December 6, to December 31, 2012 Casa Grande Part 2

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas and are enjoying this New Year’s Eve.

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I updated – WOW!  Where does the time go? 

So what have we been up to?  Well (and I will try to keep this short – :-)):

We have been reconnecting with friends we have met over the years and are enjoying getting caught up and spending time with them.

In the park, Andy and I volunteered to help out with a couple of the activities.  One of those for me has been teaching a beading class and that has been a lot of fun.  I did the activity calendar for January and enjoyed it.  The past two years there has not been an activity leader and I think if I spent a few months here, I would enjoy doing that job.  (But, alas, I start to get hitch itch after a few weeks and need to move on.)

Our Motor Home refrigerator now has a new cooling unit.  We have the 4 door Norcold that was on the recall list.  We had one fix, that failed and then the second failed so Norcold would not give us another.  So instead of getting a new refrigerator, we got an Amish Cooling Unit – so far so good.

Both of our cats, Dusty and Bella, had their appointments with a new vet that we all liked.  All is good except our Dusty has to lose some weight (like Andy and I – LOL) plus he will need some dental work in the near future.

Andy continues to have all his checkups at the VA – so far so good.  The final ones are over the next week.

I spent a wonderful day with my cousin Kris who has moved into an incredible complex.  Check out those front doors:

It was great to spend the day with her – Thanks Kris!

A group of us made our annual trip to Organ Stop Pizza.  I won’t go into the details since they were posted here:

http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2011/12/december-14-21-2011-organ-pipe-pizza.html

But I do have videos:

 

 

 

From there we went to the Mormon Temple to enjoy their incredible lights:

 

 

 

Enjoying the lights – me, Andy, Keith, and Michelle:

Our weather has been beautiful although we have had more clouds than normal.  And of course those clouds make such awesome sunsets:

  

WOW!

And as 2012 ends, Andy and I have decided to have a quiet night at home.  Both of us were sick and do not have our energy back yet.  To be honest, it is nice to just kick back and enjoy some TV.

We are thankful for being able to enjoy the life we do and count our many friends and family as blessings in our lives.

We wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2013:

Click here- A Brand New Year

Enjoy today!

Click here- A Brand New Year

November 28, 2012 – December 5, 2012 – Our time in Casa Grande – Part 1

Oh my, can’t believe it has been over a week since I have updated.   So what have we been up to???

Well, here goes… socializing and getting caught up with friends, line dancing, crafts, walking, socializing, getting our lot set up, shopping, celebrating Steve’s birthday, socializing, Friday night at our local Moose Lodge, Saturday night at the Elks, daily Happy Hours (I even MC’d one of them), watching movies (Shelly and I are doing the Twilight series), helping out in the park and did I say socializing – yes we are having fun.

Andy and Bill have been doing walks in the desert and one of the days Shelly and I went with them and took my camera.

This is Miles – Bill and Shelly’s pup:

 

Running after the guys:

There are a couple of these in this part of the desert west of Casa Grande.  They were built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1966 and used as calibration targets for the Corona spy satellites.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/11/mysterious-structures-in-chinese-desert.html

 

We found pipes – not sure what they are:

Footprints that go on forever:

And lots of deep holes:

Fire tower – with a fence around it:

Some sort of lost building – in some areas it was charred so fire???:

Neat flowers:

On December 1, 2012, Casa Grande had an Electric Light Parade.  We came into town early and here is our group by the Elks Lodge – from left to right, Brenda, Michelle, Shelly, Keith, Andy, Leland, and Bill:

 

Once the main street shut down, we were entertained by this gentleman:

Florence Avenue – with the sunset:

And the Parade Begins:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a really nice parade!  Afterwards we decided to stop into the Elks until the parking lot cleared – and had another great time – :-)):

So that is what we have been up to - .   Stay tuned for our next adventures and enjoy today.

November 27, 2012 – Travel to Casa Grande, Arizona

Our final long travel day took us thru:

 

 

Into the town of Organ and Las Cruces:

And back to the interstate (1-10) where we saw lots of these signs – LOL:

I HAVE to see this THING one day:

OH-OH:

Cool town:

Neat rocks:

Our second home place –

PECANS, WALNUTS, AND WINE – OH MY! -  What more could I ask for – LOL:

Scenes from the road:

 

 

SAGUAROS!!

Our second home street – :-))

We set up on our lot at the Escapee Park in Casa Grande – Rover’s Roost and it was like coming home again – great to see so many friends.  We will be here for the next 5-6 weeks – I may not be blogging every day but will keep you updated on what we are doing…

Until next time – enjoy today!

 

 

 

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 417 Miles

Routes Traveled:

New Mexico: Florida Avenue; First Street; US-54; US-70; I-10;

Arizona: I-10; I-8: Montgomery Road