Birthday For a 95 Year Old

This may be unusual in the general population, but probably not so rare here in Saddlebrooke.  But still a day worth celebrating!  All "the gang" was excited to experience the famous Selfie Stick.  I tried to get everyone and the mountains in the photo, but this is as good as it gets with this group.

The birthday boy is the third one down on the right.  Everyone had hamburgers and fries, except us, for dinner.  I think it was the $9 special that caused that to happen.

50 Year Trail Hike

We experienced our first organized hike of 2017 on Friday!  This is an easy, 5-mile hike not far from our home.  It ended up being a beautiful morning and we were all shedding layers as the hike progressed.  Which is a good sign.

Dave is in the black shirt.  This is his "why are stopping again for another break" pose.  I kind of felt the same way.  But most people on the hike are 20 years older than us, so it's probably important.

Jackrabbit Hill

Less than a mile from our house is an unincorporated few acres where we often see wildlife.  We are always looking for Jackrabbits because they are so unique looking, and fast.  In fact, we saw one that was enormous.  Not including the really tall ears his body seemed to be the size of a medium sized dog.  He was so fast that there was no way I could get a photo, but I will prevail one day.

On the walk home we did see something unusual.

This is not the best photo, but I believe this is a Swarm of bees.  (One resident said Killer Bees, but uh, I'm not sure about that.)  There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of bees covering what I suspect is the Queen Bee deep inside.  This Swarm was about the size of a football.  Pretty interesting.

Restaurant Dining

On New Year's Eve we joined our family for a dinner out at the local Mexican Restaurant.  It was festively decorated for the holidays.  See if you can notice a recurring theme in the photo.

If you guessed that most people we hang out with are over 85 you got it!  We have a great time with them and they are very entertaining.

Loving the Laundry Room

Our house in Arizona has an actual laundry room.  I've never had one before.  It's always been in the basement or the garage, so this is heaven.  But I knew something was missing.

Thanks to my daughter Gillian's benefits working at HP, she printed a large poster of my hero Ross Poldark.  Now the room is complete and Dave and I can sleep at night.

The Truth about Grocery Shopping

Notice that yellow part of the wheel?  I think it's the equivalent of "The Boot".  After finishing my grocery shopping at the least desirable market I pushed my cart close to my car to unload.  All of a sudden there was a loud CLUNK and the cart wouldn't go any further.  I looked down and discovered The Boot.  Somehow these tricky carts must detect when being pushed too far from the store and then The Boot hits the fan.  I had to practically carry the cart at this point to get it near my car.  Another reason to not shop at Basha's.

Driving to AZ for the third time!

Uneventful journey this year.  Which is the way I like it.  While heading towards I-8 we stopped in Westmorland to experience the famous Date Shake.  We probably passed a dozen signs on the approach advertising the Date Shake.  Sounds a little too similar to something bad that could happen to a girl at a fraternity house, but we went in anyway.  The store was fantastically stocked with all sorts of international treats, along with oodles of boxed dates.  We got our shake and it was meh.  The strip mall housing this store is a little sketchy, but once again, uneventful.