Rain

Started to rain about 3am this morning and rained on & off till noon today. Most rain that we have seen at one time in the three winters that we have spent in Lake Havasu City. They say that if we get enough winter rain the desert will bloom with many glorious plants and flowers as soon as it begins to warm up in March or April. Teddy & I are hopeful that it will happen this year. The last time was the year before we came here.The cloud patterns after the rain were spectacular. At sunset I snapped this pict of a juxtaposition of clouds and contrails.

Packers vs Giants

Teddy & I put on our Packer shirts and watched the NFC playoff game between the Packers and the Giants tonight. With temperatures hovering around 0°F it was cold, cold, cold conditions under which to play, brrrrrr. Anyway, unfortunately the wrong team won but it was a hard fought contest under miserable conditions and either team could have won. The Pack doesn't have anything to be ashamed of.
Now I'll have to root for the Giants against the AFC's New England Patriots in the upcoming Superbowl but that's probably a forlorn hope too.
In other news, my recovery from my recent gall bladder surgery has progressed well and the soreness is just about gone. The only problem, as I see it, is that I am running out of body parts that I can get along without, having already lost my appendix, my tonsils, my foreskin, my prostate and my right knee. I suppose the mind will go next....er....um....I'm sorry...what was I talking about?

The Gall of it all!!!

2008 hasn't started out all that good for good ole' Larry.
Last Thursday evening at around 11 p.m. I started to feel slightly nauseous. It was bedtime anyway so we decided to go to bed. We had attended a little "Happy Hour" snack party in the clubhouse earlier in the evening and I was thinking that I would probably feel better in the morning.
>>>WRONG<<<
By midnight I was violently vomiting and had chest pains across my lower rib cage. Thinking that I might be experiencing a heart attack we headed for the hospital, about ten miles from here. At Havasu emergency they quickly hook me up to an EKG machine and found that my heart was just fine. Then they gave me some medications to stop the vomiting and to reduce the pain and started doing tests. At first they thought that it could be my pancreas...but some machine that went "Beep" said no, it wasn't that. Eventually I got hooked up to every expensive machine in the hospital and after 18 hours in emergency they admitted me into the hospital with a rotten gall bladder and scheduled for immediate surgery.
By now it is was Saturday morning, I have no idea what happened to Friday.
But...there's always a but, they found out that my blood was too thin to operate as I have been taking Cumiden, a blood thinner, since my knee operation in June because of my *atrial fibrillation. *(see my blog from Saturday, April 08, 2006) So they began pumping me full of Vitamin K, a blood thickener, to counteract the Cumiden.
And then, Saturday evening at about 6pm, I was good to go. Teddy had came back to the hospital with her camera on Saturday and here's what I looked like then!
Teddy said that In talking with the surgeon following the surgery he said that my gall bladder was completely rotten, swelled to six times normal size, surrounded with fat, and starting to get gangrenious.
Here's what I looked like then. Needless to say, even though I was pretty sore from the surgery, I felt much better, both mentally and physically. My surgeon, Dr. Rizzo told me that I could probably go home either Sunday evening or Monday morning.
>>>HURRAH<<<
But...remember...there's always a but, my heart went into A-fib Sunday night and the cardiologist, Dr. Aliyar wouldn't release me till he got my heart stabilized.
So finally, it is now Tuesday the 8th and I came home to applause and hearty greetings here in The Havasu RV Resort this afternoon.
And one thing is certain.
I'll never have gall bladder problems again!

New Years 2008

Monday evening we had a New Years celebration in the clubhouse complete with tons of snacks, drinks, party games, music & dancing etc. It was a good time for all.
Here are some of the early revelers as we began to gather around 8:30 pm.



And as you can see, no one wasted any time in digging into the snacks.
















Teddy and our friends Gary & Jan Morse from Bakersfield, CA enjoyed watching the dancing...well at least Teddy & Gary did, Jan seemed to be more interested in watching me take her picture.
And yes, I did dance with Teddy...I don't spend all my time taking pictures. :-)

Actually the ball in times square dropped at 10:00 pm our time here in Arizona and that was good enough for for a lot of us "senior citizens" here in the park, as many of us went home ...and to bed. Although there were a few revelers that lasted well into the new year aided by several bottles of wine.
Teddy and I wish all of our friends the very best for a most happy New Year and hope that 2008 brings good fortune to all.

Christmas 2007 revisited

We had a very nice Christmas here at Havasu Falls. Christmas eve afternoon we got together with several of our friends (there were 11 of us) for a small celebration. Our friends, Ross & Carol Peterson brought walleye filets from their home in Lake of the Woods, Ontario. The walleye was accompanied on the grill by crab legs, oysters, shrimp & stuffed mushrooms, donated by Laverne & Pat Schumacher, friends from Iowa. Teddy contributed a cherry pie made with cherries from the Schlueter fruit farm in Leelanau County, MI. Wine and other finger foods too numerous to mention made for a sinfully decadent (food wise) party.





Then on Christmas day the Park hosted a Christmas buffet dinner catered by us residents with over 50 in attendance.



The Park furnished turkey, ham and a grilled pork loin and the residents all bought a dish to pass.





Teddy made blackberry and pumpkin pies and I (of course) made my famous "Hot & Spicey Spanish Deviled Eggs Supreme".




Then tonight (the 26th) several of us met for leftovers followed by an evening of cards ("Pegs & Jokers").
My diet, which I have been religiously following since June, has been completely blown but I'll be back on it just as soon as we start the new year.

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas to all of our friends on this Christmas 12/25/2007. We hope that you are as happy and fortunate as we are and wish you all the best in 2008.

Nazzie

Nasdaq aka Nazzie likes to burrow under this rug runner to hide and pretend he is a black leopard hunting big game in Africa.
He couldn't hide from my flash though. ;-)
[click on pict for full size image]

Decorating for Christmas

The afternoon of Wed. the 12th we all met at the clubhouse to decorate for christmas

Teddy had a good time trimming the tree













Dick found this cute Santa soaking his feet.
















Al seems to be puzzled over the light strings.
















Shorty adds an orniment to the tree.
















Linda set up a Christmas house display.






Meanwhile, Laverne, Rich and the two Rays strung some lights on the outside.







Afterward we all enjoyed a soup dinner (Chili and/or homemade chicken noodle)







It was good to the last drop!





...and then we were entertained by the Colomonde Chorus, a local glee club from Lake Havasu City.


Teddy talked to the director and is going to join them in January.
It was a fun day!

Early Morning Walkers

The rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of these early morning walkers. It's about a mile for a full lap around the park and two to eight gals, depending on the morning, usually make about three or four laps and then stop into the Clubhouse for coffee.
The Guys, however don't see the point of walking in circles and every morning about six or eight of us head directly to the clubhouse for a morning bullshit session that usually lasts about two hours beginning shortly after six am. When the women come in, though we leave as we mysteriously become mute and lose our ability to speak

Clouds

It doesn't rain much here in Arizona. Most days have clear skies and full sun and the wind is nearly always from the west, however lately we had cooler weather and some rain bought in by winds from the NE. I believe it to be associated with the same weather pattern that hit Oklahoma, Nebraska & points East of us so bad. Every cloud has a silver lining though, attested by this early morning shot of clouds over the Hulalapai Mountains to the SE

Ribs

On Wednesday evenings the local American Legion Club serves ribs and last Wednesday evening a bunch of us went there for dinner.Here we are, all ready to dig in.
Clockwise from front left are Carol Dingman, Don Dingman, Gayle Valentine, Ray Valentine, Jim Babcock, Ed Bristow, Gail Bristow, Carol Babcock (with only blue shirt showing), Gary Johnson, Shirley Johnson, my empty chair, and Teddy.


This was my plate just before I attacked it with knife & fork.

My self-imposed diet managed to survive the outing as I had skipped lunch...and as you can see, I opted for sliced tomatoes instead of baked potato w/sour cream. ;-)

Larry's Weight

Click on graph for larger image.

When I checked into the hospital on June 12 they recorded my weight as 300 lbs. In other words, I had become really really fat. Most likely, that in itself was a major contributing factor to my knee deterioration. So I finally decided to get serious about loosing some weight. the above graph tracks my steady weight loss since June 12. I set a goal of losing 100 lbs in one years time and as the chart shows, I am on track to do just that. In simple terms energy in minus energy out determines ones weight, so to lose weight one must either reduce energy in through diet and/or increase energy out through exercise. Since I am pretty much a "couch potato" my success has depended mostly on restricting my caloric intake. I jokingly tell folks that I have been hungry since June but in truth after a few weeks my body has seemed to adjust and it really isn't so bad. The big thing was cutting way back on the evening snacks. At this point, I'm understandably proud of my progress so far and am pretty sure that I can make my goal but...the real test will be, once there, staying there. ;-)

Thanksgiving and beyond

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner Thursday in the clubhouse. The park donated the turkeys, hams & rolls and we residents bought individual dishes. I made my usual "Spanish Deviled Eggs" and Teddy made Tom Sykes' jalapeño cornbread & a creamed corn casserole which was very popular. We ended up with a huge feast which in addition to the ham & turkey consisted of several different versions of dressings, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry dishes, casseroles, relish trays, pies, cakes, truffles etc. (too numerous to mention) There were over seventy persons in attendance. My diet was completely busted.

THE NEXT EVENING






Then, Friday evening at 5pm several of us met for leftovers at a...












..."Day after Thanksgiving leftover dinner"








Here's where Teddy & I sat.













Oh...Oh! I think I busted my diet again. Oh well, I'm back on it today. {smile}

Kit-Cat Clock

Here's our "Kit-Cat Clock", however, it doesn't keep very good time, wakes me at five am to play, knocks things off shelves and although it seem to always be wound up, it has to be fed instead of rewound.
But would we get rid of it? NEVER!

Senior Breakfast

Senior Breakfast

Every morning for years I have had my glass of Tabasco spiced V8....and now that I'm a "Senior" I find that it is an excellent way to take my morning pills.
It's hell getting old but Tabasco & V8 make it easier. ;-)

Teddy's wash & wax loophole

Due to water & sewer restrictions they don't allow hose washing your own trailer in the park. However, there are commercial wash, wax, and detail companies that come and do a brisk business in the park with their own self contained systems which consist of water tanks, cleaning & waxing solutions, generators, electric buffers etc. We had it done twice last winter however, it can be quite expensive around $200 for a wash alone & a complete wash, wax and full detail is even more. Tough sledding for us poor midwesterners although the rich California folks with their half-a-million dollar motor homes don't seem to mind. Last Friday I came back from morning coffee and found Teddy washing the trailer by hand with a squeeze bottle, sponge and towel. It took her all day... ...and then the next day she waxed......while I watched. After 43 years of marriage she still manages to amaze me.

Happy Hour

Usually, in the early evening before dinner several of us gather near someone's RV for a snacks & drinks gabfest.

Here we are last evening gathered at the Dingmans.
Clockwise around the circle are Larry Weber, Don Dingman, Carol Dingman, Gayle Valentine, Teddy's empty chair, Carol Peterson, Ross Peterson, Jim Babcock's empty chair, Carol Babcock, Gail Bristow, Ed Bristow, Ray Valentine (partially cut off), and my empty chair as I was taking the picture.
"Where are Teddy & Jim?", you might ask. Out riding around on Jim's Honda Goldwing.
I suppose that now Teddy is going to want us to buy a Goldwing.

" 'da sun go down...'da moon come out..."

The sunsets and moon rises here in Havasu are simply gorgeous. Just in the past couple of weeks I have taken these picts. It is coming to the point that I don't even want to bother to photograph them any more. This was taken on 10/28 from rear of the park looking across the Colorado River.
...and then I turned around 180 degrees and caught this shot of the sunset reflecting off the clubhouse windows.
A couple of nights ago on Saturday evening 11/3 I shot this photo through the doorway of our trailer.
On the other hand, the moon can be quite spectacular too, especially when full as it was on 10/25 when I got this shot of the moon rising over Arizona's Hulalapai Mountain chain across the road from our RV Park.
This is what it looked like a few minutes later.

At the Car Show

Last weekend there was a big car show here in Lake Havasu with several special events scheduled throughout the weekend. On Friday afternoon Teddy & I along with Gary & Jan Morse went to a general exhibit on several blocked off streets. According to the newspaper there were some 700 plus cars parked there on Friday and they had to turn away over 100 more for lack of parking space.. We spent a couple of hours wandering around looking at Hot Rods and restored cars. For the most part I didn't know much about what I was looking at as I have never really been into cars.
Here a few of the photos that Teddy & I took.
Teddy took a picture of this "Woodie".
Don't know what this is but I like it.
Lil' red Ford
They don't make Hudsons anymore
I think this to be a Pontiac?
Cool Pick-up
Another of Teddy's favorites.
They came in every color Imaginable.
'52 Stude.
He had to cut a hole to close the hood.
Of course, you gotta' have flames!
One of my faves was this '55 Chevy Bel-Air.
But probably the best car there was this little fellow's zero emissions 'Hot-Rod'