3/30/2010 We're gettin' there!

Family and friends,

When Bob and I get done with getting the 5th wheel all cleaned, inside and out, getting our belongings transferred from the park model to the 5th wheel, get the park model cleaned and closed up, well, we are going to be in great need of a little relaxation and a good meal. So we're throwing a BBQ and you, our dear readers, are all invited! Click on this....BBQInvitation.pps for more info and directions to where we'll be. Please, be sure to RSVP!

3/29/2010 Let The Cleaning Begin!

We moved the 5th wheel over to the park yesterday and the cleaning starts today. OMG, do I have my work cut out for me! I'm going to take pictures so you can see what happens when you leave a window "cracked" for circulation. Can you say lesson learned?

Let the Cleaning Begin!

3/19 – 3/23/2010 Playin’ Catch-up Again….STILL!

Here I am playin’ catch up again still. With getting ready to pull out of here for the summer season and attending get togethers and end of season parties, well there just isn’t enough hours in the day.

So what have we been up to? Last Friday, the 19th, we had our mini golf end of season party.

After lots of good food, cash prizes were given out to those who finished in the top end for the last session. My partner, Gary, and I split ten dollars for fourth place.

A few door prizes were given out such as this little golfer who spins around on the green and can land on a directive such as MORE BEER.

Our friend Bev also won a prize.

She was happy with her winnings, a statue of a golfer.

After eats and prizes we went outside to play under the lights, BUT not before Bob Archer explained to us how we would be doing hole # 1.

Yes, we will use this huge club that is the perfect length for a 3 year old and large soft rubber ball. I can’t wait to see some of the men bending down to use this club!

It took me six tries to get this oversized golf ball in the hole. I’m glad was in the company of many who also had the same problem.

On behalf of the mini golf players I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to Bob and Nel Archer…..

……for the effort they put into making sure the mini golf sessions run smoothly and more importantly ….. are FUN!

Saturday brought four hours at the pool for me and that was three hours too many. Can you say SUNBURN?

Sunday I spent the day at Mesa Market with friends Betty and Warren. Bob had things he wanted to do around the house so he stayed behind.

Monday was a beautiful day here in the desert, sunny, warm but I was still too red to go to the pool. Monday evening I had the pool league party to go to.

Tuesday night Bob had his pool league party.

FOOD! Every time we turn around its another eating function. Everyone is complaining that they are adding pounds because I can tell you right now, there is NOT a bad cook in this park. Yep, we’re all complaining but we are all still shoveling it in like there is no tomorrow.

The park is starting to empty. Everyday more and more rigs are leaving. There are large gaps in the rows where RV’s once parked. Our friends are gone or are leaving soon, some to go home for the summer, some on to their next workamping job, some just to travel until it is once again time to return to the desert for yet another winter. I don’t like this time of year.

3/14 – 3/18 A Few Days at a Time

To get this caught up once again I thought I’d do these last few days all in the one post. I can do that because we haven’t really done too much.

Bob has started going through the shed cleaning things out, deciding what is going with us when we hit the road in a few weeks and what can stay here in the heat of the summer.

I’ve started cleaning out clothes that I’m ready to part with and have donated them to the local women’s shelter for those who left their homes with nothing. I have more in the 5th wheel to donate and will once we bring the rig over to the park for loading.

We have been having temps in the high 70’s to mid 80’s so I’ve been to the pool, Bob not being a pool person or one to lay in the sun has stayed away.

On Thursday we attended a “Ruin Your Dinner” afternoon dessert party. Twenty of us gathered and everyone brought a dessert and at 2:30 we ate…..and ate. No one wanted dinner so the party was a success!

That’s it in a nutshell!

3/13/2010 Ostrich Festival part 3

I’m hoping to finish up this post with this installment. When you take 181 pictures and narrow it down to about 120 and have to narrow it down even more for the blog…well, it takes time.

So we left the Freak Show and saw a crowd walking towards these two very big poles sticking up out of the ground. We had to find out what was going on.

Turns out, this is a carnival ride! NOT one I’d ever get on. For one thing I wouldn’t pay $25.00 for a two minute thrill. Still I had to check this out.

Two people get into this small capsule. They can have nothing in their pockets, no sunglasses, no shoes and they can not be carrying anything such as purse.

After being seated securely in the capsule the riders are then slingshot-ed into the air 200 feet at 100 miles per hour. The rider’s experience 5 G’s!!!

There’s NO WAY I would do this! Jump out of an airplane, sure, but no way would I do this! The funny part is, the capsule is wired with a microphone so we could hear their reactions and screams. I don’t know if they are told to watch their language or not but their voices can be clearly heard from the loud speakers on the ground. This fella let out an “Oh Sh_t as he was being catapulted towards the heavens. I would hope there is some kind of six second delay or someone may be very offended and some kids could hear some words they shouldn’t.

It was time move on and see what else the festival had to offer.

We passed this zip line for little kids and they just seemed to love the flying through the air.

Our next stop was the Dog Docks. Here is where a large pool is set up with platform next to it. A ball or stick is thrown into the water and dog jumps after it. This is all we saw while we were in the area so maybe there was some type of show and if there was, we missed it.

Carnivals sure have gotten a lot more colorful since I was a kid.

And I don’t remember so many rides that turned you upside down.

This is where Donna and Bill and us parted ways. They went in search of something to eat and we went to check out the booths lining the walkway.

What a great day this was. Lots of fun with good friends.

3/13/2010 Ostrich Festival part 2

NOTE: I have added more to the post titled Ostriches & Camels & Emus, Oh My!

This post is a continuation of the previous post due to the length of it.

FREAK SHOW

What’s a festival or carnival without a FREAK SHOW??? This is one we are glad we saw.

The show’s leader, I believe his name was The Reverend Tommy Gunn, kept things running smoothly.

He soon introduced his show partners. (L to R) Kitty Karloff, Alice of Malice and Amy Amnesia.

Tommy Gunn asked for a volunteer from the audience and my friend Donna was chosen from all the people wildly waving their hands in the air. To clarify that, Donna was NOT waving wildly, everyone else was.

Donna was first given a good size nail, or small spike if you will, to inspect and examine. She determined that it was in fact made of steel and didn’t fold into itself in any way.

Next came the hammer which again she inspected and assured the audience that was in fact a real hammer.

Tommy Gunn explained to the audience what he was going to do. He was going to insert that small spike up his nose. Ewwwwwww!

And he promptly proceeded to do so with Donna as his witness. Look in the picture below at his nose.

Tommy Gunn then needed help getting the small spike out of his nose so Donna came to the rescue with a pair of pliers and pulled it out.

For her participation Donna got this super-duper bumper sticker!

Alice of Malice was next and here is showing the crowd a good sized mouse trap and that it is in fact a real one and that is soundly snaps when triggered.

Now what do you think sweet Alice of Malice did with that mousetrap?If you guessed she set it off on her hand you would be wrong. However if you guessed she set it off on her tongue…..well, you’d win the prize if there was one. Between you and me, I could think of dozens of other things I’d rather do for work than this.

Amy Amnesia was up next for our entertainment and wouldn’t you agree she looks a mite perplexed in the picture below?

I guess I would be too if I had to walk up that ladder with steps made of sharp knives. See the cucumber that is sliced up on the ground? Yep, very neatly sliced by the stair steps.

Up she goes…..

….step by step

….what goes up, must come down.

Of course when Amy Amnesia got to the bottom she showed the audience the bottom of her feet and not a scratch was to be seen.

Kitty Karloff was next, her act being glass walking.

She dumped a large pile of broken glass on the tarp and very gingerly stepped on it.

Not only did she step on it and she walked a few steps….

To show the crowd how really stupid brave she was, she proceeded to jump up and down.

Now trust me, the boys and men in the audience were not watching her feet! They were watching to see if those ginormous fake boobs were going to fall out of that top!

Amy Amnesia was back up again to show us how she could get herself out of chains and a straightjacket.

Did you really have any doubt?

Kitty Karloff was on again with “her specialty”. She blew up a balloon, the long skinny type that a balloon animal would be made out of. I have to tell you that most of the women didn’t see this feat because they were too busy watching their husbands and boyfriends.

You could have heard a pin drop in this tent!

Soon after the above picture was taken Kitty took a straight pin and popped that balloon and pulled it out. The crowd men went wild with applause.

Up next, the freak show standard. The BED OF NAILS. Alice invited audience members up to check the bed out and to make sure that the nails were made of stainless steel and had pointy ends.

Amy came out to lay down on the bed.

As if that wasn’t enough, out came the cinder block!

Tommy Gunn brought out the mallet with which to break the cinder block.

The show was all but over but of course there has to be some way for the performers to make some extra money. No hat passing here, no DVD’s to be sold, what could they possibly do to bring in the bucks?

How about DOLLAR BILL STAPLING????

Yes, indeedy, let’s staple dollar bills to the performers!!!!

Doesn’t this just want to make you quit your job and join the FREAK SHOW????

They all got into the act!

Ahhh…a memory this child will have for life!

And that, friends, is the Freak Show!

Stay tuned, there’s still more to come!