tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7319246052181821792012-01-23T17:22:36.345-07:00AzBariteAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.comBlogger3331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-57718145824349723312012-01-22T16:17:00.000-07:002012-01-22T16:17:06.672-07:00Well I've finished trimming the new doors. There are still several things I need to finish to really be "finished". This is the hard part of the project. There are some small pieces of trim along the floor that I had to remove in order to make room for the new door trim. These need to be replaced. I also need to fill in nail holes and caulk spaces between trim and doors. Caulk and paint areAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-67091743045375957142012-01-15T16:05:00.001-07:002012-01-15T16:10:16.273-07:00I just finished framing in 6 new interior doors. I still have to trim them out and haul off the scrap (no small task).
Before.....
After......(give me a break, I still need to add trim)
Becky and I have decided that were not moving anywhere soon so we're doing a few upgrades. Doors were at the top of our list. Painting is next, then upgrade the guest bathroom and then things get murkier.AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-15012108335774903002012-01-12T19:02:00.000-07:002012-01-12T19:02:31.362-07:00My only welded art project. Note the rusty glob of weld holding up the crooked bird feeder.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-37822042395152221492012-01-12T18:47:00.000-07:002012-01-12T18:47:51.905-07:00Damn, I cleaned out the closet to replace the door and Kikki moved in!
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-41274329682025314322012-01-06T17:12:00.000-07:002012-01-06T17:12:20.281-07:00Becky and I were wandering around downtown Mesa on Monday. I took a picture of the sculpture below from the parking lot. I think it was in the back of Sundust Gallery. If I had the bucks I'd buy it (hint hint...).
This is more my speed at the Antique Plaza.
I think Becky's got her eye on that deer head. I'll keep it in mind for her birthday.
The downtown is really looking up. There'sAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-24362546518258913152012-01-02T08:59:00.000-07:002012-01-02T08:59:39.468-07:00Here's What Happens When too Much Time is Spent on Old PhotosI'm on the last day of Christmas/New Years holiday. Tomorrow I have to remember to go back to work. That's not too hard because it's in this same room. It's trying to remember priorities and and where I was at with which job that's tough.
I've been spending a lot of time scanning slides and photos over the last few days. When you get as old as I am you need visual aids to remember your youthAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-45403266464058786432011-12-28T15:36:00.000-07:002011-12-28T15:36:29.512-07:00Just got back from the Air Force Museum at Falcon Field here in Mesa. The kids loved it. Kikki made about 20 trips through the B-17. I realized why most of the crewmen were teenagers.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-74804839970293137502011-12-28T11:41:00.001-07:002012-01-02T07:07:34.352-07:00Took the kids to the Arizona Museum of Natural History yesterday. Who knows what's in store for today.
Here they are in the old territorial jail.
Panning for gold (iron pyrite actually, but the kids don't mind).
Had a nice pot of pinto beans cooked with ham leftovers for dinner. Can't get any better than that.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-51903074213306975902011-12-26T06:19:00.001-07:002011-12-26T06:21:00.085-07:00Merry Christmas from Grandma Kate and Uncle Reiny
(To my Grandkids, Grandma Kate is Grandma Shuter's Mom and Uncle Reiny (Reinhardt) is Grandma Kates brother (She called him Brother). The red chair in Chey's room is Uncle Reiny's favorite chair. He was a plumber. We kids always bought him a 6-pack of Burger Beer for Christmas.)
I've been scanning slides with my Christmas Gift. Sherry AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-43123936767783008392011-12-24T08:21:00.000-07:002011-12-24T08:21:57.943-07:00Slipped away from work the other day and went for a walk out off of Bush Highway near the Salt River. The rains have greened everything up. It was too late in the morning to see any animals but signs were around. There were deer tracks in the wash among a lot of horse tracks.
Ground squirrels had been cleaning out their holes and there was a large mound of sticks and trash piled up by a AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-48630777873574291712011-12-21T19:07:00.000-07:002011-12-21T19:07:13.429-07:00We had the kids today. I worked for a couple of hours in the morning then we headed out for lunch (next time I'll fry bacon & eggs). When did things get so expensive? I guess I don't notice it too much with just Becky and I but when you multiply 6 or 7 dollars by 5, well then you notice it. Ho well, I guess I won't be retiring for a while (ever).
It turned out to be "Free Pie Wednesday" (whyAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-22491652562375498522011-12-19T20:28:00.000-07:002011-12-19T20:28:23.311-07:00Things are getting calmed down at work. I hope I can do some more posting over the holidays.
Becky's been making cookies. I talked her into buying a mixer so she could make more cookies faster. It also took me out of the mixing business so I could watch more Netflix. That's probably a bad combination for healthy living, more cookies & more Netflix. Aw, what the hell. You can't live AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-40975610104684768722011-12-10T08:20:00.000-07:002011-12-10T08:20:24.780-07:00Work has been crazy lately. We're on the mad year-end rush to bill work in 2011. It'll all be over by the 16th.
I was in LA on Wednesday to help interview an engineering position candidate. Other than that , I haven't done much traveling.
We haven't had much going on at home since Thanksgiving. I guess we're just resting up for Christmas. We went to Becky's work party last weekend and AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-48504638309652477182011-11-25T08:11:00.000-07:002011-11-25T08:11:04.819-07:00Turkey Day's gone, now the countdown is to Christmas. Black Friday started out with high emotions in California. An anxious early bird shopper pepper sprayed fellow shoppers in a quest for cheap toys. They say "She was competitive shopping". Yeah, I guess so.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/wal-mart-black-friday-marred-by-shootings-pepper-spray-attack-.html
Sherry took this AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-91678305122596068572011-11-21T07:06:00.000-07:002011-11-21T07:06:50.241-07:00Had a mercifully slow week. We're still returning borrowed tables and cake trays from the wedding. There's no rest around here though.....Becky and Bubby already started putting up Christmas lights and Becky has us trying out for Christmas pictures.
Becky couldn't persuade Kikki to take a shower so they compromised and she got her feet washed.
We went to a reptile expo in downtown Mesa AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-1433423603709662692011-11-11T09:03:00.000-07:002011-11-11T09:03:02.451-07:00I was in Denver this week.
Had dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange Wednesday night. It was pretty pricey and there were way too many eyes watching me eat. There wasn't anywhere on the walls that didn't have a stuffed animal watching you. That snarling wild boar especially made me nervous.
I had blackened buffalo prime rib. It was very good but I really couldn't tell it from beef.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-12354695358469776012011-11-08T18:48:00.000-07:002011-11-08T18:48:28.579-07:00Gina took Al and Eric to the airport this afternoon. I had taken Nancy this morning. We loved having everyone for the wedding but Becky and I are walking wounded. I think they call it PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. They treat soldiers coming home for war for it. We won a major battle Saturday but are still fighting trying to keep the kids doing their homework and taking baths and AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-44413758270815875652011-10-29T08:25:00.000-07:002011-10-29T08:25:20.319-07:00The kids are heading for their schools fund raiser "Haunted Hoedown". Granma and Mom did their makeup last night. Bubby didn't have his mask for the pictures but he's going as Frankenstein. From the picture below, he could go as a handsome young medical student.
Cheyanne dressed as a gypsy and Kikki dressed as a ....... well, some sort of deranged dracula.
Earlier in the week, Becky threwAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-3896976263227435722011-10-17T17:35:00.000-07:002011-10-17T17:35:00.535-07:00The flight back was brutal. It was 19 hrs total with around 7 hrs Guam-Honolulu, 6 hrs Honolulu-Houston, 2.5 hrs Houston-Phoenix. In Honolulu, We had to unload baggage and go through customs then have luggage loaded back on same plane.
Crissy picked us up at the airport and is cooking enchiladas for dinner. She's keeping a close eye on Sammy after he stole her tamales the other day. The kidsAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-77650944081783087622011-10-15T22:48:00.000-07:002011-10-15T22:48:55.802-07:00It cleared up this afternoon. It's still partially cloudy but Becky and just got back from a nice time at the pool. We're packing now and trying to decide which moldy wet clothes to bring home and which ones to ditch here.
Tomorrow brings us to the airport at 5am to get on a plane for 16hrs. We stop in Honolulu but don't get off of the plane. We fly to Houston then finally fly back AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-87137946288966416032011-10-15T13:52:00.001-07:002011-10-15T14:00:14.056-07:00It's starting out pretty wet this morning in Guam. We were going to go back to the Micronesia Fair today for me to get some better videos. Becky thought yesterday's would have been better with the lens cover open.
It's almost 7am now. Hopefully it will clear up some this afternoon.
It's hard to have much faith in today's forecast. Current conditions are reported as "Rain" with a forecast AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-77095444386550911632011-10-15T00:01:00.001-07:002011-10-15T00:01:59.973-07:00We walked along the beach coming back from the Micronesia Fair. Along the way, we passed through the Ypao Beach Park.
That's Becky in the lead under the umbrella and my partner Calib behind her.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-62065264431950998652011-10-14T23:32:00.000-07:002011-10-14T23:32:15.040-07:00We went to the Micronesia Fair just down the beach. It was a fun place with lots of crafts, native dancing and food. Becky had some pumpkin empanadas and I had a spicy beef one (orange) and a Guam beer.
One the way back we stopped and bought a carabao from a nice fella. We're having it shipped to Sherry. It's very good around kids and doesn't smell too bad.
We spent the rest of the AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-38043871325002766182011-10-14T19:54:00.000-07:002011-10-14T19:54:00.929-07:00Returned to King's Family restaurant for breakfast. It's my favorite place. I had the Chammorro Hash Scrambler this morning. Last night at Chili's, I had the "Local Chili and Rice". It was a heartburn threatening bowl of rice covered with a spicy chili. Yummy.
After breakfast, we went to Two Lover's Point to look around.
We're getting ready to go to the Micronesia Fair.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-30470873128600082892011-10-13T12:56:00.001-07:002011-10-13T13:17:26.253-07:00We spent some time on the beach yesterday after work. It was a beautiful day and the humidity had eased off a bit in the afternoon. Afterward, we met my partner Calib and went out to eat at Planet Hollywood. They had a steak special but the description and prices were in Japanese. I decided to go for the fish instead.
For Bubby
Not sure how to rotate this one...
My hello from everyone AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-49400413867679797532011-10-12T02:57:00.000-07:002011-10-12T02:57:55.268-07:00We were out at the Chammorro Festival tonight. I had some red rice and meat on a stick. Becky decided to wait for a meal at Friday's. It was nice looking through the souvenir stalls but it got pretty crowded.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-40180966262984132932011-10-11T23:53:00.000-07:002011-10-11T23:53:27.372-07:00I've either gotta hide the camera or stop going to bed at 8.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-74259800470422965502011-10-10T12:38:00.001-07:002011-10-11T23:56:52.641-07:00I posted a couple of videos to YouTube this morning..
One was taken at Asan Beach
The other is at Plaza de Espana the old Spanish Government buildings.
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-72700341798913963012011-10-09T11:44:00.001-07:002011-10-11T23:57:50.981-07:00We explored the island a bit yesterday morning. We visited Asan Beach and Plaza de Espana at the capitol.
The capital has changed hands a few times. The Spanish first colonized the island back in the 1600's then the US took over after the Spanish - American War. The Japanese took over in 1941 and we took it back in 1944. If I was a native islander, I'd feel pretty apathetic about who AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-5437249880544890652011-10-08T13:36:00.002-07:002011-10-08T13:57:46.558-07:00Hello from the FutureSherry took us to the airport at 4am on Friday. We flew to San Francisco and grabbed some breakfast in the terminal. That was the last meal we would eat while sitting still for the next 12 hours. The rest of our meals would be eaten on trays with our elbows tucked tight to our sides. Some of them would even be edible (we passed on the ham sandwiches with the soggy bottoms and gray ham).
To AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-83249366762100291942011-10-02T12:34:00.000-07:002011-10-02T12:34:21.074-07:00It's getting down to crunch time for our trip to Guam. I still need to pack. I just came in from cutting grass in backyard. It got way too long because I skipped a week. It's pretty tough to cut it with a hand mower after 2 weeks growth when its still close to 100 outside.
Becky and I went to our friends the Allen's new home yesterday to help them get moved in and lend a bit of encouragementAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-89629764497615338552011-09-25T09:12:00.002-07:002011-09-25T09:18:06.509-07:00The weather returned to blazing hot this last week. It's 9am and 94 degree's by my thermometer. The previous week had us all hoping that the long summer had finally broken. It's not really the length of the summer but its been a really hot one.
Becky bought a box of peaches (I was hoping it was a box of "pizzas") from one of her friends at school for a fundraiser. She split the box with AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-72887688112781996372011-09-18T16:52:00.000-07:002011-09-18T16:52:36.298-07:00We let Grandma sleep in and I cooked breakfast for the little dudes this morning. We cleaned up a pound of bacon, 6 eggs and a bag of tater tots. Sammy got his dog food slathered with bacon grease.
Next we too them to park for boot camp. Sergeant Shuter has them lined up and ready for a workout.
Break time.
The weather is starting to break a little. It's cooler at night and it AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-35403900239088418002011-09-17T09:01:00.003-07:002011-09-17T17:58:37.303-07:00Becky and Ella are in bed arguing about who should take their shower first. Ella says Grandma because she want's to get up and watch tv while she eats her cereal then go back to bed.
Guess who won...
We've got to get the house ready for a baby shower for one of Becky's coworkers at school. He's a man and can't figure out how he's getting swept up in this shower business but he's too good AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-37249765831303997122011-09-05T14:21:00.000-07:002011-09-05T14:21:11.387-07:00It's been a busy week. I already wrote about touring northern az for my job. Well Becky and I traveled to Prescott AZ for a little R&R in cooler weather. We stayed Saturday night at a local hotel and spent the day exploring Prescott and walking through a little street fair in the town square. We also went through the Sharlot Hall Museum in town. It made for a nice relaxing day. Best of all, AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-71867419125046775322011-08-31T20:15:00.000-07:002011-08-31T20:15:33.641-07:00I'm holed up at the Holiday Inn in Holbrook AZ. In the last 2 days I've driven from Mesa to Seligman to Bellemont to Flagstaff (stayed night) then to Leupp on to Klagatoh and back to Holbrook. I'll be driving home to Mesa tomorrow and will be glad to be home.
The ones above were taken on the way to Klagatoh.
The one below is from Bellemont
I ate seafood pescatori at a little roadside AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-41808334140266959242011-08-21T19:35:00.001-07:002011-08-21T19:48:56.346-07:00A few random pictures from today
Grandma & her buddies
Must go to great lengths to avoid paparazzi
By the way....I had to explain under-arm hair to Kikki this morning. She wasn't entirely accepting of the fact she'll have it under her arms too. We also discussed the lack of hair on my head. She feels that I should stop shaving it and let it grow out. "Sorry honey, that's not going to happenAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-90627558085626908782011-08-20T16:24:00.002-07:002011-08-20T19:44:35.899-07:00Sitting around killing time waiting on Becky to get home. She and the the two girls (Chey and Kikki) went to the movies around noon. They went to see a teenage dance movie (Glee) so I opted out. It's 4:15pm and I haven't seen them yet. Sherry said they checked in with her an hour or so ago. They ended up going shopping after the movies and of course had to get something to eat after that. AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-40525160419724125202011-08-14T16:36:00.001-07:002011-08-14T16:38:01.803-07:00I flew out to California Tuesday and stayed the night at a Holiday Inn in Long Beach. Next time I'll ask for a room on the side opposite the freeway. They did have a happy hour with free appetizers though. That made up for some of the lousy nights sleep.
I'll be flying to Portland and back this Tuesday. My boss asked me to go to a meeting about a new project with some other engineers and aAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-70997450416730643132011-08-06T17:14:00.000-07:002011-08-06T17:14:52.950-07:00I bought a tripod for our video camera so I could take some videos of birds and such. I set up this morning in the back yard and got some clips of Peach-Faced Lovebirds. I'd rather call them African Lovebirds. Peach-faced sounds kinda wimpy. They nest in our grungy, untrimmed palm tree. Their vocalizations can hardly be called songs (more like fingernails on chalkboard) but I've gotten used AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-59801355228667993552011-07-30T20:33:00.001-07:002011-07-30T20:38:49.075-07:00Been a busy week again. Flew out to Orange County CA to participate in an interview (grilling) of a prospective new engineer for the LA area. He was a competent guy but he didn't know how to say "I don't know" or when to just shut up. Whenever he ran into something he couldn't answer he tried to bullshit his way out of it. My notes sheet was covered with BS, BS, BS.....BS. I like BS when itsAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-83936666599137771222011-07-24T16:15:00.000-07:002011-07-24T16:15:25.012-07:00We were hoping it would cool off a bit after we got back from vacation. There had been storms after we got back and it was a little cooler for a while. Well summer's been back for at least the past week. My office thermometer shows an outside temp of 110 now but I think it runs hot. The picture below is from the thermometer in my truck. I took the picture Friday returning from the gym.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-65384466339314011782011-07-23T10:32:00.001-07:002011-07-23T10:32:47.567-07:00TestI'm just testing uploading pictures and sending to g+.
I cut the grass this am and watered the garden. The az heat is taking its toll on the garden. Its time to start pulling out beans. Surprisingly, the sweet potato vine is going nuts.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1Phoenix Demolition, 1740 North Diego, Mesa, AZ, United States33.447614 -111.692246tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-15028018721615034032011-07-17T17:39:00.001-07:002011-07-17T17:43:32.755-07:00WiredI just ran wire from the router around the house to the Roku box. Bubby and I have gotten frustrated with the wireless TV reception. Bubby was staying with me the other day while the girls were shopping. I was working in the office and periodically Bubby would come in and tell me that his programs were loading really slow. They were but there wasn't anything I could really do. When I got to AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-71204829829522538332011-07-10T07:18:00.001-07:002011-07-13T06:41:42.241-07:00Back in the US of AWe finally made it back home last night around 11pm. We got on the bus again around 8am from Stratford on Avon and headed for Heathrow Airport in London.
After a tightly organized 10 day tour, It was a shock to be left in the completely disorganized mess of Heathrow (or was it just Delta Airlines?). We dragged our luggage through the door to be met by a mob of travelers milling in all AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-28102345639538374172011-07-08T13:21:00.003-07:002011-07-12T16:07:56.402-07:00Roman baths & stonehengeThis was another early start and long bus ride. We left again at 7am but thankfully didn't need to pack (yet). I've had enough of sausage, baked beans and fried tomatoes so I had cereal for breakfast. Once on the bus I shifted into bus mode and promply fell asleep.
The roman baths at Bath were great. We spent an hour or so looking through them. It's amazing what those guys were able to AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-31566430818030317052011-07-07T23:47:00.003-07:002011-07-10T06:39:15.635-07:00Stratford on avonShakespeare, shakespeare,shakespeare
Added later: We toured Shakespeare's family home and his wife's (Anne Hathaway's) family home. They were, of course, very old homes but large and well made for the era. The town is very quaint with lots of shops, restaurants and taverns. There are lots of boats on the River Avon which flows through town. I would have loved to have gotten time for a boat AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-42532067312939386232011-07-06T22:12:00.004-07:002011-07-12T16:09:59.071-07:00Sheep, sheep, cow, sheep, lake, Wordsworth, sheep, WalesWe spent a fairly rainy day driving from Scotland to Wales. The rain was a relief. This country is not ready for global warming. Scotland was very interesting but a mildly warm day (maybe 75F) made things pretty warm and humid indoors.
We got an early start this morning and drove through open farm land for a long while. There were lots and lots of sheep and a lot of cattle. We gradually AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-51959307201599591852011-07-05T08:44:00.003-07:002011-07-12T16:11:56.697-07:00EdinburghWe're in Edinburgh Scotland today. We spent the day climbing stairs and hills. The weather has been unseasonably warm here and they don't have ac. That's resulted in some pretty warm and humid indoor areas but its nice outside. It drizzled a little rain today but not enough for a raincoat or umbrella. It's peak tourist season here so its really crowded.
That's not my favorite situation (AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2Ramada Edinburgh Mount Royal, 53 Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 2DG, United Kingdom55.952519 -3.19403tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-15972064822443891852011-07-05T08:26:00.003-07:002011-07-12T16:14:48.314-07:00York to EdinburghIt was long bus trek today from York to Scotland. Before we left we toured the York Minster (old church). It was pretty interesting, especially the excavated underground that showed the old roman foundations that the church had been built over.
Had lunch at a small tavern (The Swan) along the way that really didn't seem well suited to a large bus. The driver kept at it till he got the busAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0Ramada Edinburgh Mount Royal, 53 Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 2DG, United Kingdom55.952519 -3.19403tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-8291220392974788802011-07-03T23:22:00.004-07:002011-07-12T16:15:57.675-07:00YorkStruggling out of bed again to get ready for breakfast and leave our baggage at the door. It didnt help that I watched a scifi show on tv till 11 last night.
We broke off from the official tour and walked around the city. York was founded by the Romans but also settled by progressions of Saxons and Normans. We to went through an exhibit of an excavated Saxon town. The exhibit was great but AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-8091475320482821112011-07-03T10:47:00.002-07:002011-07-10T08:14:35.138-07:00CambridgeWe rode our giant tour bus attempting to get of town for an hour or so through streets much like you'd find in German Village in Columbus. Once out of the London metro area, the highway was pretty good and the country surprisingly open. We ate lunch at a truck stop Burger King and were waited on by a very loud but utterly incomprehensible British lady who was operating well beyond her AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1Park Inn York, North Street, York, North Yorkshire YO1 6JF, United Kingdom53.958358 -1.085597tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-31033073206255128462011-07-02T21:26:00.002-07:002011-07-10T08:33:03.877-07:00Leaving londonWe're headed to Cambridge Univ and York today. Mostly we'll be on the bus.
Yesterday we went on bus tour of London with a guide. It was pretty interesting but we jumped ship at the Tower of London and spent a few hours looking around. We followed a guided tour for a while then broke off to see the crown jewels and all of the other golden gem encrusted British royalty bling.
We saw severalAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0The Grosvenor by Thistle™, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0SJ, United Kingdom51.496527 -0.144689tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-50564603343701590292011-07-01T09:05:00.002-07:002011-07-10T09:00:28.190-07:00The good news is......Becky's in good shape considering that......she slipped this morning getting out of the infernal highsided brit bathtub and fell hard on the tile floor. I was afraid that she'd broken her arm (the jurys still out, she wouldn't go to the hospital) but she said she was ok other than being pretty stiff. I think she's probably hurting worse than she lets on but she doesn't want to spend her AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0The Grosvenor by Thistle™, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0SJ, United Kingdom51.496527 -0.144689tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-34399417953391840982011-06-30T22:15:00.003-07:002011-07-10T09:05:09.492-07:00Town's waking upIt's almost 6am and I'm having a coffee in the old but very modern Victoria Station which it turns out I've been nearly sleeping above. Folks are little by little coming and going, opening shops, hitting the atm, rolling supplies into restaurants. They all seem to be busy. Me, not so much.
I'm back to one finger typing and as you can see skipping some punctuation (I'm fixing it now back on myAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0Victoria station, London Victoria station, London, UK SW1V 1JU, United Kingdom51.496491 -0.144163tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-11090052432523593872011-06-30T13:25:00.003-07:002011-07-10T09:26:39.707-07:00GrrrrrrrrrrI've spent an hour trying to get logged onto a super expensive (29pd for 5 days) internet provider at the hotel. To their credit, they refunded the charge. Maybe I shouldn't be growling!
We've had an exhausting 36 hrs. Too long on an airplane, too long a line at the visa check (due a public employee strike), too long a ride to the hotel, too long w/o sleep. We were not people you'd want to AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0The Grosvenor by Thistle™, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0SJ, United Kingdom51.496527 -0.144689tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-46938790949924681392011-06-29T13:12:00.002-07:002011-07-10T09:27:49.642-07:00New York and so far to GoWe have a lot of water to cross and around 7 more hrs of airplane. I hope we have more space on the next plane.
Somehow New York seems to have missed out on the invention of AC. IT's hot and humid in this place. I'm ready to go.
Now!
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-68553549883155310822011-06-28T13:32:00.000-07:002011-06-28T13:32:22.890-07:00JC's Moved OnWe put JC to rest this morning. His leg was getting worse and he was losing weight and struggling to get up and down.
Hopefully, he's romping with Josh somewhere.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-47760009922309966412011-06-25T18:35:00.002-07:002011-06-25T18:38:32.710-07:00Testing 1 2 3I'm supposed to be able to post a blog from my email. Well we'll see won't
we. (This is the 2nd try!)
Becky and I spent the day with Bubby. We went to Bass Pro Shops and
wandered around. The kids shooting range was free today so Bubby spent a
lot of time there. Unfortunately, they've removed the putting green so
that's out of the picture. He and Becky did, however, get to sit in on a
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-2900065029088238532011-06-19T19:58:00.001-07:002011-06-22T06:06:13.967-07:00I've had a nice weekend and father's day. Got a lot of calls from kids and friends. We went out to eat last night with the Allens and saw a movie afterward. I had fried oysters for dinner and a fisherman's stew. Unfortunately, the oysters were a bit overcooked and the fisherman's stew seemed to missing the fish. Oh well, it was nice being out with adults (no offense kids). We went to see "AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-32282833810576789822011-06-08T15:54:00.002-07:002011-06-08T17:31:07.756-07:00New toyI'm trying this on my new toy. I convinced becky that we needed a tablet pc for our trip to england. It's taking some getting used to. The space bar is way out of place.
(I'm back at a decent keyboard)
I've loaded lots of time killing games on it for becky. Sherry suggested "angry birds". She also has a couple of kinds of solitaire.
Aunt Nancy has been visiting this week. We've been AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-75812044129380338002011-05-28T09:22:00.001-07:002011-05-29T08:24:56.181-07:00School's out. We attended an end of year party with Becky's workmates on Thursday. The spouses had a few beers while the work crew discussed school stuff. As usual, It was nice seeing everyone again. Becky'll miss them over the summer. Unfortunately, several won't be coming back due to cutbacks in the district budgets. We need to layoff public service folks, teachers and aides to cut AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-72986316663559859922011-05-17T19:19:00.000-07:002011-05-17T19:19:06.862-07:00Well hopefully we're all getting back to normal. For Becky and I, two nights and a day in Vegas and a kids birthday party was enough to wear us down. We're starting to recover. We're both back at work and getting back into the routine.
It was really fun to spend a few days with Mom, Terry and Kathy in Vegas. Becky and I poured money into the slots and Terry and Kathy won it back.
WeAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-27032515278373884922011-05-08T15:04:00.000-07:002011-05-08T15:04:29.094-07:00Happy Mothers DayBecky took herself to Kohl's for Mothers Day. Al sent her a nice gift certificate for M day so she did some shopping. I stayed around home and did my weekly dog poop duty and cut the grass. I also picked up the backyard and trimmed up some brush. Picking up the backyard generally means picking up after the grandkids. They usually go out back and play after school. They're not so good at AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-47019930735457034032011-05-01T15:47:00.000-07:002011-05-01T15:47:33.758-07:00Sherry and Russell are camping with Bubby at a Cub Scout function in the mountains east of Payson, AZ Tony loaned them an RV that he's acquired lately. Somehow Sherry and Russell traveling in an RV makes me want to stay close to the phone.
We have Kikki for the weekend because she wanted to go to a school festival on Friday. We ate five dollar hot dogs for dinner and watched Kikki run from AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-55531429788229126452011-04-24T19:11:00.002-07:002011-04-24T19:12:54.306-07:00Weekend UpdateBecky and I spent Saturday morning prowling around Goodwill Stores since it was 50% Saturday. I'm always looking for ceramic pots and books. Becky's usually looking for wedding decorations. We ate lunch at Jimbo's Good Times Grill on Main St in Mesa. It was until recently The Vine Tavern and the address was long ago Buckhorn instead of Mesa. I'd like to know more about Buckhorn, AZ but don'tAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-20216498805042310332011-04-24T07:30:00.000-07:002011-04-24T07:30:27.126-07:00Night of the Living Dead Housing MarketThe Arizona Republic published an article today "Maricopa County Housing Market Showing Some Life". I read the article and its pretty hard to find any good news. If the market has come to life then it's more in the form of a zombie than its former buff self. One of the contributors to the article struggled to find this positive note to close the article, "First of all, you've foreclosed on 11 AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-18159143783278690152011-04-21T18:12:00.003-07:002011-04-21T19:19:03.215-07:00Bad News from HomeI was driving to Prescott, AZ this morning and was surprised to hear the Portsmouth Police Chief on NPR. He was part of a panel on the Diane Rehm Show discussing the explosion of prescription drug abuse on Appalachia.
(Just cruising along listening to the radio.)
The show was prompted by a story (Ohio County Losing It's Young to Painkillers Grip) about Scioto County and Appalachia in the AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-36243881534047103332011-04-18T19:40:00.002-07:002011-04-18T19:43:09.083-07:00It was a slow weekend. I did a little yard work and fiddled with the garden a bit. Earwigs or some other critters are eating the bean blossoms. I went nuclear and bought some insecticide. I just don't have the patience to sit by the garden all night and pick off bugs for re-transport to a new home. I also haven't had much luck with soapy water or pepper spray. Anyway, I'm not sure how the AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-19686369668791420922011-04-10T08:49:00.002-07:002011-04-10T17:27:31.581-07:00It's Becky and I's wedding anniversary today. We were married on April 10th, 1982. It doesn't seem so long ago. I was just getting started as an engineer and Becky was working as a bank clerk. We went with friends to Oktoberfest in Columbus, Ohio. I had way too much to drink but thankfully she was still willing to see me the next day. She still manages to overlook my faults and keep AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-71854016454689339752011-04-03T17:07:00.000-07:002011-04-03T17:07:40.203-07:00How long do cats usually live? At least 7 years ago I was told by a local vet that this cat had feline leukemia and was not long for this world. I think 7 years is a stretch for "not long for this world". I'm getting sick of vacuuming up after this supposed invalid. Not only does she spread cat hair all over my desk and drawings but she rolls around in the dirt outside and spreads all other AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-72226524981373448912011-03-29T21:03:00.001-07:002011-03-29T21:04:01.152-07:00Kikki turned 6 this week. Our baby is growing up. We got her a bike for her birthday and she took her first ride without training wheels.
We spent the rest of the evening at Peter Piper Pizza.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-46098515988174829612011-03-20T10:55:00.002-07:002011-03-20T16:58:49.840-07:00This is the last day of Becky and I's spring break. It's actually spring break for Becky and I took a week of vacation. It's been a nice break. We had the kids a couple of days and also got some time for ourselves.
Becky had a good idea for making the back yard shed look less like a junk yard. She suggested siding the visible parts with wood and leaving the tin roof. I did it early in the AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-37756880906615113332011-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:002011-03-18T12:30:25.555-07:00Scott's new band (M80) played at Gilbert Park Dept's Concert In The Park Program. It was a packed house (park). There were a lot of civilians attending along with his fan club. The fan club consisted of Sherry and the kids, Crissy, Becky and I, Becky's friend Abby, Gina, Aubrey, Zack and Bob and Mary (Scotts folks). We were all pretty impressed. The kids all got to dance up front and have AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-82488794514931708092011-03-08T06:40:00.001-07:002011-03-09T07:11:39.480-07:00The colonoscopy ordeal is finally over. The results were as I suspected. The doctor (who would want to spend their career looking up folks backsides all day?) said everything is fine and to come back in 10 years. Yeah right, let's not make that appointment just yet. His prescription: eat more beans. That I can do.
The last time I had the procedure (maybe 15 yrs ago) I was conscious and AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-73330412160984836012011-03-06T21:40:00.001-07:002011-03-06T21:53:17.329-07:00It's been a busy week. Al and Susan were visiting and Sherry got sick enough to be sent to the hospital. We've had a houseful most of the week. Sherry was admitted Wednesday and is just getting out today. It's actually good that Al was here. He was a big help babysitting.
Momma's home. Believe it or not, the kids had been in the pool.
We went to Saguaro Lake Marina and had lunch with AlAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-10820109142210138862011-02-28T19:27:00.001-07:002011-02-28T19:29:07.293-07:00Here's few pictures of snow on Superstition Mountain. While it was raining on us in Mesa, it was snowing a few miles away on the mountain. The snow line is probably around 4-5 thousand feet.
AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-74169931805777959942011-02-27T09:09:00.001-07:002011-02-27T09:13:05.760-07:00We're getting more rain today and its a bit chilly this morning. The garden is still coming along. Spinach is coming up and I noticed a bean or two sprouting. I may have rushed the beans a bit since we're still getting some cool weather.
I've got to fix some of this chard. I keep forgetting its out there.
The picture below shows the temp at 8am. The upper temp is the outside temp. The AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-41144586821282375182011-02-20T09:36:00.002-07:002011-02-20T09:49:21.451-07:00It's a bit soggy this weekend in Arizona. A big storm front blew in yesterday and it rained all afternoon. Today looks like it could be much of the same. Sometime today I need to work on some minor wind damage like fishing a patio chair out the pool, picking up trash blown into the yard and fixing the cover on the kids playhouse.
At least the garden is liking the wet weather. I put out AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-38243535834887751572011-02-12T09:09:00.001-07:002011-02-12T09:10:11.172-07:00Thank goodness I'm finally back home. The Las Vegas casino scene is just not for me. The casinos are pretty and exciting but if you're not interested in smoking or gambling then it all wears thin quickly.
The meetings were also wearing me down. I'm generally ready to tell them to take my job and shove it by the time its all over. The last meeting wrapped up around 11am and we broke up like aAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-62429528465982887402011-02-08T22:07:00.001-07:002011-02-08T22:18:59.116-07:00I'm on my second day of the big staff meeting in Vegas. Just like a bunch of vampires, we only get out at night. At least, this old area of Vegas has some vintage signs. I think the cowboy below showed up in the movie "Con Air".
AdiosAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-72234881200111013402011-02-06T09:01:00.000-07:002011-02-06T09:01:26.343-07:00I spend several hours yesterday working with the Southwest Archaeology Team (SWAT). We were working on the old Toltec School for Colored Students renovation down near Eloy, AZ. It was a relaxing way to spend the morning. All of the volunteers were fun to work with and it was nice to work with my hands for awhile instead of staring at a computer screen.
Below: The side (east) we were working AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-80229790709060071032011-02-04T07:39:00.005-07:002011-02-04T07:53:35.552-07:00My office thermometer reads 28 this morning and is still dropping (it's 27 now and the sun is just coming up). I'd love to complain but it would seem petty considering that folks in the Northeast are looking for ways to get rid of almost 5 feet of snow. I looked at the temperatures shown on the web sites of the Columbus Dispatch (16 deg) and Portsmouth Daily Times (23 deg) and figured I AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-61214286715857821652011-01-30T19:44:00.001-07:002011-01-30T19:59:43.868-07:00Becky and I just got home from a charity dinner that included restaurant samplers and wine tasting. The food was pretty rich stuff. We had a lot of wine and a good time with a bunch of friends at our table. The band was good but we were sitting pretty close and it got a bit loud.
I'm watching a movie (The Whole Nine Yards) while typing this. The movie isn't much so it's not much of a strain AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-87655818528826026682011-01-23T17:38:00.001-07:002011-01-25T07:17:24.663-07:00I'm trying to convert a corner of the yard to a workshop. I've kinda let a couple of storage areas get out of control. One area is on the east side of the house near where I put the new garden. I cleaned it out last weekend and took a load of junk to the dump. This week I leveled out the ground and built a workbench to mount Dad's old radial arm saw.
Before
After (I still need to layout theAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-61217962709452043722011-01-16T08:04:00.001-07:002011-01-16T16:53:01.644-07:00Kikki asked me to post this a couple of days ago. She was shredding papers for me (I know, I know, but I keep an eye on her fingers) and she was insulted to find a couple of discarded pictures of her and Grandma in the trash pile. She pulled them out and made this picture. That's Grandma to the left with the pointy head.
Becky and I went to the wedding venue that they are considering for AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-54896598185868401362011-01-15T18:22:00.000-07:002011-01-15T18:22:02.518-07:00I flew to LA yesterday for the day. Unfortunately, I had to fly into LAX. I usually avoid it because its a pretty busy airport and the rental cars are at an inconvenient location. This time a sales guy was picking me up and the job site was a few blocks away so there really wasn't much choice. It was an easy day trip without any luggage so everything went smoothly in the morning. The job AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-70813311864663135612011-01-09T09:20:00.002-07:002011-01-09T15:14:32.504-07:00I'm sitting in the play area of McDonald's writing this at 8:30am Sunday morning. We had Kikki and Bubby overnight last night. Becky got up yesterday morning to go look at wedding stuff with Sherry. I decided to let her sleep in this morning and brought the kids here. The kids are early risers and the noise level always seems to creep up no matter how often I ask them to be quiet. This trip AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-44459760911959508552011-01-03T15:16:00.001-07:002011-01-04T07:25:37.084-07:00Today is my last day off of the holiday season so I took a little walk to commemorate the occasion. I went out past Goldfield to First Water Trailhead and parked at the horse area. I hiked up the service road and cut south onto a ridge overlooking some corrals and a windmill. I wanted to get some video of the area from a high point. After waiting on a couple of other old geezers to get done AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-6080793783346983832010-12-30T07:27:00.002-07:002012-01-06T06:42:43.021-07:00Update to Yesterdays post...
The highway department closed I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff yesterday afternoon due to multiple truck crashes. It's a good thing we didn't wait around to leave.
It rained all day yesterday and looks like it could do the same today.
I put a video of the kids sledding on youtube at this link.
Becky missed getting a video of Kikki and I going down the big hill.AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-26929243730314570312010-12-29T19:24:00.001-07:002010-12-29T19:26:03.292-07:00Becky and I just got back from Flagstaff. We very quickly pushed the kids out of the van at their mom's house and ran home to collapse. Every time we do one of these road trips we swear to never do it again. As usual, the kids were getting tired on the way back. Kikki was screaming and crying at the least little irritant and Bubby was angry in the back. Cheyanne is the only one that we wouldAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-3448461785312730242010-12-25T12:30:00.000-07:002010-12-25T12:30:54.476-07:00Yesterday was Christmas Eve and we had plans to have family and friends over for appetizers. Becky and I took a little walk in the morning down at the Salt River to relax a bit before getting started. It was a beautiful day and we hiked to a large hill overlooking the river. I think it will probably be Becky's last hike of the year. She enjoyed the views and the landscape but not the burrs inAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-38914154642549838632010-12-23T17:04:00.000-07:002010-12-23T17:04:46.640-07:00We've been hustling to get ready for Christmas. It seems like something has been going on everyday. Becky got a crowd together on Monday to go Caroling. Some of the teens didn't know what caroling meant. They were a little nervous about walking up to a house unannounced, ringing the doorbell and singing. The chickens voted to send Kikki up to ring the bell. They figured no one would be AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-75792866429701194542010-12-19T09:02:00.002-07:002010-12-19T09:04:23.894-07:00We attended our last non-family Christmas party last night. Becky and I left around 8:30, came home, flopped down on our recliners and watched a movie on Netflix. I've probably mentioned this before but I bought something called a Roku box on the advice of Sherry's fiance Russell (By the way, he proposed and gave her a ring this week). I moved the cable box to the kids room to make room AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-13502808797736778282010-12-13T06:50:00.001-07:002010-12-13T06:52:22.506-07:00Sometimes I wish I slept better in the morning. I usually start getting restless around 4am. This morning I got up to pee and looked at Becky's clock and it read 5:25am. I figured, oh well might as well get up. So I went and made coffee and stumbled out to the hot tub. Around 10 minutes later I came back into the house, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to the computer to look at the newsAzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-89281661608296576182010-12-07T06:20:00.002-07:002010-12-07T06:43:43.111-07:00Thanksgiving has come and gone. Christmas is on the fast track. We spent Thanksgiving at Gina & Scott's.
The rest is kind of a blur. I built a roof for the kids playhouse on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I got smiles for a reward (sigh).
Becky had a party for work friends last Wednesday. We all got to help decorate.
We went to another work party at a teacher's house on AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-35635505281298071922010-11-21T08:50:00.002-07:002010-11-21T12:03:10.252-07:00Sherry and I pulled the camper over to Usery Mountain Park Friday morning. It's only a couple of miles away but probably a sufficient camping experience for Russell and Sherry. The kids don't care where they camp as long as it has a playground. Becky and I and Scott and Gina visited them last night around 5pm. We ate hot dogs and pasta salad washed down with wine and beer. Afterward, Scott AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-78544139718772497852010-11-14T09:29:00.000-07:002010-11-14T09:29:58.005-07:00I'm running on empty but there's one more day to go.
Becky went with me on a business trip to Vegas this week. I only needed to work thursday morning and had the afternoon free so we strolled around the main drag for a while. Vegas is like a big adult amusement park but the adult park is getting blurry. The new business plan seems to be more family freindly. You can see some the confusion AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-1875950927408383112010-11-07T18:25:00.001-07:002010-11-09T07:08:19.286-07:00Becky was in Tucson this weekend with the girls from work. She said that she had a good time but didn't sleep very well. The house where they were staying was decorated for Halloween. The life-size talking manikins of famous serial killers like Hannibal Lector standing around the house didn't work out very well for a sound sleep.
We went out to Red Lobster for a birthday lunch and then did AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-731924605218182179.post-83333349607754195182010-10-31T16:38:00.003-07:002010-10-31T20:59:50.807-07:00It's Halloween and as always we seem to be headquarters for the ghouls and ghosts. It's probably because Becky wouldn't have it any other way. Sherry and the kids are coming over around 5 and Crissy and her sisters should be here around the same time. Becky fixed some pasta salad and Sloppy Joes. I'll probably be the designated stay at home and pass out candy guy.
Crissy helped some of the AzBaritehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02424650813820646883noreply@blogger.com1