Frost Damage

Yesterday I took a ride through the neighborhood to assess the damage from the cold spell we had in early January. All of those beautiful Queen palms I had so admired have brown leaves. I now know that Arne and I will not be planting any Queens when we work on our landscaping. You can see the damage in these two pictures of the thousands of dollars in landscaping put in by our neighbor across the street just a few months ago. Very sad. Some plants will probably come back but it will take a LONG time.

We have had two cranes visiting the vacant lot next to us. Today, upon returnig from a Genealogy meeting, they were on our driveway. I got a picture of them moving to our neighbor's yard. At least they don't rattle or hiss.

Leaving Cold Country

Thursday I flew from Phoenix to Albuquerque. We were delayed by almost an hour due to bad weather in California which was coming to Phoenix. I was in a rental car just north of Albuquerque when I got a call from Kadin and Gracie wanting to know when I would be in Los Alamos. They were released from school at 12:30 and had a 2-hour delayed start on Friday because a winter storm was approaching. I didn't run into any problems except slushy roads once I got to LA, arriving around 3 PM. The view from Erik's living room was beautiful but I wouldn't want to live with the cold winter again.
The girls were supposed to have a basketball game on Friday and Saturday but they were cancelled. I was disappointed as it would have been fun to see them. I talked to Kadin's coach Saturday afternoon during Kadin's 9th birthday party. He told me the girls haven't grasped rebounding so if a girl from the other team shoots and the ball comes down by them, they give it back to the girl who just shot. Would have been cute to watch.

One morning, Erik made the girls pancakes. He makes them in the shape of a heart.
Kadin has wanted a dog for years. Erik compromised with a parakeet. Saturday morning we drove to the PetSmart in Santa Fe where she picked out her parakeet. After this one is trained, Gracie will be allowed to get one. I bought the cage they picked out. By Sunday night, he was sitting on their finger or hand. Kadin was very excited.Here's "Blue Raspberry" in his/her cage.
Before her party, Kadin went outside to clean the snow off their trampoline. Here's some video which shows how she turns work into fun.
Sunday was sunny and upper 30's. Not so bad until the wind picked up.Kadin and Gracie spent a couple of hours sledding down a hill on the other side of Erik's house.

Erik and I were cheering for the Vikings but alas, too many mistakes and they pretty much gave the game to the Saints. We'll be cheering for the Saints in the Super Bowl.

Less than an hour until my flight back to Orlando. I'll get home between 8 and 9 PM if all goes according to plan. Arne has been lonely and should be glad to see me. :-)

In Arizona

Arrived in Phoenix Friday around 5 PM. Am staying in Mesa with Lisa. Saturday morning I met 6 friends from Terravita for hiking in the McDowell Mountains. I made a wrong turn and caused them to wait for a good 15 minutes. They were very nice and welcomed me with open arms. We did about a 7-mile hike and then got something to eat at AJ's. So much for burning calories. :-(

Sunday morning Lisa dropped me off in Tempe, a mile from the finish line for PF Chang's Rock'n Roll Marathon. My niece, Megan, was running the half-marathon. I was to meet sister Marla and Mark to spend the afternoon with them. It took quite a bit of time to hook up even with cell phones. There were over 32,000 runners. Add to that mix all of the people waiting to greet them at the finish line, using their cell phones to locate each other and perhaps you can understand why Marla and I had to make many phone calls, some of which didn't go through because of the volume of calls. We finally got together after I took her call while in the porta pottie, known as a Kaibo in Iowa.

Sunday evening Marla's family and mine went bowling in Scottsdale. Fun time was had by all, especially Drew, Marla's 3-year-old grandson. This pic is of my 3 grandsons.

Today is Martin Luther King holiday so I took Taylor to see Avatar in 3-D. I enjoyed it. To me it was Star Wars on steroids. Excellent.

I just got home after dining at Toby Keith's in Mesa. Lisa, Nick and I were joined by grandson Aaron and Ashley.

I'm Still COLD!

Snow, Sleet in Florida Signal Arrival of More Damaging Arctic Outbreak
That white stuff on the roof of our neighbor's home is not trim. Yes, it's snow! It was gone by this afternoon when we reached our high of 38 degrees. I haven't lived in these kind of temps for 30 years. I've overheard several people remark that while it is cold, it's not as bad as where they came from...Michigan, Wisconsin, Northeastern states. I certainly can't say that as Phoenix has been in the 70's during this time. I'm flying back to Phoenix on Friday and I do hope they have some warm weather waiting for me.

Global Warming, Where are You???

We've had the lanai/patio plants in the house for several days. This morning when I started the car to go to the Fitness Center, the temp said 63 and when I returned an hour later, it read 29. I guess we have a well-insulated garage so the Corvette is nice and snug. My body hasn't experienced this much cold since my nephew's December 2004 wedding in Minnesota! I canceled my tee times for today and Friday. Meanwhile, Phoenix is basking in 70 degrees. At least some of my family is warm.

There are severe weather alerts for our area. I did a double take when I saw the word fire. To my frozen brain, a hard freeze warning and fire weather watch don't go together. Seems the humidity could dip below 35%, bringing chance of wildfire. Arne wanted to experience some weather changes and he's getting them.

From weather.com...

Severe Weather Alerts for Sumter County, Florida

Hard Freeze Warning until 9 am EST, Thu., Jan. 7, 2010

TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO REACH FREEZING SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET AND THEN DROP TO NEAR 20 DEGREES BY MORNING.

Fire Weather Watch until 5 pm EST, Thu., Jan. 7, 2010

A RED FLAG WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN VERY FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE SPREAD OF WILDFIRE ARE OCCURRING NOW... OR WILL OCCUR WITHIN 24 HOURS.

After reading over what I wrote I'm thinking the next book I should read is "Stitch 'n Bitch." It's about knitting. :-)

2010! Where did that decade go???

Seems like just yesterday that we celebrated the Millenium and Y2K fears. Time goes way too fast. So much I want to do. What will I accomplish this next decade? Check in on January 2, 2020 and I'll let you know...if I can still type.

Last Monday, Jack and Bobbi Leahy from Arizona spent the night with us. So far they are our only overnight guests and they've been here twice. No picture as I posted one on their visit during the summer.

New Year's Eve we had an open house in the neighborhood and then everyone went to another house for the second annual ball drop. It was fun and the weather was quite warm. Plus, their was a "Blue Moon," the second full moon in the month.

I played volleyball this afternoon but left halfway through. This was only my fourth time and while I appreciate the tips and suggestions, I got frustrated. I have no way to practice the things they tell me. With golf, I go to the driving range, with basketball, I go to the courts, with pickleball I can go to the court and practice the shots. With volleyball, there's no way that I've found for practicing the shots by myself. BUT, I'm not giving up yet.

Had several phone calls and one text from Kadin this week as she wanted me to tell Grandpa she'd like him to teach her piano. She didn't trust that I would tell him so she kept checking. She finally talked to Arne this morning. Hope she really does take up piano lessons. I've been talking about it for years so maybe we'll learn at the same time. :-)

Christmas Past...on to New Year's!

I hadn't played volleyball since Thanksgiving so decided to get started again today. This was just my third time with the coed volleyball group. I was missing lots of hits the first few games. I went to the restroom, looked in the mirror and told myself to quit being so hard on myself since I'm just a beginner and I WILL get better. And...I did play better as I relaxed and kept my eye on the ball. That seems to work for golf as well.:-)

I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas and remembered the Reason for the Season. Arne and I had a quiet dinner Christmas eve. In the afternoon, we had gone to Fresh Market where we bought filet Mignon and Chilean sea bass plus some salads and twice baked potato. Very delicious dinner and...easy preparation. After dinner we went to the 7 PM candlelight church service.

Christmas Day, we were invited to the neighbor's house directly behind us. Polly and Nick put out a feast. It looked like a pot luck dinner as she had prepared so many dishes. We were there for almost 4 hours and she spent over 3/4 of that time in the kitchen. Polly said next year she'd have us bring a dish but Nick said she says that EVERY year.

My Arizona family members spent Christmas Eve at Lisa's and then Christmas Day at Megan's, where Marla made a delicious dinner. Thank you, Marla and Megan, for making up for our absence. We spent 30 minutes talking to the kids through Skype, which Marla had set up on her computer. That was great and I felt like I was there with them.

Erik called to wish us Merry Christmas. He didn't have the girls this year but had a nice Christmas with his new friend, Jamie, and her family. He picked up the girls today and they are meeting Jamie in Winter Park, CO, where she has a time share for the week. Erik, Kadin and Gracie will ski. I know they have fun but I worry about them on the slopes, as well as the drive in the mountains.

Below are some pictures from sister Marla. Looks like everyone had a good time.