Another Uneventful Game

Today we headed northwest to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to watch the Brewers play the Arizona Diamondbacks. The facility was new last year and is very nice.

I had heard on the news that the Diamondbacks had sold out several of their games this season so I ordered tickets online last week. It was a good thing I did because today ended up being a sell out as are their next four games. They actually had a record attendance today of over 12,500.

The game was another dud ending in a 0 – 0 tie. We’ve now seen 1 win, 2 ties and 3 losses. I’m hoping our team is saving themselves for the regular season. Spring Training has not been very inspiring to watch this year.

The weather was beautiful. Our two days of winter are over. Today was in the 70s and sunny. It actually felt hot sitting out there in the sun.

Yesterday we road our bikes to a shopping area near us. It’s about 3 miles round trip and there is a Fry’s food store, Wal-Mart and all kinds of other shops. In case you were feeling sorry for us because of our cold snap over the weekend, I took some pictures to show you how we are suffering here in Phoenix.

Along the way there are lots of beautiful blooming bushes including some gorgeous pink azaleas.

All of the stores with garden centers have had their plants out for a couple of weeks. Here’s a sample of what’s for sale at Lowe’s.

While we were in Tucson in February they were explaining on the news that it was safe to plant tomatoes as the threat of frost was over. All I’ve ever planted in February in Wisconsin was a shovel into a pile of snow :)  So you can stop feeling sorry for us. We’re not suffering here in “cold” Arizona. I am very happy that everyone up north is enjoying such warm weather. I sure hope it stays around for summer!

Tomorrow we are heading on a little adventure. A have a book called “The Most Scenic Drives in America”. We’re going to follow one of the routes from Flagstaff to Sedona. We’ll spend tomorrow night at a hotel in Sedona and then do some more exploring on Friday as we make our way back to Buckeye. With gas prices being so high, we figured it wouldn’t cost any more to stay in a hotel for a night, and then we don’t have to tow the RV up there. I’ve heard Sedona is beautiful and am looking forward to exploring.

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

Dinner and a Cold Front

Our son Korey was the only one who identified the person correctly on my last blog posting. The picture is of Rollie Fingers, who was an amazing closing pitcher on the Milwaukee Brewers in the early 1980s. He was known for his handlebar mustache. Carol guessed correctly that he was wearing the wrong hat. I didn’t know that he had spent most of his career as an Oakland A. So, I was taken aback when I saw him wearing that hat. To me he was only a Milwaukee Brewer.

On Saturday Frank and Betty invited us to their rental condo for dinner. They’re staying in Sun City West in a very nice one bedroom condo. They fixed a delicious corned beef and cabbage dinner. We brought a bottle of wine and an apple pie for dessert.

I had meant to bring a corkscrew with us in case they didn’t have one but forgot it. The condo did not have a corkscrew, but Frank came through. He was able to push the cork down into the bottle using a screwdriver, and we managed to drink every last drop :)

There is an orange tree growing on their patio. The blossoms smelled so nice. I could actually smell it as we walked up to the front door. Betty sent us home with a big bag of oranges from the tree and some grapefruit that were being given away at their rec center. I’ve never seen such huge grapefruit. So far, I’ve eaten two oranges and they’re very good.

On Saturday night a cold front came through Arizona. Northern Arizona was under a winter storm warning. Flagstaff has gotten two feet of snow and many roads up there were closed yesterday.

We got an inch of rain which was very welcome in the Phoenix area. They haven’t had any measurable rain since December and were two inches below average for the year. Some areas also had hail, but luckily we didn’t get any of that. Yesterday and today highs are only expected to be in the high 50s. Brrrr!

I know the Midwest has been warmer than us for two days, and I’m happy for all of you. However, I’ll take two days colder and the rest of the winter warmer :)  By the end of the week we’ll be back in the 80s.

Kevin spent most of the weekend glued to the NCAA basketball tournament. Both of the Wisconsin teams won and are still in the hunt. I did some sewing and watched some shows on the computer. The wi-fi at the park is free. Sometimes I’m able to stream video and sometimes it’s too bogged down. Today we’re going to run some errands and stop at Camping World to pick up a few supplies.

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

*Moving on Up*

Authored by Rickey Combs

After almost two years on the market, our house finally sold. Thank goodness. We didn’t get what we had originally hoped for it, but honestly, we were just glad to break even in this economy. It was hard to see no profit, but we got such a deal on our new house, that we can’t really complain. Five bedrooms, 3 and a half bath, full finished basement, granite countertops, hardwood flooring throughout, fenced in back yard on an acre. So out with the old, and in with the new! Onward and upward. Since my husband doesn’t do well with finances, or paperwork, I am the one taking on getting everything set up and connected. The thing I did first was go to http://www.satelliteinternetbroadband.com/hughesnet/New-York/R/Rochester/ to get our internet connected. Now that we have internet, I can go online to most of the other websites and have everything transferred to our new home. Let’s see, I need to have our mail forwarded, but I can do that online, have gas turned on, have electric turned on, set up a time for our security company to set up a new system, etc. Click, click, click, done! Thank you technology!

What’s Wrong With This Picture

Our family have been Milwaukee Brewers baseball fans for many years. Some of our best memories are from games Kevin and I attended in the early 80s when Harvey’s Wallbangers were playing their hearts out. Our team had such greats as Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Jim Gantner and Gorman Thomas.

On Tuesday we went to watch the Brewers play the Oakland A’s at the A’s Spring Training park, Phoenix Municipal Stadium. There were four former players there signing autographs on the concourse. I recognized one of them. But, there was one problem with what he was wearing. Here’s his picture. Can any of you guess who he is and what’s wrong with this picture?

The park is the only one in the Phoenix area that does not have lawn seating so we had to buy outfield bleacher seats. We were pretty close to the field. The seats were in the sun and it was hot with highs in the mid 80s. The park is very near the airport so we saw planes flying quite close throughout the game.

The Brewers were winning until pitcher De La Cruz came to the mound. He ended up giving up four runs and was taken out of the game before he got even a single player out. Those four runs cost us the game again. He also gave up four runs in the previous game we had been to which caused a loss. So, we had now been to four games and seen three losses and one tie. I hope it’s not a sign of what’s to come for the season.

A funny thing happened at that game. There was a family sitting in front of us with a little boy, about five years old. I foul ball came their way and the dad was able to snag it. He handed it to his son, and the little boy immediately threw it back out onto the field. After he found out he could have kept it, he felt bad and kept trying to get another one. All the people around them were also trying to get one for him. Finally, near the end of the game a ball was tossed into our area, and the man who caught it gave it to the little boy. I’m sure he’ll never live down that story :)

On Wednesday we went to Hohokam Park in Mesa which is home to the Chicago Cubs. It’s a huge stadium seating almost 13,000 fans, and it was packed. We met Frank and Betty at the game. We bought lawn seats and found a place to sit. It was again in the mid 80s and no shade. Luckily, there was a shady area under the score board where we could go and cool down a little. And, the good news is the Brewers won 10 to 2. We finally saw our first win this year!

After the game the four of us went to a Mexican restaurant in Mesa I had found online called Blue Adobe Grill. The food was very good. I had a chicken wrap which was delicious. The rest of the group had the daily special of stacked enchiladas. The prices were good, you got lots of food, and it tasted very good.

Today we had our carpets cleaned. The day we arrived at this park, I saw an RV a few sites down from us with a carpet cleaning van outside. I got the guy’s business card, and today he came to clean our carpets. This is the first time we’ve had them cleaned. He also cleaned our 5 x 7 area rug. The total bill was $90. I’m not sure if that was a good price, but it needed to be done and it looks like he did a good job.

So, now our recliners are squeezed into the kitchen and our dining chairs are outside. We’re waiting until tomorrow morning to put everything back to give it time to dry thoroughly.

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

Some Relaxing Days

We went to three ball games last week, so since Friday we’ve been hanging around the RV park and relaxing. We are staying at Leaf Verde RV Resort in Buckeye, Arizona. This is the same place we stayed last year when we came to Spring Training.

We really like this park. The monthly rate is only $350 with 9 cents per KWH for electric. Most of the sites are pull-through and somewhat close together. But, there are sites around the perimeter of the park that are back in and a little bigger and more private. Here’s our site. There is a hedge of oleander bushes behind us which gives us nice greenery to enjoy out of our back window. The area behind the bushes is undeveloped so there is nothing behind us.

The park has a pool, shuffleboard courts, a basketball area, pickle ball court, horseshoe pits, a rec hall, dog walk area, and an outdoor fire pit area with grills and picnic tables. They have a few activities, but not as many as other places we’ve stayed at. That’s fine with us. We don’t really participate in many of the planned activities. It’s a very clean and quiet park.

The pool is quite nice and a good size. There is not a hot tub, but the pool is rather warm. It was a little cool this morning, so the cover was still on it. This afternoon it warmed up to about 80 degrees. This whole week is supposed to be around 80.

We rode our bikes to the store the other day and have been walking about an hour each morning. I’ve been doing some sewing and Kevin spent the day today watching basketball and Nascar. Two of his favorite Wisconsin college teams are in the March Madness tournament so he’ll be watching those games this week. We also plan to go to a few more games at some of the away stadiums in the Phoenix area.

Last Thursday we met some friends from Wisconsin at a Brewer game. Frank and Betty (on the left) are renting a condo in Sun City West for two months this winter. They are members of the camping club we belong to in Wisconsin. Don’t you just love Frank’s hat!

Joan and Al (in the middle) are one of the couples we met up with in Tucson and cruised with. They drove up from Tucson for the game. We all had a great time even though the Brewers lost again. They’ve been winning other games we haven’t gone to, so hopefully they’ll start winning when we go!

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

Unexpected Excellent Service

One of the tires on our truck had been losing air for about a week. At first Kevin thought it was maybe just a fluke, so he pumped it up and kept an eye on it. However, after about three days it needed more air so he decided to take it in and have it looked at.

There is a Discount Tire near our RV park so he took the truck into them yesterday. They were able to take a look at it right away, and after waiting for about a half hour, they brought the truck back to him. The guy told Kevin there had been a nail in the tire, so they fixed it and balanced the tires. When Kevin asked how much the bill was, he was told it was FREE. What, unheard of!

The service consultant explained that Discount Tire does not charge for tire repairs and/or tire balancing regardless of where you bought your tires. It’s a service they provide. Kevin spent his entire career in the service end of the automotive business. He knew that fixing a tire would be at least $20. So, he gave the guy a $10 tip. Still a deal for us, and a little extra for him.

We’ve never purchased any tires from Discount Tire so can’t speak to the quality or price of their tires. Kevin did look at prices while he was waiting and thought they were pretty good. We’ll definitely keep them in mind when we are in the market for new tires.

So often we’ve had to fight with companies for good service. This was un unexpected bonus, and we thought we should give kudos to Discount Tire.

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

Baseball and Wildfires

We’ve attended two Brewers games so far. Both days the temps were in the 80s, and the weather was great for sitting outside and enjoying a ballgame. Kevin says he’s now on vacation. Apparently, the cruise to Hawaii was my vacation and Spring Training is his :)

Last Sunday the Brewers played the Giants. The final score was 1 to 1. Most of the time Spring Training games do not have extra innings, they just end in a tie. Yesterday the Brewers played the Athletics and lost 6 to 0. Our team had 2 hits and 4 errors. So far, I’m not very impressed with their performance. Hopefully, they’ll get all of the bugs worked out and perform better.

The weathermen had predicted high winds for yesterday afternoon. On our way home we saw this dirty cloud in the sky. I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to the sandstorms in the desert.

As we got closer to home, we saw what looked like smoke, but it was very orange and dirty looking, practically blocking out the sun. We weren’t sure what was going on.

When we pulled into the RV park, we saw quite a few people outside looking at the sky. I turned on the news and this is what they were reporting.

There was a brush fire several miles west of us. Luckily, the strong winds weren’t blowing it towards us. Apparently, a farmer decided to do a controlled burn, and it got out of control. No kidding, winds were predicted to be over 35 MPH. What an idiot. Here’s what it looked like from our window.

According to the news, the fire was not near any structures. The winds died down overnight, and they were able to get it under control after about 300 acres were burned.

There were 3 different wildfires reported in Arizona yesterday. Last year we were close to a fire in New Mexico, too. I guess every area has it’s weather disasters to deal with, but I don’t like these fires!

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