Necessary Fry’s Run, Winds, Clouds, Sun, Puzzle

I heard Bill getting up around 6 on Saturday, Feb. 2^nd but I still felt like snuggling under the covers. It certainly wasn’t because of a cool night, as no heater was necessary last night for sleeping. Even for those of us who are ‘warm’ sleepers. It was 61F when I did get up an hour later. We have a street light right at the back corner of our site, which is nice, but other than that, it was still very dark.

This is looking out our front door

When it lightened up considerably, I headed out in capris, my hoody and vest. What a lovely morning and there were no winds yet. By the time I got ¾ of the way around, I felt a few spits of rain but still trucked on since I had my hood to put up if I needed to. We aren’t sure what kind of day this is going to be but first thing, we need to head into Fry’s for the mainstays that we are either out of or soon to be out of.

Clouds made for a darker morning but the camera flash
made it darker still

When I returned, Bill was outside setting Weber up and putting our solar lights out around our patio. We both walked over to check on Pat around 8 to hear that she was a wee bit better but still not over the earache. I’d tried offering a few suggestions but she really needed some good ear drops and probably just more rest, out of the wind. We agreed with Rob to meet in an hour to go shopping.

My oatmeal

Bill's poached eggs

I warmed up a cup of steel cut oatmeal for myself and made Bill a couple of poached eggs on his last 2 crusts of bread. Hard times!!! Bread was on the list. Rob rode into town with us and we all got the basics today. A commenter on yesterday’s post reminded me that Wednesday is Senior’s Day so we’ll all go in and really stock up.

Pretty things on my walk this morning

Some trees are so 'shapely'

At the back corner of the park, there is an upper level
I'm looking down over the lower homes

As it says - "Humbug"

I made myself a coffee when we returned and got the vacuum out. The Suite needed a good cleaning so all floors got spiffed up. Tough life, it took all of 10 minutes. I joined Bill outside with my book and we talked shop. You know, finances, shopping and things to do this week. Rob popped over on his way for a walk and we discussed the typical park wifi woes. We have been good using our hotspot, that we’re not fretting about the poor connection. Maybe in the clubhouse and office area it is better.

Truer words were never spoken?

The thought crossed my mind to hit the pool and hot tub this afternoon but with the winds and clouds, it isn’t appealing to me so much now. Rob told me that there were 2 puzzles on the go in the clubhouse so that was my afternoon plan. I don’t know how I missed them when I was out for my walks but I’d certainly take advantage! Soon after, I took my phone and a bottle of water and walked back to the Clubhouse by the pool.

The seating area at the pool for happy hours
or for listening to the afternoon music

A better picture of the pool without any occupants

Dog park for Clemson if he could ever stop sniffing long enough
to enjoy it! haha

There were 2 tables each with an ongoing puzzle. One was very tough looking but it was unattended. The other one was child’s play and an older man was working on it while his wife sat waiting. I appreciate that because of Mom who can now only feel confident working on smaller puzzles with larger pieces. Kudos to her at 92! I worked on it alone and then with another pleasant lady for a while before heading for home a couple of hours later.

Shuffleboard, Curling, Pickle ball courts

 I felt completely comfortable and had a view looking out the windows to the pool. There was non-activity for the first hour and then when the sun made more frequent appearances, there were about 10 people either in the water or on lounge chairs. Bill knew where I was and he encouraged me to stay as long as I wanted. His cold was making him very drowsy and he was spending the afternoon reading and dozing. The perfect day for it!

Putting practice and horseshoes

When I returned, I joined him in my recliner and we both read and dozed. I took Clemson for a long windy walk around the block feeling completely wind-blown by the time we got back. The winds had been gusting to 26 mph over the last hour and our Suite was rocking on occasion. At 5:45 Bill lit the Weber Q and began grilling farmer’s sausage for supper. It was a slap-it-together supper tonight. He wasn’t overly hungry with the cold and we didn’t want potatoes again.

Pussy-muck as Bill calls this type of supper
He had toast, I avoided the extra carbs tonight

I opened 2 cans, something I seldom do unless we’re having chili. Brown beans and diced tomatoes. I made a couple of pieces of toast for Bill because ‘stuff a cold, starve a fever’ has been well rehearsed over my growing years. It wasn’t fancy but it tasted good and it was indeed fast. We were finished eating and dishes before 7. I plugged away at finishing my post before we sat and relaxed for the evening. We had programs to watch that were recorded on our PVR.

It certainly wasn't a desert sunset tonight
Good night from Sundance

It has been a good first day in the park and we look forward to many more. I hope you’ve had a good day too.

Thank you for your visit.

Let's Stay Home Today, Walks, Puzzles and Madame Secretary

On Sunday, November 12^th we slept in a bit but got up to the sun rising. The sky appeared somewhat cloudy overhead but the white fluffies soon disappeared and the temperature was 61F at 9 o’clock. Now that is nice! I took Clem out for a piddle and chose not to walk first thing. We had our hot drinks and relaxed at the computer for an hour. We miss having free wifi but can always go to the clubhouse to use it if we choose. Maybe I’ll try that to post tonight just to test it out.

The other day, I showed you baby palm trees
Today, I show you childhood palm trees

Bill took Clemson for a nice long walk and after an hour I figured he’d found someone to talk to. After an hour and a half, very unusual for him, I texted just to make sure they were ok. They were and were enjoying new friends along the way. While they were gone I made myself up a breakfast quesadilla since Bill had eaten his cereal earlier. He usually gets hungry earlier in the morning than I do so today this worked well.

There are some permanent sites here in the park

When the boys returned, I cleaned up dishes and walked over to the west clubhouse to work on a puzzle for an hour. I accomplished a lot! The clouds have returned and the sky is mostly white now, with no sun. It is still warm at 71F/21C. I don’t know if we’ll swim today, I might need the encouragement of the sun but we’ll see. The day is young.

These are a couple of examples of how neat and comfortable they look

I had been avoiding the inevitable chore of cleaning out the fridge, simply because the days were so nice and I wanted to be outdoors. Today, apparently, was the day. I pulled the two vegetable/fruit drawers out and washed them in the sink. There were still remnants of sticky residue from the Kombucha bottle that broke plus a few teeny pieces of glass. I cleaned the bottom egg/cheese drawer next and the upper shelves. Another job done.

And the sun lost the battle for the most part today

As I was finishing up, Bill and I discussed whether we wanted to go to the Ice Cream Sundae at the clubhouse at 1. Nah, it wasn’t necessary today so we opted out and he went up for a snooze with Clemmy. I swept the floors and then sat down with my book. It is getting very interesting.

Glad these crispers come out easily

All nice and clean

My sister, Donna, back home texted me to say that they missed out on taking Mom to the Remembrance Service at Rockwood, thinking it was today. It was last Sunday, which seems odd, but she and my other sister, Gayle, took her down instead to karaoke. Ha! That would be fun! She then texted to say they all 3 got up and sang Crystal Chandelier. Mom would absolutely love that, it is one of the songs she knows well. Wish I was there too, um, wait a minute…….no, no I don’t. I’ll just have to talk them into doing it again when I’m home in the summer. 😊

The houses (condos?) around us are very Arizonian
Clean and simple but I like them

And desert behind the park

Unfortunately, the snooze didn't go as planned and they were up a very few minutes later. Bill had a quick bite to eat around 1 and I wasn’t feeling hungry so went outside with my book for another little bit. When he joined me, we were maybe 20 minutes tops and neither of us could keep our eyes open. He had an excuse, he told me this morning he didn’t sleep well last night. Me, no excuse but I still felt tired so we both, well, all 3 of us, curled up for a snooze.

A short 45-minute snooze and we were good to go! I went out and walked around the park ending up across the street at the west clubhouse puzzle again. No one was in there so I explored. There is a ‘library’/poker type room, a tv area, a pool room with two tables and a sheltered outdoor area with some exercise machines. Hey! I’ll try out that comfy looking bicycle even though the controls don’t work.

The billiards room

The reading, computer and poker room

Obvious exercise area

Then I pulled up a chair at the puzzle and worked away for about an hour before walking back to start supper. I had a pound of ground beef thawed so fried it up, added seasoning and pasta and cooked some squash and corn as our side dish. I thought I should take a turn at cooking inside and give Bill a break today. Supper was quite good, a change from what we’ve had lately.

A few minutes on the bike

We got dishes cleaned up and I took Clem for a quick walk down to dump the garbage. Then we settled inside for the night, me at my laptop and Bill handling the remote control for the tv. We had 3 Madame Secretary episodes recorded on our PVR to watch before we watch the one airing tonight. So, bam, bam, bam, that is what we are doing.

that looks like a crescent roll but it is actually my acorn squash
and it was delicious

This has been a quiet day, with no obligations outside the park. We’ve enjoyed it very much. I hope you have enjoyed your day too. I wanted to thank you for checking us out today. If you wish to comment, that would be great!