge and actions. Unlike all of these old people in government which is NOT good.

I love talking to retired people to see what their experience is. Not past but present experience.

We set up the chairs for the concert tonight. The concert is a tribute to Billy Joel/Elton John. It turns out to be our biggest concert, narrowly beating out Neil Diamond. We had over 800 chairs to pull out and setup. Then we have to put them away, stack them in carts and push them under the stage.

One the best we have had.

I have come to the conclusion that our medical system has trained everyone to fear monger. They have pushed pill popping agendas all based on fear. We are supposed to fear food, we are supposed to fear sugar, and fats. We are supposed to be afraid of the sun. Don’t drink, don’t smoke, watch your weight, etc etc. All of this does one thing. It causes anxiety and stress in everyone. I am positive that the long exposure to stress causes all sorts of issues to us. In fact worry, stress, anxiety maybe the root cause of our cells going haywire and turning into cancer cells.

Thought of the Day

Thinketh not of ill and disease and thou shall defeat the for within

March 6th -7th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 6 degrees, Calgary 11 degrees, Mesa 21 degrees”

A cooler day today before hitting 95 degrees again next week. It is funny how just a few degrees cooler and it feels cool after having a hot week.

A early morning and rushed. Up at 6:30 which I hate getting up early. Whipped Daisy to the park where she was very accommodating and did her business quick. Rushed home and showered, changed, made a coffee and had a protein bar and rush to the golf course. The timing all worked out even though it was a rushed period.

It was one of those day with 7 golfers in our group today. The less than hot temperature played havoc with our golfing. Everyone in our group had probably their worst score of just about the whole year. To have a low gross of 86 is unheard of as most people in our group are liking at least to be low 80s high 70s. Everyone struggled with chip shots long shots drives putting it was just a day of chaos for everyone. I was the only one to have birdies in the whole group having two of them but the 2 EIGHTS I took more than eliminated them. Out of bounds. I did win $10 by winning two of the par threes for the closest to the pin which was nice. Remove two holes and I would have been again mid to high 70s and happy but two holes killed me. Shooting four from the fairway when you’re over 200 yards away it’s not easy to keep the score low and then it ends up getting the burning of an eight on the scorecard.

I cut up the meat sausage, cheeses, and pickles along with the potato chips in a bowl and had everything done last night to have everything ready the minute I got to the house. It all turned out well and was all eaten up due to it being well after lunch when we finished.

Then on to a long long drawn out process. We needed insurance for Mom’s new condo and so I had to talk to the insurance company and that was an experience and a half. Over two hours on the phone waiting. Then talking to the lady was the slowest lady and perhaps the slowest mental lady that I’ve talked to for a long time. This new world with privacy laws and all these regulations they put in place that just encumber any process that you want to do is is annoying. These companies allow you with a lot of hassle and grief to change things but they’ll never let you cancel anything and I had to keep stressing to this lady I wasn’t trying to cancel, I was strictly changing the address of a policy. I finally got my way and got everything done that I needed but it’s funny ’cause I’m thinking to myself all I have to do is stop payment to you and it’s cancelled and I don’t even have to worry about talking to you again. Rules over common sense is the way our world works.

I got that all done and emailed it to Darlene because Mom is going to be moved into her new place on Monday and we had to have that in place first. Darlene has done a tremendous amount of work in getting this move done for Mom with everything that’s involved. I am sure she’ll be happy when the move is done and completed.

Daisy knew yesterday something was happening when I put all the chairs out and I was cutting up all the meat so it was so funny tonight when people came she went crazy. They don’t mind her but she does get excited when she has company.

It’s the Alberta Party and Dance tomorrow night but I’m not going since Jackie’s not here so I think I may order from Denny’s a Turkey dinner because that’s what they’re having at the Alberta party.

Two places now that I know of where tentatively sold and the deal fell through due to financing from the people that were buying. Biggest reason is that they have the Americans now buying in the park more than the Canadians. The Canadians pay cash where as the Americans try to finance it and then run into issues because they’re just looking for low cost housing.

I won’t go into politics but lots of changes. Trump just doesn’t have any faith in people and just fires them left and right and hires other people. It would help if his first choice were good people to begin with.

I have nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so I think I may sit with Daisy in the backyard and relax. I may do a little bit of cleaning just to get caught up before Jackie gets back on Sunday.

I checked the weather and it looks like we’re getting a couple days of possible rain but you know when they say rain here in Arizona it’s like .0001 of an inch.

This morning on the way to the dog park it was windy. Windy and cool.

It didn’t take long and it turned out beautiful. Daisy and I sat on the back patio for quite awhile. She is funny how she loves to suntan. I am sure she is browner.

I helped the neighbor with a small project.

The Arnold Palmer was on today so I watched it for a few hours outside in the warmth. Rory did have a chance to win so he decided to play hurt and withdrew. My guy Scottie is just not on this tournament and is to far back to contend. Rickie has been showing up and is hanging in there. Weird as a storm came thru and the put the golf on hold as it poured. In no time at all they were back it and the greens were softer and the scores better. Great game to watch.

Daisy and I did a full tour of the park today. I am seeing a fair number of sold signs which is good.

I had a quick power outage and I had to reset my Firestick. That took awhile with the password and verification required. It ended up with a new icon for the Firestick so I had to do some investigation. I found a fix to remove the new icon and I was able to move my GEM and Global icons to the header which now saves a few step to get there.

Watching the news tonight Global is real short of staff. Mackenzie our weather girl was doing the 6 pm news tonight. She has a perfect voice for it. Over $1.50 a liter for gas now.

How dumb to turn down a data center in Olds. People are so odd.

Calgary hitting 15 today is awesome. Wait for the snow. Lots of it coming. For us two cool days of 24 degrees than back up over 30 degrees for days in row again.

Great day with some cleaning up .

Today is MaryAnn’s 60th birthday. I may be off by a year but we first met MaryAnn in 1982. We came home from a 2 week vacation in Penticton and Alan has his new girlfriend on the couch as he was looking after our house. So about 44 years ago when she was 16 yrs old. We have had a lot a fun with MaryAnn over years doing a lot of stuff. Get togethers, camping, vacations, trips etc. She did drag her boyfriend along though. I think he still maybe her boyfriend as we have no proof of a marriage.

Happy Birthday MaryAnn. Enjoy your special day. I suspect you will get spoiled with Alan treating you to a real fancy outing or event. Enjoy !

I have a lot of pictures on a flash drive of years ago but the drive is at home so these are relatively new.

Thought of the Day

I may have cracked the code to eternal youth.

Light switch

March 8th-9th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton 4 degrees, Calgary 5 degrees, Mesa 31 degrees”

An absolute gorgeous day today with it reaching 31 degrees and no wind and beautiful sunshine. it was a lazier day with Daisy and I getting up a little bit later going to the dog park and not having too many dogs to play with but having fun.

I then started to clean up the house before Jackie arrives to make sure that it meets to a semi standard that she would like. I think it looks pretty good but we will see what I missed.

For lunch Daisy and I went up to the ballpark ’cause it’s the last game of the year and the last of the hot dogs to get rid of so we had a good hot dog . Busy place.

Daisy and I sat outside for most of the afternoon watching the Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament with an interesting end to it. It was a fun thing to watch with a big surprise ending.

Picking Jackie up at the airport tonight so Daisy will be very happy with that. it will be a battle to see who gets to kiss her first. Here’s a picture of a sad Daisy waiting .

I will need to clean her face before Jackie gets home.

It is going to be a busy next 2 or3 weeks as we try getting everything done before we head back home again. We have a golf group wiener roast to organize, we’ve got dances to go to, we have concerts to set chairs up we’ve got game nights at friends places plus we’ve a concert for St Patty’s Day. It’ll be busy.

We’ll start watching the food and drink and everything else now that we don’t have excess to either give away when we leave or to bring back with us. I have already contacted our caretaker so we’re all set there for the house and for the golf cart.

Remember I said I hate golf carts which means maintenance. Well that rear bearing drives me crazy ’cause one day it’ll squeal and then 4 or 5 days it’s perfect. It’s perfect today.

Gas prices hit $4.10 gallon today in Phoenix. That is a way up from when we got here as we were paying less than 3 bucks from most stations.

Even though Jackie’s flight was originally delayed as they to wait for a pilot she arrived right on time. When they need to make up time and the wind stream is behind them they can go fast.

Daisy and I waited in the cell phone lot for our text. I like the South pickup side for ease to pick up while a lot of others prefer the North. The best way is to pay $5 and go into the oversize lot and use the north and south entry’s.

Daisy cried and wriggled like mad when she saw Jackie. She was a happy puppy,

The airport mostly due to construction was busy. It was ridiculous in the time it took to get out of the airport. They had the traffic down to one lane, and pylons blocking other escape routes. No traffic on the freeway which was nice.

Up at 6:30am o book tee times and get ready for golf. So nice to have Jackie back for Daisy in the mornings. The guys wanted 1 pm for various reasons and I am looking forward to seeing them sweat as we are hitting over 100 degrees.

The weather today was fantastic and we are looking forward to weeks of heavenly temperatures. Some think hellish with the warmth.

Our 8 am start even though a way to early for my liking was perfect as we were finished before the heat set in.

Last game everyone played poorly and this game everyone played well. One guy played sick. Ian was low gross with a 68 and I was low net with a 64. Ian and I cleaned up on the money. I won the closest to the pin Par 3 contest on 3 holes and Ian won it on the other 2. I collected $15 bucks for the Par 3’s and $5 for the low net. Ian won $10 for the Par 3’s and $5 for low gross.

Winning money, playing in less than 3.5 hours and having a cold beer on the deck in the sun, life can’t get much better.

Sandy treated us today on Fat Willy’s deck . I had to keep filling Ron S’s glass up to get it all down.

Sitting around talking it was neat listening to some of these guys. A few of them have more money than they can ever spend and are at an age where spending money is hard. At a certain age a long trip/holiday isn’t a want. They already have beautiful homes and brand new cars. I only wish. It is intriguing that a tee time price is still studied and discussed. I do smile as my $200 Garmin watch tells me the yardage to the green and one of our older players $40K Rolex watch can’t do that.

I phoned Mom and it was great to hear her move went well. Again Darlene was done so much work to make this happen. Jim & Alfred along with Darlene picked up her chair and other stuff out of storage and had Mom’s room all ready for her. We Facetimed and I was pleasantly surprised how nice and how big her room is. It has a small cupboard section with a microwave and sink, plank flooring and her new bed will be a big help for her getting in and out. Later tonight Darlene texted and said Mom liked her first meal so that is a huge bonus.

Around 7 pm we went in after eating outside a wonderful BBQ’d porkchop supper.

A small moisture disturbance brought us in as it was still 80 degrees.

A enjoyable day

Thought of the Day

My favorite way to double my money is to fold it over and put it my pocket.

March 10th–11th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -2 degrees, Calgary 0 degrees, Mesa 24 degrees”

It is funny as 24 Degrees is a hot hot summer day in Calgary but from what we’ve had and what we’re gonna get it felt cool this morning.

Jackie had her yoga this morning so Daisy and I went down to the park and we met Mike and Sandy there with their dogs and Daisy actually ran around today having fun.

A grocery trip on the do list today plus I went outside and sprayed all the weeds, organized the shed, and charged my batteries up again.

The time is going by so fast i’m getting scared we’re not gonna be able to fit everything in it’s gonna be a rush rush rush here the last couple weeks before we go. We have a few golf games, we’ve got a couple of concerts, we’ve got the St Patty’s day party, we’ve got our block party ,we’ve got a wiener roast party for my golfers, it’s busy !

I think I have to make one more beer run as I only have enough for maybe two more outings and with games nights or somebody’s over here we’re gonna run out of beer. Bought extra water as it will be needed.

It is funny as the two conversations within the park now are “When you heading home?” and ” Have you seen where we are going to get 5 days in a row of 100 degrees?” Something to talk about.

A wonderful walk around the park tonight with it being warm and with a beautiful view of the sunset. Daisy got spoiled with two people giving her treats. Not what a walk is supposed to be about. On our walk we noticed the height of the Palm tree Fred & I planted at his house. It was a 6 inch baby plant, a seed off from Pat & Bob’s tree. Now it is at least 30ft or more. I think the usefulness as a shade tree is now past as the with a Palm you only have the leaves at the top. Looks great though and is amazing how it grew.

As I have said it is a great time to buy in the park as there are a lot of homes for sale and at very good pricing. On our block alone we have Dwight’s, Ian’s, Deanne’s, Ardon’s and a for sale by owner we do not know. Also around the park people we know like Mike’s place, Barry’s place and Tim’s place that is for sale. This is the busy sell time as people dump them before April HOA payment and leave the country. I am sure we will see a few sold signs up.

Started out annual wiener roast gathering as a end of the season gathering for my golf guys. I think this year we are pretty much guaranteed a warm night. I know 2 years we were so lucky to have Lyle step in and save the day as storm hit us. I am hoping for about 20 of us. Bob Ferris came up with the idea and one year when Pat and Jackie both were gone we organized the first one for the guys and i have carried on with the tradition. I would have to go back and look but I think that was 9 years ago.

My poor Flames just do not have it. The Oiler’s while still pretty good just don’t have it to win the cup.

Daisy, Jackie and I are off to San Marcos today to golf. It is going to be a warm one for Daisy but we have a BBQ tonight with our volunteer group to go to where she will be alone so this is her outing.

As usual Daisy was amazing.

Golfing today was an experience. A real different experience than any other golf outing ever.

We were paired up with a father, and his two sons. The one son was just a ride along. The father had mild autism, the older son very mild autism and the young son full blown autism. This young kid for 4 hours did not stop talking gibberish. He would walk around in front of where we were going to shoot, wave his hands, make odd sounds and talk to himself loudly. The father even though not full blown autistic would mumble, constantly talk to himself, drive his cart to the side of where we were going to shoot etc, The older child in college was a great golfer. He could hit it a mile. He consistently would out drive me. If he had a bad shot he would stop and not move and his Dad would say just have a time out or take a moment. I will say it is very good to be so involved with your kids with their disability but there is NO way anyone could have a good golf game playing with them. Having said that Jackie and I had a great time. It was the perfect day hitting 30 degrees with a slight breeze.

I had this idea that worked out perfect. I took a beach towel and used two vise clamps to put on the back of the cart to keep the sun off Daisy and us. I will use this idea again as it kept the temperature down considerably for her.

This course is a long course from the blue tees. And it has small greens with bunkers on both sides. It is the first course in Arizona with grass greens built in 1913. Nice course but today it beat us up score wise.

We took a different route home as the 202 had construction on it. Interstate 60 was busy but we made home in decent time.

Tonight the volunteer group of chair setters were invited for a BBQ supper at one of the couples places.

Sylvia used her air fryer for fries but struggled with the timing as she cooked so many of them. Bill made us awesome tasting burgers. It was a great supper. Along with this we had homemade Butter Tarts that were amazing and homemade cookies. I ate too much everything was so good. I brought my Flames cooler just to bug a few guys.

After supper we played darts, An electronic board that was excellent. It kept score which was great. A fun game. The guys beat the girls in a couple of games and Pat & Bonnie won the couples game.

I finalized my VP Golf group end of season wiener roast. Fire pits are booked, invites are out and things are organized. Just waiting for the responses to see how many are attending. We have had this event for years now.

Thought of the Day

I have an awesome golf daylight savings joke. I will tell you it in a hour.

March 12th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -8 degrees, Calgary -5 degrees snow , Mesa 32 degrees”

Do you think this guy is a dog’s favorite person. Treats will do that. Daisy and her buddies.

Slowly getting things done. Jackie has the block party all organized, my golf group annual wiener roast is all organized, and golf is all booked for the following week.

We have three concerts left. Brooks & Dunn, Boston, and Gloria Estevan. We have a St Patty’s Day party to attend. ( I miss my Fat Willy’s with Fred on the deck ) Jackie has a golf ladies get together and I will have the guys one more time in the next two weeks. We have the Going Away Dance on Friday. The Band Concert is on Sunday.

Just a beautiful day with it only hitting 32 degrees. Jackie is off golfing this morning and I finalized my stuff and am now watching my favorite golf tournament of the year.

As I have said before my company sponsored this tournament so we had private tents, access to everything, dinner with the winner which turned out to be K J Choi and a special dinner at Freddie Funks home. For this tournament we brought Home Hardware head office and few select dealers. I chose Les Schwartz who owned the Stettler store. We were down there for about a week and played some amazing courses. We played the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course, TPC Sawgrass Valley Course, the Lion and King Course and the Grande Cyprus course.

The Stadium course we played a day or two before the big game, The rough was 6 inches long. Loved the 17th hole which this picture was taken as we played there. Each customer received one of themselves.

Bob Tway a PGA pro holds the record for taking a 12 on this hole. It is not that hard of a hole ranging from 125 to 145 over the three days. There has been over 100 balls in the water over the tournament. Ps I landed on the green.

Freddie Funks house was like a museum with all of his trophies. Nice man and a catered supper for us in his backyard was very cool. He has a practice green in the backyard. The special dinner for KJ was a little disappointing as he did not speak English. The ceremony was nice though. The Worlds Golf Museum was amazing. It was also my first Brazilian Steakhouse experience. A memory of a golf trip that will remain with me forever.

A new Rory commercial for Optum Care drives me nuts. It is like when Trudeau or Celine appeared on TV to it would be annoying. He is just a annoying person.

The BIG guys are not doing well so far. Except for Thomas and Fleetwood.

A few people in Viewpoint are staying later this year as the Blue Jays play April17th,18th and 19th here in Phoenix. Good opportunity to see them. I will watch next year as they may play sooner it would be cool to see them on the road.

Our days stayed and a early Easter causes issues.

Set up the chairs and just under 700 tonight. I thought Brooks & Dunn would have pulled in the fans. It is a nice size as we didn’t need to pull chairs from other rooms to fill the hall.

It was a great concert with good sound. It is funny as Brooks & Dunn are famous and have many many awards yet of the 30 or so songs played I recognized very few. Still very very enjoyable.

And wouldn’t you know. Two elderly people fell to the heat as the a/c was the fritz for the concert. One old guy was on stretcher out and taken away in the ambulance right during the concert. Another old lady passed out and smashed her head on a chair and had blood dripping everywhere so they sat her outside until another ambulance came for her.

I said to our group ” I told you guys. No man should be up dancing on his wife’s request. It is dangerous and here is proof she dam near killed him” Maybe on purpose. There is truth to this and snow shoveling.

Lots of action. Watch this video and see the moment the band saw what was happening and stopped as did I.

Makes me smile as I think of the incident in Calgary where this guy collapses on the floor and hits Jessica on the way down.

A very good concert.

After the concert we visited with Sandy & Dave at their place. We picked up Daisy so she could play with Sandy’s dogs. A neighbor came over while we were there and small world again. He knew my Uncle Mike as he was an ex police officer in Edmonton. Uncle Mike was much older than him though.

A good night and day in our paradise.

Thought of the Day

I hate old people taking surprise naps in inconvenient places.

March 13th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -12 degrees, Calgary -11 degrees snow, Mesa 32 degrees”

There are three Friday the 13th’s this year. Today nothing happened !

Last of our cool days with all next week 38 degrees or more.

Today was my group with three tee times. One guy backed out due to plumbing issues. He had guests and you know women with toilet paper. I suggested to him to implement a damage deposit.

You could not ask for a nicer day. Warm , sunny and just the slightest breeze. I will admit I had just the slightest perspiration drop on my forehead, It was a fun day golfing and once again a mixed bag. I am still struggling with the slice. My grouping had three players and after nine holes with each having one bad hole we all ended up with 41. The back nine we each were up and down of that.

I left right after the game as we had the ” Going away Dance “. Barry was going to take care of the payouts and scoring for me. It is getting near year end and I want to update the handicaps for next year.

The timing worked out perfect as we finished right at 4 hours which made it 5pm and the dinner started at 5:30pm.

I thought the meal was very good with large portioning size. Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti. When you are making a large buffet meal it will not be restaurant quality. Yet this meal was great.

The sound system of the band was on the weaker side but I thought they were quite good. What I liked was the selection of music. We had soft rock country, two step music, waltzing and polka music. I know the dance floor was packed all of the time. Jackie & I found a open spot near the side which made it a lot easier to dance. We danced a lot which was great.

No one said anything to us but we looked good as Jackie had on her white/black dress and I had my black/grey tropical shirt and shorts.

OLD PEOPLE. We had two people pass out on Thursday at the concert due to heat and tonight the a/c was working great and people were complaining about the cold. You just can’t win !!

Another fun day in Mesa

Thought of the Day

Dance- enjoy each step along the way !

March 14th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -12 degrees, Calgary -11 degrees, Mesa 33 degrees”

I see next week Calgary is hitting the mid teens. Perhaps spring time weather will stay.

Marge walking with Winnie and Jackie this morning. Winnie got a new haircut and Marge a new shirt and if you look closely a dog wanting to be petted on it’s back.

It has been quite busy lately but this weekend a little less. The woodshop cart sale and auction in the hall, grocery shopping for our Weiner roast, the Players and the final band concert on Sunday.

I am sure something else will pop up for sure

Arizona is one beautiful state. You can burn yourself to a crisp at a beach or drive 3 hours north and ski in massive amounts of snow. From beautiful desert scenery, the Grand Canyon, Lake Havasu to the best road system in the nation it makes for a great place to be. Natural disasters are extremely rare with the odd flooding and intense winds being the only risks.

I whipped up and got our golf cart ticket from the hall. Lots of wood working stuff for sale and auction.

A bit later we find out people we know won it. Debbie and Wade Carter from St Alberta won it. Well Debbie did. I am not sure if Wade will get to drive it.

Being lazy we decided to treat ourselves to Fat Willy’s tonight so we watched the Players outside this afternoon. It is 88 degrees out right now and it is odd how the air is heavier to breath. Daisy goes inside to cool down every once in awhile.

Mcllroy is in 57th spot. Spieth and Fowler are there tied with him. Some old stars not quite making it a good game. I like that. Thomas is doing well. Conners also which would be my pick but 6 off is too big of a lead to catch up.

This is the number and higher for the next week. We are switching back to morning tee times. LOL

Why in Arizona do we say Extreme heat Warning. That is what we are here for. Then I remember people passing out in their chairs.

We talked to Fred & Terry today and as usual the media over blew the situation and it is as normal as ever there now. Having said that they are looking at something different than Mexico for next year.

Our friend and neighbor who bought the same year as we did in 2007 right across from us sold his place today with March 27th possession. We will miss Ian as I enjoyed talking to him as he had a brilliant mind and was such a nice guy. The world is funny but you have to be thankful we had the opportunity to enjoy our years with him. Ian is getting up there in age and after losing Gail who was a sweetheart of a lady doesn’t want to come down anymore as he is so involved with thing in BC.

Hopefully the new couple will fit right in. I do see a lot of for sold signs lately as people dump them before paying the pad fee April 1st. There are some super deals if people choose this lifestyle. I say I LOVE IT. It is a community of friendly people with so many thing to do. So many.

Throw in a museum, waterfall or adventure in another country every once in awhile and you have the best of both worlds.

Thought of the Day

I told a friend I am living the dream. He asked “who’s dream”. Mine just with an older car, smaller house, 4 star instead of 5 star vacations and a smaller yacht ( mine is 10ft)

March 15th

“Mercury Forecast Edmonton -4 degrees, Calgary – 2 degrees, Mesa 33 degrees”

8 am and Jackie left to walk Daisy. At 8am it was already 20 degrees outside. A beautiful day ahead.

The month is flying by as we have been busy. Less than 2 weeks away before we come home. A wonderful fun filled season in our paradise.

Funny this morning as i hear Jackie give out a small yelp ! She discovered a scorpion, dead, on the floor. I don’t know how it got there as I sprayed about a week ago. She has washed, and swept the floor numerous times. Mystery !

Donna brought over the best pancakes today. Fluffy thick wonderful tasting. I hope she makes these for our block party breakfast. I think I am going with sausages from Costco ( huge pack) and cook them in the oven and keep them warm in the slow cooker

A lower key day with grocery shopping for our wiener roast, watching the Players and Oscars the only things on the to do.

Just a gorgeous day out with us three staying outside for at least 8 hours. Daisy was the only one that wanted in the odd time for a treat and to cool down.

The Players was one of the most exciting games ever with the last few holes going back and forth for the lead. Young had the shot of his life to win it on the 18th hole. Fun game to watch especially with my course knowledge.

The Oscars are always fun to watch and we usually get to see them. Conan was ok but overall I liked the entirety of the event. Especially with the lack of support for different causes. Actors think they are special and want to promote and align with a lot of different causes. They are no body special but given media exposure think their believes should be told. Very little of this which was great.

Ex neighbors that bought on another block but still visit Dwight & Ginny all of the time had to put their elderly dog down. Sadie was quite old but being a rescue her age was not really known. A wonderful dog. For anyone that has lost a dog it is a very hard loss as they are like family. It takes a while to get over it. Some people wait and others find another dog for comfort.

We have had to put down Sadie, Penny, and Teddy. Samson died in the girls bedroom. Four dogs total. I know you are not supposed to have favorites but in order of my liking it would Daisy, Teddy, Samson, Penny and last but still loved Sadie.

We went for a walk tonight with our favorite dog at 9pm it was still 24 degrees out.

Thought of the Day

When an actor shares their opinion, it’s never just a statement… it’s a monologue with lighting cues. Actors love giving their opinions — it’s just another way to deliver their lines and them having no clue what is right or wrong.