My Heart Breaks

The images from Japan are just heartbreaking.  I can’t imagine the terror and suffering those people experienced.  And now, they have to worry about radiation.  It sure makes me appreciate our good fortune even more. 

So, I won’t complain that it is supposed to be 90 degrees today :)   We actually turned on the air yesterday for a few hours.  This desert sun heats things up quickly.  The nights are beautiful!

I think it’s about time to start heading north.  We’ll be leaving Arizona a week from Thursday and making our way through New Mexico for a few weeks.  I’ve been in touch with a former co-worker from Germantown, Maria.  She lives in Taos, and we hope to meet up with her and her husband. 

We plan to be in Racine, Wisconsin on April 18th to have some repair work done on the RV.  Once we’re done there, we will head to Derge County Park in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.  We will be camphosting there for the summer.  And, the good news is that Kevin has been hired by Dodge County to be the maintenance person at the park.  He will get paid 24 hours a week to mow the lawn and other projects.  So, we get our site for the camphosting and some income from the maintenance position.  Good deal!

I’m very much looking forward to spending Easter with my family.  It will be great to see them all again! 

On Sunday we went to the Litchfield Park Art and Culinary Show in the Park.  There were quite a few booths with some amazing art.  We didn’t buy a thing, but I love to see the works created by the talented artists.  There were also some cooking demonstrations by local chefs.  It was pretty hot, so we didn’t stay to watch.  I forgot my camera, so no pictures today.

The RV park is starting to empty out.  Only about half the sites are occupied.  Although, this week is spring break for school kids in this area.  We have definitely noticed more kids in the park.  It seems many of their families have off-road vehicles, so there must be trails near here.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

More Baseball

Last Monday we met up with our friends, Paul and Anne, and their son, Andrew, at Goodyear Baseball Park to see a game between the Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds.  Paul and Anne were in Arizona for a week’s vacation.  It was so nice to see them again.  I can’t believe how big Andrew is getting!

Both baseball teams from Ohio use the Goodyear ball park for their spring training facility.  It’s another very nice park. 

We purchased lawn seats again, and enjoyed sitting in the sun. It was quite windy that day.  The Brewers won 15-2 with 25 hits.  It was a great game.

On Wednesday we all attended a game at the Brewer’s home park at Maryvale.  The Brewers lost that game to the LA Dodgers, but we still enjoyed another beautiful day.  The weather has been absolutely amazing.  It’s been in the mid to high 80s every day for several days and the forecast is for more of the same.  It cools off so nicely at night, we don’t need to use the heat or the air.  Awesome!

On Wednesday Kevin and Paul went golfing in Phoenix and had a good time.  Other than that we’ve just been taking walks, riding our bikes, and hanging out.  I have been working a few hours each day at my online virtual assistant job.  It’s going pretty well, and it’s nice to be able to earn a little extra.

We’ve now attended six baseball games with a few more on tap next week.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Surprise

Yesterday we headed about 30 miles north to the city of Surprise, Arizona to attend a game between the Brewers and the Texas Rangers.  Surprise is a newer city and looked like a very nice community.  There were great looking schools, neighborhoods, shopping areas and parks.  It looked like a nice place to live.

The ball park is home to spring training for the Rangers and the Kansas City Royals.  It’s quite a bit bigger than the park the Brewers play at.  I’m not sure I liked that.  The Brewers park has such an intimate feel to it.  You feel like you can practically reach out and touch the players.

We bought lawn seats for $7 each.  It was another hot day.  Luckily, some high clouds were overhead.  The clouds along with a slight breeze made sitting in the sun pleasant.  There was no shade available for the lawn seating.  That’s not a good thing.

Here’s the view from behind home plate.  We’re sitting on the grass behind left field under the scoreboard. 

Here’s the view of the stadium from where we were sitting.

Sometimes during spring training teams will play split squad games which means the team is split in half, and both groups will play a game.  Yesterday the Brewers played split squad games.  Only 3 starters were at the game we were at.  The Rangers were playing their full squad.  They were also in the World Series last year (although they didn’t win), so they’re a good team.  The Brewers lost 8-1.  Oh well, we still had a good time.

On Saturday we went to a Brewers home game at Maryvale.  It was Robin Yount bobble head day.  The first 2,500 fans received a bobble head from last season.  The attendance was almost 6,000, and the Brewers did not disappoint.  They beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1.

I have to tell you a funny thing I overheard a young woman say.  My family has on occasion accused me of not having common sense.  I always tell them that extremely brilliant people often lack a bit of common sense :)

This young woman must have been extremely brilliant based on her comment.  As she walked by, she said: “It must be Robin Yount day.  That must be why so many people brought their bobble head dolls.”  Obviously, she arrived too late to get one, but come on.  Too funny!

Other than attending games, we’ve been taking it easy.  We road our bikes to the grocery store on Friday and did a little laundry.  I know, tough life :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Ball Game Number Two

Yesterday we attended a game at Maryvale Park watching the Brewers take on the Chicago Cubs.  The final score was 12 to 5 in favor of the good guys. 

What a great day.   Our team beat the hometown rivals, and the weather was fantastic with sunny skies and a high of 79 degrees.  This time we sat on the grass on the third base side so the other side of our body got the sun.  About half way through the game, we actually moved to the shade.  That sun gets hot!

Here’s the lawn seating across from us on the first base side.  You can see how there is a huge area where fans can sit on the grass and enjoy the games for a great price and soak up the rays.  This lawn seating goes around the entire outfield.

I must admit, the people watching was quite interesting.  All I have to say is that some of the female Cubs fans had some very interesting outfits!

We have heard so much about the beauty of the desert when it is in bloom in spring.  I’m not sure when that’s supposed to happen, but so far I haven’t really seen anything that I would call blooming.  I did notice that after the rain last weekend, the desert seems to be getting a fine green carpet growing on it.  It’s nice to see this green out there rather than all the brown we’ve seen the past few months.

I’ve picked up two virtual assistant clerical jobs over the last few months.  So, today was spent working online and earning a bit.  Both of these jobs are still in the initial stages, but I see potential for growth.  We’ll see how it goes.

The key to success is having dreams. The mark of success is living them. ~ Unknown

A Great Day At The Ball Park

Yesterday we attended the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Opening Day Game at Maryvale Park against the San Francisco Giants.  It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 60s and sunny.  When the sun shines here in Arizona, it feels warmer than the temperature indicates, as long as the wind isn’t blowing too strong.

The ball park sells lawn seats for $8.  A few years ago when we were out here, we learned that you can sit on a grass hill all around the outfield and get a very good view of the game.  We brought our blanket and thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sun and watching the game.

As you can see, there wasn’t a very big crowd.  We were actually surprised there weren’t more people for the opening game.  We’ve heard from other people, that no one objects if you go sit in the stands if you buy lawn seats.  Obviously, it would have to be an unsold seat :)  As it gets hotter, we may try sitting in some of the shaded seats if we get too hot.

For now we were happy to sit on the grass and enjoy the sun.  We sat behind right field hoping to catch a Prince Fielder home run.  No such luck this time.  This was a split squad game so half the team was playing at the White Sox facility.  Our squad lost.  Oh well, we’re going again tomorrow.  They play against the Cubs.  It should be fun!

Even the racing sausages were in attendance.  And my favorite, Bratwurst, won.

We had some coupons for a fast food restaurant named Weinerschnitzel.  We’d never heard of it so we gave it a try after the game.  They mostly serve chili dogs.  I had a polish sandwich, and Kevin had a chili dog, chili hamburger and chili fries  He shared some fries with me :)  The food was okay, but nothing to get excited about.  We won’t go back.  We actually prefer to eat at home.  I rarely have a meal at a restaurant that I think was better than what we make at home.  And it’s usually much more expensive!

Today we road our bikes to Wal-Mart.  It’s about a 3 mile round trip.  I have a carrying pouch on the back of my bike so we were able to buy a few items.  Such an exciting day.

Merikay asked about KW hours.  Here’s what we’ve learned.  Most campgrounds charge extra for electricity if you rent by the month.  In Yuma we paid 16 cents per KW hour.  Here we’re paying 9 cents.  Obviously, rates differ greatly.  If we run everything on electric including an electric heater, we use about 30 KW hours a day.  If we run the furnace and water heater on gas, we use about 12 KW hours a day.  Depending on the price of propane, it’s usually cheaper to run heating elements on propane.  Someone told us the formula to figure it out is that one gallon of propane is equal to 22 KW hours of electricity.  So, based on that we’re currently running our water heater on electric, but using the furnace for morning heat because it is more efficient than an electric heater.  Hopefully, that explains things.  It’s probably clear as mud :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

I’ve Become Spoiled

First, I’d like to welcome new followers PB & J Adventures.

We’ve had cool and rainy weather two weekends in a row.  I’m sure many of you are crying for me right about now :)  Last night was pretty windy.  It’s been a while since wind has been an issue for me.  But last night it was blowing at the back side of us causing the bedroom slide topper to make noise.  Luckily, once the rains started, the winds died down somewhat.  We had about 1/2 inch of rain overnight.

Today it’s cold!  The high is only supposed to get to 53 degrees.  Brrrr!  Scottsdale even had a dusting of snow.  We just got rain.  Okay, so I’m being a bit sarcastic.  I know our Wisconsin readers would love to see 50 degree temps in February.  I am glad to see that the forecast is calling for high 70s by the end of the week.  Now that’s what I call baseball weather.

The clouds yesterday did help in creating a gorgeous sunrise.

Here’s our site at Leaf Verde RV Resort in Buckeye, Arizona.  This is another typical desert campground.  Basically, a large gravel lot with hookups.  But, that’s how most of them are.  There are some trees between the sites. 

We do like the price at this park.  The cost is $350 a month plus electric.  They only charge 9 cents per KW hour which they said is what the electric company charges them.  That’s almost half of what we were charged for electricity in Yuma.  We have a full hookup site with free wi-fi.  The park has a pool, rec hall, shuffleboard courts, a basketball court and laundry.  They also have some organized activities, but not too many. 

This is not a “senior” park so there are families with children.  It’s kind of nice to see kids again.  The sites are closer together than we would consider ideal, but acceptable.  Our main reason for coming to the Phoenix area was to see some Spring Training games.  This park is about 30 minutes from the Brewers facility.

On Friday we drove to Marysvale Park where the Brewers play to buy some tickets.  As we walked up to the entrance, we saw a small crowd of people.  They were waiting for the players to come back to the clubhouse from the practice fields so they could get autographs.  I was quite surprised by the number of older adults seeking autographs.  Many of them had binders with baseball cards in them.  I didn’t recognize any of the players.  Kevin said they were all minor leaguers hoping to make the big league squad this year.

The lady at the top left of the picture was getting her picture taken with any player that would cooperate.  Too funny! 

The only player I recognized was Dale Sveum and he’s no longer a player, but a coach.  I guess I’m getting old.  I had thought about getting a job with the Brewers during Spring Training in Arizona and then hopefully working for them in Milwaukee as well.  I made numerous calls to them this winter, but no one ever called me back.  The young man who sold us our tickets gave me the name of the person to talk to.  He said they usually hire a year in advance.  I’ll see if I can talk to him while we’re here.  The same guy hires in Milwaukee, so maybe I’ll get lucky.  I think it would be fun to work at the ballpark.

We bought tickets for Monday’s home opener.  Our friends Paul and Ann from Wisconsin are supposed to be coming to Phoenix for some games.  We look forward to seeing them!

The Nascar race is in Phoenix today.  Kevin enjoys watching the races, so I thought we should try to get tickets.  He didn’t think it was worth spending the money.  It’s probably a good thing since it won’t be very warm today.

We got the movie Red from Redbox yesterday.  It’s about a group of retired CIA operatives who come out of retirement.  It stars Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman.  We both really enjoyed it.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Tire Mishap

Yesterday was not one of our better days.  We left Casa Grande at about 11:00 am to travel the short distance of 90 miles to Buckeye, Arizona.  We’re staying at Leaf Verde RV Resort for a month with plans to attend several Brewers Spring Training games.

The trip appeared to go smoothly.  When we arrived at Leaf Verde, Kevin was shocked to see that there was a dent in the side of the trailer and the tread of one of the tires was completely gone.  Amazingly, the tire was still full of air.  Neither one of us noticed or heard a thing as we were driving.  Here’s what we discovered.

And here’s the tire.  You can see the steal belt!

The tread is completely stripped off.  We’re thinking it must have been flapping for a while to cause the damage.  We’re really surprised no one was honking or waving at us.

Two of the trim pieces on the side of the trailer are also cracked. 

That tire was only a little over 2 years old with less than 10,000 miles on it.  There is no way the tread should have pealed away like that!

Kevin went to the Goodyear store in Goodyear, Arizona.  By the way, he found out the town is named after the company.  It appears that tires used to be made with cotton, and the cotton was grown here in Arizona.  Who would have guessed.

The manager filed a claim with Goodyear.  We’re asking for the tire to be replaced and the damage to the trailer to be covered.  We’ll see how that goes.

We totally know that this could have been so much worse.  The fact that the tire didn’t go flat is beyond amazing.  All in all, we’re lucky we didn’t have an accident.  BUT, we’re pretty sick of stuff like this happening.  It seems to us we’ve had more than our share of bad luck with this trailer.  Hopefully, the rule of averages will kick in, and we’ll have some smooth sailing ahead :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!