Derby Days - 2020

You can click on each picture to enlarge. 

The perfect day.  A more perfect day could not have been special ordered for Monday's Derby Days here in Juniper Ridge.  

Curry Brundrett brought this to the park and everyone, whether it was a golfer or spectator, was so glad he did.  I can't count the times I heard, "This is the most fun we've had all summer".  And it was.

Nineteen golfers gathered to have a "horse race".  Each golfer was given a "horse name" and each were given a song or a cheer when they were introduced.  It was asked that each golfer wear a costume.

The betting table was opened at 1:30 and the line was ready to place their dollars on their favorite horse to Win, Place or Show.  A total of $257 dollars was bet and every last cent was given back to the holders of the winning tickets,,, or,,,, to the horses if one won and no one bet on him or her.  Many thanks to Bruce Postel for not only working with Sharon Brundrett and Vickie Postel in running the betting table but for putting in hours figuring out the formula for paying out the winnings.

 

The golfers start to arrive to sign in, pay their entry fee and place their bets.

Spectators were encouraged to dress for the Derby too.  It was so cool that many of them did!

This pretty lady went shopping at the thrift shops and got this outfit for a steal!

At quarter to three the horses were called to post with trumpet playing First Call.  We started the opening ceremonies with the singing of The Star-Spangled Banner.  

It was time to start the race and the introduction of the horses.

Many thanks to Vickie Postel for the hours she spent getting the music just right.  Much fun was had during rehearsals and certainly the day of.  Thanks to all the "singers",  and I use that term loosely,  for having....well, for having the nerve.  Many thanks to Vickie Postel, Sharon Brundrett, Rosemary Howell, Kathy Glumbick, Jill Newland, Janet Nardeccia and Snookie Quinn.  

  Following are the golfers, his or her "horse name" and the song or cheer that they were introduced with as they took to the tee box.  I've included the song or cheer here. I don't have pictures of all the golfers as I didn't always have my camera in hand.

1) Mark Ball - Great Balls of Fire  (sung to Great Balls of Fire)

    

    You shake my nerves but it does't work

    I drive my ball so far on the turf

    It's of sight but what a thrill    

    Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!

2) Judy Bitz - Little Bitz  (Judy in Disguise)

    

    Judy on the course, she's gonna tee it up

    Hitting to the green,,,,it's going in the cup

    She might be a little Bitz, but she'll kick       your ass

    With glasses

Back to the Valley 6.28.2020

Before we get started here I want to remind you that you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

We were on the road this morning at 8:10.  An early start like we planned..... for once.  We were packed as much as we could be yesterday since we knew it was going to be hot in the valley and the weatherman nailed it today.  It topped out at 103.  We haven't even looked to see what tomorrow brings.

As usual, Boss was sound asleep after the first ten minutes on the road.

This was not the trip we wanted to make for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost Walt's surgery.  That's not ever anything to look forward to in my book.  They always involve a needle if you know me you know I don't do needles.  Walt isn't crazy about them either but he isn't a wuss like me.  Yeah, I admit it.

The second reason is the Bush fire.  We weren't looking forward to seeing the devastation of the landscape of the road we are so familiar with.  I'm sure you've heard of the fire no matter where you are reading this.  This fire has taken 186,000 acres and its the 5th largest fire in Arizona's history.

What stuck out the most was the stark difference of what we are used to and what we see now.  Heartbreaking, just heartbreaking.

The mountain was just black.

We thought this was a hot spot but then soon realized it was a dust devil.

The last time we came down here, a few weeks ago, this area was absolutely lush with greenery.

This was just all so hard to look at.

We are at Lost Dutchman State Park again.  Its our favorite.  Of course its the only state park we've been in.  Check in is normally at 3 p.m. I think.  We arrived at 11 but out of 134 campsites a whole 7 are occupied and one of those the occupant happens to work here.

This is the view from our windows.

Our view from the toi...bathroom.

Sitting under our awning.

Colors change as the sun starts to go down.

As I write this, it is 8:50 p.m..  I checked and its still 95 degrees outside with a whopping 13% humidity.

Being too hot to sit outside and not having any errands to run today we just spent the time inside watching old TV shows.  Nell, Webster, Benson and several others.  Show we had forgotten about.

As we sat there we couldn't help but notice how BROWN everything is.  We have to decided we are going to change it.  We are going to paint the boring brown cabinets and either paint the walls or put up peel and stick wallpaper.   I follow several RV sites online and making your campers truly yours is all the rage right now.  We just want the brown gone.  I've seen some where the ENTIRE interior is painted white.  Yes, the campers look bigger and nice and bright but its too stark for us, we need color.  When we get started I'll share that journey here.

We'll call it an early night since we have to be in Phoenix by 6:30 tomorrow morning.  That's a killer time to be up and out and about but its easier for Walt to get this over with first thing because his first cup of coffee has to wait.

Our First Trip This Year

June 7 - June 11, 2020

Our first trip in the camper this summer didn't take us far at all.  We're in Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction.

We are going to be here for the next few days for medical reasons for both of us.

The first thing we noticed besides this state park being all but empty is our view as we sit under the awning of the camper.  This park backs up to the Superstition Mountains.

This is not hard to take at all.

This is another view of this mountain as we drove around the park.  

The sites are all paved which we like.  There are no campfires allowed right now because everything being so dry.  Not that we would want a fire this time of year.  

When we arrived here it was in the high 80's much cooler than we anticipated.  Yes, high 80's and we thought of it as "cooler" for being the desert.

After we got set up in our site we made a run to the store for things like mustard that we forgot.  Actually, we talked about the mustard and I guess we each thought the other was putting it in the camper.  All in all we didn't forget much.

We were able to put our garden flag out.  This one is personalized with our names and town.

We settled in early since we were going to be getting up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m..  

Today, Monday, Walt is having his leg roto-rootered.  He's been having pain in his hips and its getting difficult for him to walk any length of time or distance.  Having two titanium rods and a box of screws in his back he's already seen his back surgeon to make sure there were no problems with that.  They suggested the visit to the vascular surgeon.  Since Walt had this done two years ago he is already established with this doctor.  They found some plaque buildup in the scans he had done a few weeks ago and thought it could be contributing to his problem.  

We were both under the impression that it was just the one leg and were surprised to hear that we are coming back in three weeks to do the other one.

The operation went well and we were back home by noon.  We hung around all afternoon and just enjoyed the view and the beautiful weather.

Boss especially enjoyed it.

We noticed that the saguaro cactus are in bloom while we sat out for a while Tuesday morning.

Tuesday was the day for errands.  The shopping opportunities are so much better in the valley than in Show Low so we take advantage of it while we're here.  We had 6 stops to make before we had to be at our 2 p.m appointment.

Walt & I are doing a sleep study tonight in the camper.  We had to meet with the fellow at the sleep study center to get the equipment and instructions.  Neither one of us is looking forward to it but since we both have problems with sleep it was time.  I'm tired of telling him to BREATHE!  and I can't seem to be able to sleep through the night..

We picked up subs from our (Delaware) hometown favorite, Capriotti's.  A true taste of home.  This is what makes the trip to the valley worthwhile.

Since this day was so busy it wasn't surprising that shortly after 9 p.m. we were getting this new sleeping apparatus on and making sure all green lights were flashing.  I thought for sure it would be miserable with this belt around me and the plastic tubing up my nose and that thing on my finger but I was so tired I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.  Walt said it was the same for him.

Wednesday morning it was time for our yearly physicals.  I'm proud to announce that our doctor said my EKG was textbook perfect!  Blood pressure was 121 over 70.  I'm good to go!  Until the blood work comes back that is.  Then I'll get that phone call that tells me my cholesterol is too high, my triglycerides are through the roof and I'm pre-diabetic.  I've been hearing it for years.  I really must train myself to actually take the prescriptions I get filled.

We had to get the sleep study equipment back before noon so that was our next thing to mark off our to do list.  We'll have a telephone conference with the man we've met with here next week to get our results.  We are both hoping C-Paps are not in our future.

We had a few more errands to run before we headed home.  Thank heavens Boss loves riding in the truck.   He's just happy to be with his peeps.

While waiting for our steaks to cook on the grill we watched the birds play in the cactus.

After dinner we rode all around the campground looking for the perfect site for when we come back in three weeks.  We'll see if its as good as we think it is.

We caught the sun going down this evening.

We are so ready to be home again.