It's another beautiful, sunny day here in Casa Grande.  After breakfast, I took the pups for a nice long walk around the Park.  Exercise is good for them AND me!  We stopped at the largest of the many doggie areas and met some new friends!

Play Ball!  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Shall We Dance?  This little Shitzu really caught Woody's eye.

Looks like it's going to be a lazy Saturday.  Our thermometer reads 76 degrees.  An afternoon at the pool might be just the thing to do today.

Later.

The Park offers a special lunch at the main pool area every Wednesday.  It usually includes a tasty and very generous sandwich with a bag of chips, a beverage and dessert for $7.50.  We have been fairly regular in our attendance and this past Wednesday was no exception.  Our neighbors Jan & Del joined us biking to the Bistro!

Lots of folks use bicycles!

It's hard to find an interest/hobby that is not available to Park residents.  Lots of folks golf, of course, but there are plenty of people who find other ways to spend their free time, like RC airplanes, water color painting, wood working, jewelry making, sewing, etc.  Corky and I have enjoyed watching the local Detroit Lakes baseball teams play and today we spent a couple of hours in the bleachers rooting for the Palm Creek Sidewinders!

We had lunch at the Home Plate Grill, noted for having the best burgers in the Park!  They were delicious!

Oh yeah, the Sidewinders won 9-8!

Tonight we are going to the movies!  Our once every 5 years movie date--anyway we've both read Stieg Larsson's "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" and thought we'd check it out.  We enjoyed seeing it, although there were a few differences between the written and screen versions.

Later.

I apologize for being tardy with my updates, but blogging just seems to be taking a back seat to sitting on the patio in the Arizona sunshine solving crossword puzzles, chatting with passers-by and just whiling away the afternoon.

Upon our return from the Barret Jackson Auto Auction an impromptu happy hour with RV neighbors took shape (imagine that!).  Walking around all those fine automobiles really worked up a thirst, so Corky whipped up a batch of LeRoy's Beer Margaritas for all to enjoy.

Turned out that this was the week for showing off fancy-schmancy cars.  Guys just LOVE this sort of thing.  Casa Grande held their annual street fair and car show the Saturday following the Wednesday when we went to the Barrett Jackson Show.  I was on chrome overload!

If you'd like to check them out, Corky uploaded a lot of shots of his favorites on his picasa site at https://plus.google.com/photos/107223039385021571393/albums/5700239884415081185?banner=pwa


The following day we drove to Phoenix to check out the wares at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show. It's another Guy Thing.  Lots and lots of guns, knives, and people. We managed to walk through two buildings and one outside tent before we called it a day and headed back to Palm Creek for an evening of football.

The Park held a little chili cookoff competition on Tuesday, Jan. 24.  We decided to pay tribute to Milly Schockman, a school cafeteria cook who served her tasty "Ranch-Style Stew" to more than 200 youngsters in Oakes, ND by entering it into the contest.  Some 40 years ago, at Corky's request, she reduced the recipe from 300 to 10 servings so he could make it for himself.  We were hopeful that the sweet flavor of this dish would be such a contrast to the  typical spices one normally associates with chili that the judges would award a prize.  Alas, the Ranch Style Stew didn't win, place or show.  But hey, it was fun.  Here are a few pics.

Chopping those onions

Just the right amount of chili pepper

Now the secret ingredient--brown sugar!

Mix all together and cook in crock pot

There were eleven entries

The judges are starting to taste test the chilis.  Each judge tastes a spoonful or so of each dish and rates the dish numerically according to appearance, aroma, taste, consistency and after taste.  Then all the figures are tabulated to determine a winner.  

This judge is test tasting last year's 3rd place winner's chili.  The contestant was hoping for 1st this year.  (didn't happen!)

This is the Ranch Style Stew--I wonder what he's thinking!

Ay Yi Yi Yiiiiii!

On the bright side, we have lots of Ranch Style Stew left over for lunch, supper, lunch, supper, lunch, supper and a midnight snack!

Later.

On Wednesday, Jan 18 we drove to the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction, an event which is being held all week in Scottsdale at the Westworld facility.  After seeing this type of auction several times on TV, Corky was anxious to get up close and personal with some of these collectible automobiles.  The venue was ENORMOUS!!  Much of the public parking areas were nearly a mile from the site and fortunately shuttle buses were provided.  Here are a few shots, but you can view the photos we took at https://picasaweb.google.com/114333759840079016049/BarrettJacksonAutoAuctionScottsdaleAZ2012

Remember the Edsel?

Nice '65 Corvette

Hot Rods and Flames just go together! 

This is a '36 delivery truck

Driving in to the stage area

Next!

One of the Ford Displays

All for now.

Here it is Saturday Jan 14 already!  Another week has flown by.  Did lots of routine chores this week:  grocery shopping, laundry, and dog walking; but we also did a bit of exploring off Park.   


On Friday, we ventured out to a County rifle range south of town.  Corky wanted to sight-in his firearms.  He bench-shot the 25-06, first at 25 yards and then at 100 yards.  He had to make a couple tweaks to get it sighted in.  He then set a target out at about 12 yards and we took turns shooting the 45.  He gave me a quick lesson and then I put two clips into the cardboard box target down range!  (Corky's going to be VERY careful how he teases Cathy from now on!) 

On the way back from the shooting range, I had to take a few shots entering the Palm Creek Park.  So pretty.

The extremely well-attended Welcome Back Snowbirds event was hosted by the Park on Saturday.  Just about everybody turned out for the "free" hot dog and ice cream (free??? ha, ha!) and live music.  A fella in line with us opined that there were so many people waiting in line you'd think they were giving out $100 bills!!!!!!

Many of the Park's activities/clubs set up informational tables where we learned about everything from PickleBall to photography to quilting to stage productions and more.  We stopped at the Genealogy Club's table and asked if they used the GLO website.  It was good to hear that they were familiar with it and when Corky mentioned his background they immediately recognized a new resource and asked him to "speak at one of their meetings next year!"   Oh boy, maybe he can log a few volunteer hours for the BLM!!!

The band did a good job with 60's tunes--lots of "Beatle maniacs" in the group!

Club Activities representatives set up info tables

Meet "Stumpy," a desert tortoise who has found a new career in public relations.  Don't know how he lost his front leg ('cause I did not get to read the placard on his back), but he gets along quite well with his prosthesis.

After devouring our ice cream sandwiches, we left the Park and headed for Chandler where Kimm and I had hair appointments.  The drive takes about 45 minutes and traffic along I-10 becomes heavier as we near the Phoenix suburbs (not unlike DC's traffic).  Anyway, there are crazy drivers everywhere and this area is no exception.  I even took a picture of the horses' ass!   

LOL!!!!!!!

While Kimm & I were enjoying some girls' bonding at the salon, Corky & Steve did some guy stuff by assembling a new bike cart so Jenna can easily accompany her family when they take their bikes on lengthy rides.

Princess Jenna posed for a cute photo--she's into tutu's now.  Then she asked to take photos of Gus and us.  She's actually got quite a steady hand and did a fine job with the photos.

Like Father, like Daughter--our family techies!

Corky is blogging almost daily, so I encourage everyone to check out his website too www.sites.google.com/site/ccrodine 

Later.

It's mid-week two at Palm Creek already; time is flying by!  We are really enjoying the social aspect of living here; lots of little get togethers going on all week throughout the Park.  We hosted a little happy hour on last Friday evening to get acquainted with our RV neighbors.  

Brave Gayle is the first to try Corky's jambalaya!

We've established somewhat of a routine so far.  I've been getting up early enough to get myself ready for water exercise class at 9 a.m.  Although the temps are brisk at that time, the sun provides enough warmth that I can walk the 4 blocks or so to the pool without a jacket, doff the sweats, and ease into the pool without freezing.  The pool deck is mighty cold though!

While I'm at class for about an hour or so, Corky rises, makes his breakfast and then he and the boys are off for their morning walk.  There are about 5 or 6 doggie parks of various sizes here in Palm Creek and we've visited all of them.   I think Gus and Woody have made more new friends than we have!  I'll have to take along my camera next time to get a few pics of their canine chums. Here is one shot of the boys enjoying the newest (and largest) park which is still under construction.  It's a good one for large dogs and those that need to run off some energy.  

This area is probably 80'x100' in size.  Plans call for more homes to be built around it.

You can see the golf course in the background.  

We've taken part in only a few of the countless activities/events offered here; there are so many that  it's hard to decide what to do next.   They have a "special" lunch at the main poolside on Wednesdays which we've tried twice so far; they had an Arts & Craft Fair yesterday where they had almost as many vendors as our Art in the Park event in DL; there's a complimentary hot dog/ice cream get together on Saturday to welcome the snowbirds back to AZ and, of course, the neighborhood "happy hours" which Corky can't resist!

Our former BLM colleagues, Steve & Cheryl Hansen hosted a BBQ on Saturday at their beautiful home in Goodyear, AZ only about an hour's drive from Casa Grande.  Another BLM retiree, Tony Carrow, and Steve's brother Karl and wife Sharon joined the party. It was great to visit with them and reminisce about the old days and lament the lunacy of the present.   It's good to be retired!

L-R: Tony, Steve & Cheryl, Corky, Sharon & Karl

Woody says "Ooooh, I love you Cheryl, please keep scratching my neck!"

On one of our frequent shopping trips, we found a local county park that offers trap shooting, etc.  Coincidentally at the time of our visit, a competition was underway which was fun to watch.  Some of these guys are serious sharp shooters.  It is open to the public and they offer lessons, so I'm sure we'll be back.

Ooooh, time to go to water exercise.  Later.