Christmas 2008

Today we celebrated Christmas with a dinner in the clubhouse.

The tables were all decorated by some of the snowbirds here in the park. Here are Fran Clark and Donna Vig hard at work making table decorations.








I drilled half-inch holes in these glass blocks and then Teddy threaded Christmas lights inside to use as table center pieces. After the dinner was over we drew names and gave them away to six lucky recipients.


By 5 pm on Christmas eve we had the tables all set up.

At 3pm this afternoon we gathered at the clubhouse and I, as is my wont, had again written a poem for the event which I read to the assemblage before dinner.
Gad, I'm such a ham!


A visit from Saint Havasu

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the park,
The ladies were cooking, even Fran Clark.
Ovens were lit; cookies were baking.
I didn’t have a clue of what Teddy was making.

Jim Over was playing; his pipes were ‘a dronin’,
And Irene with her cell phone the grandkids was phonin’.
At Dingmans Carol was trying to be heard,
But Don with his hearing aid off hadn’t heard a word.

At Babcocks Jim was making his pie,
And dreaming of Carol, a tear in his eye.
Buck-up Jim No time for tears
She will be back in time for New Years.

And now, it’s here, it’s Christmas day,
Where the time went, I cannot say.
The years go by like Larry King’s wives,
Faster even than Larry Weber drives.

Now we must pause and think of those
Who cannot be here; Petersons & Bristows.
But they’ll be back, of that I’m assured,
With surgeries done and troubles cured.

But lets get back to the subject at hand,
And this glorious dinner that Pat has planned
The table’s piled high with goodies galore;
There’s naught among us could ask for more

Laverne & Pat have been working hard,
We all hold them in high regard.
We shout to them three cheers, at least,
For they have arranged this glorious feast.

So now we partake in our Christmas feast day
You see before you a glorious buffet
So pile your plates with gravy & taters’
Turkey, dressing and sliced tomaters’
Just help yourself, there are no waiters.

And later on after you depart,
And are about to pass an after dinner fart
Just pour yourself another glass of wine
Let’s do this again in two-thousand nine

Larry Page 12/25/2008

Then we went straight to the business at hand!
We had turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes & gravy, and a host of casseroles and deserts bought by the park residents. I, of course, made my famous "Spanish Deviled Eggs Supreme"
and Teddy made two clafoutis. (see our blog of August 20, 2008)

A good day! :-)

Stand by Me

Playing For Change: Song Around the World | Stand By Me from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Saturday Breakfast

Every Saturday morning from 8 till 9:30 volunteer snowbird residents of the park host a breakfast in the clubhouse. We serve up scrambled eggs, sausages, biscuits & gravy, waffles, juice and coffee. For legal reasons we don’t charge but instead ask for a “freewill” donation; most folks throw in a fiver per breakfast which covers our expenses and allows us to make a small profit which we use to finance our daily morning coffee in the clubhouse with pastries on Wednesdays. And also put on dinners at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines and St. Pats day. Yesterday, Dec. 20 was the second breakfast of this winter and we will continue through March.




Here are some of the kitchen staff getting ready for the morning rush.






Teddy and I both volunteer…she does pre breakfast set-up and works the dining room and I make waffles to order.









Here are some of the hungry RVers enjoying their breakfast.
(note: That's Teddy in the purple shirt walking down the aisle serving coffee.)




And, of course, there's always some washin'-up to do afterward as Gail Valentine & Teddy can attest.








I not only have a lot of fun making and hawking my wares but also get to enjoy a great breakfast at a good price.

Monday Martinis (a tradition)

In our previous life before we went “fulltime” we had a tradition that stretched back over some thirty odd years of hosting what was known as “Martini Monday” at our home. Several of our friends would drop in around 5 pm on Mondays for martinis and sometimes snacks. The rule was that you had to have two martinis, no more, no less because martinis were like boobs, i.e. “One’s not enough and three’s too many”.
It all started with my good friend Kevin Fenner who lived in Appleton at the time. Kevin worked with me at Lawrence University and we started to meet at my house for martinis on Mondays after work. Before long we became martini snobs and even experimented with stuffing our own olives by replacing the paste pimentos that come in store bought olives with real pimentos. We also made them sans ice, eschewing ice for fear of diluting the martini. Instead we kept the gin in the freezer and the vermouth in the refrigerator. We also began adding, in addition to an olive, a pickled onion and a “little tickler”* to each martini under the theory that it was healthy to eat vegetables and decided that three was the optimum number. After a time we were joined by another friend, Lawrence alum Dick Orr who had moved to Appleton to open a Law Office.
The years went by and Kevin’s job took him to Naperville, ILL but Dick and I faithfully kept up the Monday Martini tradition, with other friends and/or wives joining us on occasion. Eventually the core group of Monday Martini club members stabilized to myself & Teddy, Dick & Jenny Orr, Tom & Carol Sykes, and Greg Madson. While we all couldn’t always make every Monday invariably one or two members always seemed to show up and if Teddy & I couldn’t host for some reason it would get shifted to someone else’s house.
I must say that we were probably responsible for a significant amount of the gin sales in Appleton.
Fast forward to 2005. Teddy and I decide to sell our home, buy an RV and hit the road as fulltime Rvers. Would this be the end of the Monday Martini club? Not on your life, the remaining members have stepped into the breech and alternately host it. And I, wherever I am, always have my martini at ~5pm on Mondays. However I am now in the habit of substituting a Jalapeño slice for the “little tickler”* and, depending on the time difference, I sometimes phone back to Appleton to check in.
LONG LIVE MONDAY MARTINIS


*Little Tickler – A small olive size pickled tomato

Traverse City snow scene

My brother and sister-in-law, Lyle & Kathy Page recently emailed me this photo of their home in Traverse City, Michigan taken after an overnight snowstorm. While it is a beautiful Christmas card type scene, it doesn't seem nearly as beautiful after two hours of shoveling just to get your car out of the garage. Just thinking about it makes me happy that we are now spending our winters in Arizona.
Merry Christmas Lyle & Kathy, bet you can't wait to head for Myrtle Beach, SC, where you usually spend the winters.
You should come to Arizona this winter, there's an empty RV spot right next to us. ;-)

Decorating for Christmas

Yesterday afternoon we all met at the clubhouse to decorate it for the Christmas holiday season. While the others decorated I wandered around snapping picts.





Teddy and Sharon started by putting strings of lights on the tree.



















Meanwhile Jim V. decided to try and untangle the outside lights...
























...and Ray V. thought he could help.
















And then in turn, first George...






















...and then Al got in the act.




Eventually they got them all straightened out.















So that Shorty and Laverne could take them and start on the outside decorations.
















Leo and Ray U. were in charge of setting up the music system.













Donna was hard at work preparing a table display.



















After the tree lights were all strung, Teddy and Fran unpacked the tree ornaments.


Finally it was done and the tree was lit in all of it's glory.

In the meantime Pat was in the kitchen making chili and potato soup to feed the hungry volunteers.













I had the chili and Teddy had the potato.
It was a real fun day!

Happy Hour!

Sorry to have not blogged recently but have been busy on another of my projects, making aluminum game boards for P&G. Will post a blog on them when the project is finished.

In the meantime, yesterday was this winters first all-park "Happy Hour Thursday" in the clubhouse. From now till spring we will gather in the clubhouse for a park wide BYOB get-together at ~ 4:00 pm on Thursdays.

Here are some of the folks just getting started. Notice how happy they look!








Most folks bring goodies as well...here is the goodie table after being attacked by the hungry hordes.
















On other days of the week a lot of us gather in smaller groups outside of each others trailer or MH for drinks at around the same hour of the day. I generally will have a Scotch except on Mondays which is, of course, "Martini Monday" as our good friends in Appleton will attest.

Thanksgiving at Havasu Falls RV Resort

.
Out of the RV and across the park
To the Havasu clubhouse we go;
See the Nescos all set up
And the tables all in a row.

Out of the RV and across the park,
Look at the snowbirds go,
As they limp and shuffle all the way
The going is awfully slow.

Out of the RV and across the park,
Hurry-up don’t be late.
Line up at the buffet table
And fill-up your paper plate.

Out of the RV and across the park
Bring your dish to pass.
Lime flavored Jell-O with peas on the bottom;
It’s sure to give you gas!.

Out of the RV and across the park
Bring your bottle of Tums;
And don’t forget your false teeth set,
Or you’ll be chewing with your gums.

Out of the RV and across the park
I’m sure that you have heard;
The park has donated a great big turkey
And the staff has cooked the bird!.

Out of the RV and across the park
After the dinner’s done;
It’s back to the RV for a nap
Isn’t retirement fun?

.                                                                                    Larry Page 11/27/2008

Home Improvements (shutters)

As a homeowner when we had our home in Appleton, WI, I tended to be what I call "project oriented", meaning that I enjoyed "do-it-yourself projects around the home. I always felt that it was better to tackle a job that you could do yourself rather than pay someone else. My theory was that I should at least start the job and if I got in over my head then that was the time to bring in the experts. And through the years I gained valuable skills in carpentry, roofing, plumbing, electrical etc. I would be working on a project and heading out to the garage for something and my next door neighbor, Norbert Schemm would yell over at me, "What'cha doin' now, Larry!" and my standard answer was always, "Home Improvements, Norbert." Well...when we sold the house and started the full-time RV lifestyle I originally thought that my home project days were over, but it was not to be. Owning and living in an RV presents the same if not more challenges as living in a "stick built" house. As well as normal maintenance I am always looking for modification ideas. (see our blog of Sept. 24)
The latest was to replace the pleated curtains in the Cardinal with something more substantial. Pleated blinds and soffits are de rigueur In just about all of the pull-behinds, fifth wheels and motorhomes sold and ours was no different. They look nice and work reasonably well for occasional casual use. However, with the repeated use of a fulltime living the pull strings wear out and/or the pleats get distorted. So when the strings on the large blinds on our rear picture window failed recently Teddy and I decided to go with something different rather than restringing them. On a shopping trip to Lowes we spotted moveable shutters and I decided that I could adapt them to the Cardinal. I just finished the job and we are well pleased with the result.Here are the original pleated blinds...

...and here are the new shutters.

They should outlast the blinds by a long shot.

House on the Rock

All Wisconsinites are familiar with Wisconsin's famous landmark"The House on the Rock". From time to time we see an example of an Arizona house on a Rock, .ie., a home built high on a mountain ridge or mountain side. They always appear to be quite palatial and isolated from nearby homes. To get to such a home one would also have to have built an access road, not always apparent to the casual viewer. Here is an example that I shot the other day from a city street in Lake Havasu City. While it must be nice to have that kind of money, I think that I would prefer to live in closer contact with others. Here in the RV park there is always someone around with whom to share a howdy, a cup of coffee, or a story with. ;-)

Why are we voting for Barack Obama?

Why are we voting for Barack Obama? One reason is the difference in the tenor of their campaigns. Is Barack Obama saying nasty things about John McCain or Sarah Palin? No, he has always spoken respectfully about McCain and simply blew off Palin as the divisive ploy that she is. Are the Democrats or any of their supporters spreading false hateful, racist, fear-mongering literature and phone messages in these final desperate hours? Not a one.

Perhaps we no longer recognize true leadership because of the vacuum that has been created by the two party system, and the resulting nasty politics has not encouraged the best and the brightest to the forefront, but instead promote the most politically malleable. But Barack Obama beat the system with his leadership abilities. The Democratic Machine did not have him in mind as the candidate - the heir to the throne was supposed to be Hillary Clinton. Instead, Senator Obama inspired millions of people who had never voted in a primary in their lives to come to the polls and the caucuses and, because he inspires respect and ability and trust, (you know, the stuff that leadership entails) he was chosen as the nominee.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a really really smart person in the White House? Someone who is an expert on the Constitution, who will listen to divergent viewpoints and make well-informed decisions that are best for the entire nation instead of his own political party?

Obama is a Christian- not a Muslim. But, even if he was a Muslim, as Colin Powell says, "Why would that matter? It shouldn't in the United States of America," a country founded on the very notion of religious tolerance.
When a party is out of ideas- when they have nothing positive to run on, they use fear and and wedge issues as a platform. FDR cleaned up after Hoover- Clinton after Bush I. McCain and his party are not equipped to clean up after the mess made by Bush II- Obama is.

And lastly, McCain is 72 years old and has had four melanomas. There are many doctors who believe his life expectancy is less than one term in office. The idea of a President Palin scares the hell out of us and it should you too.

The First Name Basis Sinage Project

A sometimes hobby of mine is The First Name Basis Sinage Project which involves taking photos of signs advertising businesses/places, etc that are named after someone's first name, such as "Jim's Barber shop" or "Shorty's Pizza". It all began several years ago in the 90s when I began collecting photos of such signs just named "Larry's Whatever" thanks to my friend "Kevin Fenner" who gave me such a picture as a joke. However I later discovered some other folks (The Stakhanovite Twins) that had organized an online photo group that were seriously doing the same thing but not restricted to just one name.
It can become somewhat obsessive and Teddy thinks it to be a little bit crazy and refuses to accompany me on my occasional photo safaris to find such places. The photos are all on Flickr, which is an online photo storage site where one can upload photos so that you can share with others. I have also kept on collecting my more narrowly defined "Larry" pictures and have started an open group for just those picts here. I also have started another group reserved just for pictures of people named "Larry".
When there are enough of us, We will rule the world!  he...he....he....he....he

Havasu Falls RV Resort

We are now in Lake Havasu City, Arizona at the Havasu Falls RV Resort where we intend to spend the major part of this winter. This will be our fourth winter at this park, first stopping here for two months in Februrary '06. We have made many friends with the other snowbird regulars here and it is always good to see them all again to catch up on their summer adventures.
We arrived here on Tuesday October 14th after an uneventful four hour trip from Pahrump, Nevada where we had been for the last month. Our friends Rob & Sharon from Kenosha, WI, Jerry & Barb from Bronson, MI and Buzz & Linda from Custer, SD were already here. Don & Carol from Wheatland, WY arrived an hour before us and Jim & Carol from Terrebonne, OR arrived yesterday, Friday. So the past few days have been filled with hugs, kisses, hearty handshakes and inquires as to each other's health. After all, we are all pill poppin' old farts. ;-)

Pahrump

Before we leave Pahrump and head on down to Lake Havasu City, we want to let you know a little about the area. Pahrump is 60 miles west of Las Vegas over the Spring Mountains. About 45 miles east of Death Valley, and about 100 miles from Area 51. Pahrump serves as the eastern gateway to Death Valley National Park. Tucked into a long, narrow desert valley, Pahrump is surrounded by public land with Charleston Peak and the Spring Mountains to the east. The mountains to the west of town are the Nopah Mountains which you drive thru on your way to Death Valley. From Vegas you drive the Blue Diamond highway west, and climb up to 5,400 ft and go over the Spring Mountain range. Once over the summit there is a long valley ahead of you leading to Pahrump. The town is at an elevation of 2,725'. The name Pahrump comes from the Southern Paiutes. Pah meaning water, Rimpi meaning rock. Pah Rimpi became Pahrump, the Paiute description for springs or flowing water emerging from rock. There are springs here and at the turn of the century they grew cotton in the valley. The valley is 26 miles long and about 12 miles wide. The population of Pahrump was 24,631 as of the 2000 census, and is presently estimated to be in excess of 32,000. There are several large casinos, and gambling is available just about everywhere. Pahrump is also the location of the closest legal brothels to Las Vegas, including perhaps its most famous, the Chicken Ranch. However brothels are not allowed within the city limits. At one time Heidi Fleiss wanted to open a brothel here for women! We are staying at Terribles Lakeside Casino & RV Resort with 159 RV sites surrounding a spring fed seven- acre man made lake, about 5 miles from downtown. Modern Pahrump is a rambunctious little city, one of the fastest growing communities in the west. It attracts refugees from Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and much of it is still the modest pioneer amalgam of mobile home, cinder block and crackerbox homes. Lately, though, new urban features are conspicuous — there's a two-story bank building, three bright casinos now compete for attention along the highway (Nevada 160), and the tasting room at the Pahrump Valley Winery on Winery Road is busier than ever. There are three traffic lights, city-sized supermarkets, a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and a brand new Home Depot (can Lowe’s be far behind?). The first light is bordered by the Nugget Casino, Terrible's Downtown Casino, Walgreen's, and the Bank of America on the 4 corners and that is the main intersection. The Casinos have on-going buffets which are quite good and very economical. Teddy and I had dinner at the Nugget Casino on Wednesday evening 10/8 (2 for 1 night) for $9.60 total. There is also a sizable retirement community here. Honeysuckle is highly recommended by local nurseries as a great plant for your yard. Grows easily and likes the desert! The mountains are rock, rocks of all colors, no vegetation, and they loom so beautifully. The light bouncing off the many colored rocks changes the colors. It is never the same. The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. The mountains show them off so well. Few houses have "lawns." Most yards are landscaped in desert rock, cactus of all kinds, mesquite, and cowboy/western motif! Very low maintenance! No wasted water here.
We really like this park and have already made reservations for the month of April after we leave Lake Havasu City.

Gunplay in Pahrump

On Friday night Sept 19 I was awakened at about 2:30 am with what sounded to me like gunshots. Nah, I thinks to myself, can’t be must be some over enthusiastic fireworks fan.
Then about five minutes later there were several reports in rapid succession accompanied by police sirens and fast moving car engines that left no doubt in my mind. “What the hell is going on”, I sez to myself as I got up to investigate. Stepping from the trailer I witnessed several muzzle flashes from behind the rest rooms (about 100 yds away) and about that time an officer yelled at me to get back inside. Thinking that that was an excellent suggestion, I immediately complied and by then Teddy also was up. For the next 45 minutes we (stupidly) sat by the window and witnessed that turned out to be a gun battle between the local police and a well armed nutcase. He evidently had been drinking and got into a violent argument with his wife, shot up her computer and his motorhome and then armed with two automatic handguns and a carbine rifle took a position behind some rocks for the ensuing gun battle where he ambushed and wounded two police officers.
We later found out that he was a “Gulf War” combat vet so he definitely knew how to fight. He was eventually shot and captured and as of now, was released from the hospital and is sitting in jail under a two million dollar bond awaiting prosecution. The two police officers that were shot are also recovering in a Las Vegas hospital.
Several campers suffered bullet damage to their Rvs and or trucks/cars from either direct shots or ricochets but no campers were injured. Thankfully we were spared. The camper across the road from us got two bullets in his motorhome including one into his refrigerator and an Alfa fifth wheel got a bullet through his large rear window. The motorhome where it all started is one of those several hundred thousand dollar models and is still sitting there about a 1/2 block from us. I understand that they can’t move it as he shot up the engine as well as the hydraulic system so that they cannot raise the landing jacks. It appears that they will have to get a large wrecker in here to move it. The police tend to get really pissed when one of their own gets shot in the line of duty so I don’t think that he will be using it any more as he will in all likelihood be spending the rest of his days in the greybar hotel.Here is a scan of the newspaper account that came out the following week. (Click on it for a larger image) (The local Pahrump paper only publishes once a week)
All I can say is, "Things just get weirder and weirdier."

Home Improvements (counter extension)

From time to time we come up with an idea to modify and/or improve on our home on wheels. Last week I embarked on a project to add a foldable counter extension on the back side of our kitchen sink counter.Here is a pict of the finished project. We just finished it today and are pleased with the result. I purchased a pine table top at the local Home Depot, cut it to size with my skill saw and Teddy stained & varnished it. Now we have a breakfast nook in addition to our dining table. I attached it to the underside of the sink counter with a long piano hinge; I then made a fold out support on the right side as I could attach the support to the vertical end of the counter. However, the left end of the shelf ended in a portion of the the sink cabinet where it was too flimsy to attach a support to.



At first I intended on removing the back panel and beef up the counter but with a sudden burst of creative insight, came up with the idea of making a table leg from a baseball bat.











I found this Louisville Slugger at Amazon.com for $24.95. I attached a leg leveler on the handle end and a table leg stud on the other end and...VOLA! A cute table leg support.








Here it is in the travel position. It has to be folded down for travel so that the TV/Computer slide can be retracted.









The final step was to find two counter height (24") stools. A Google search came up with these European designed birch bentwood stools. A big bonus for us is that they are remarkably light, weighing less than ten pounds each and stackable for space saving storage when we travel.

All in all Teddy and I are very pleased with the way that this project turned out....
...and we had dinner on our new countertop tonight.

The Trip West

We are now safely ensconced at Terribles Lakeside RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada. We left Michigan on August 31 and drove through Michigan's UP to Escanaba where we stayed overnight in the driveway of our RV friends, Dan & Pat Martenson. They took us on a sightseeing drive around the Escanaba area after which Pat had prepared another of her wonderful dinners complete with homemade rhubarb pie. In the evening we played "Mexican Train" dominoes and stayed up talking until well after midnight.
The next morning, Sept. 1 we continued on to Appleton and dropped anchor at Appleton Camping to have some warranty work done on the Cardinal. They kindly let us park in the back of their lot and provided us with electricity. Since it was Labor Day weekend we had to wait until Wednesday the 3rd before they could start the repairs. We didn't mind the wait as it gave us time to visit with our son and daughter-in-law, Mike & Toni. During our stay we also were treated to a dinner with our friends, Dick & Jenny Orr, Tom & Carol Sykes, and Wes Evans at the "Orr House" Jen, as usual put on a great feed. During the week we also had lunch with our friends, Tony Welhouse and his sister Becky Welhouse.
Our repairs finally completed, we again hit the road in the afternoon of Sept. 9 and after overnighting in Tomah, WI, arrived at the Comfort Inn in Sioux Falls, SD on the 10th.
As we are fulltime RVers we have established residence in South Dakota for legal reasons and had to spend a night in a motel/hotel there in order to register to vote. We will now be able to vote in the upcoming November elections by absentee ballot.
I have always wanted to go over the Rockies on I-70 through the famous "Eisenhower Tunnel" so on leaving Sioux Falls the following morning we dropped down to I-80 at North Platte, NB and from there on to Denver and I-70.
It was a hard climb up to the tunnel with an approach grade of 6 percent for several miles. We were glad that we had our GMC diesel but even so we were down to 30 MPH and there weren't many trucks or other RVs passing us.The Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel is located approximately sixty miles west of Denver, Colorado on Interstate 70. It is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, located at an elevation of 11,013 feet at the East Portal and 11,158 feet at the West Portal. Verified here by our GPS just after entering the East Portal.We saw snow along the road on the east side but although hard to see in this pict., we were surprised by spitting snow upon exiting the West Portal.The 6 percent climb on the east side was replaced by a 7 percent descent on the west. As you can see from this pict., in order to save the brakes I put the truck into low gear to hold us back and still had to gingerly tap the breaks every so often to keep the engine from redlining.
After overnighting one night in Rifle Colorado and another night in Cedar City, Utah,...

...we arrived here at Terribles RV resort in Pahrump' NV on Sunday the 14th.












We paid for a month so will be here till Oct. 14 when we will head on down to Lake Havasu City, Arizona for the balance of the winter.

On the Road Again

Fall is approaching here in Leelanau County, Michigan and it's time for us to pull up stakes and join the annual snowbird southern migration. 

Here we are, all hooked up and ready to pullout tomorrow morning, Sunday August 31. We will spend tomorrow night parked in the driveway of our good friends Dan & Pat Martenson in Escanaba, MI. Then, Monday we will continue on to our former home town, Appleton, Wisconsin where we will spend a few days visiting "old" friends (smile) and our son and daughter-in-law. After we leave Appleton we will travel west to our 'legal home of record', Sioux Falls, SD where we have to spend a night at a hotel in Sioux Falls in order to satisfy residency requirements so that we can register to vote in the upcoming November election(s). Leaving Sioux Falls, we will then continue on westward and plan on staying for a month in a lovely park in Pahrump, Nevada. Then in mid October we will head for Lake Havasu City, Arizona to join up with our many snowbird friends at Havasu Falls RV Resort. Between now and then I'm not sure what internet connections we will be able to connect to, so this blog might be silent for a few weeks. :-(

Till then....

Larry & Teddy (traveling America in order to help the "big oil companies" remain solvent)

Final update on my arm

These photos chronicle the healing progress of my left arm from April to present. I am slowly gaining more momentum to the point that I can now bend my elbow enough to reach my face. I'm told that it might take up to a year before it stops improving. I cannot yet close my hand all the way and my little finger is semi paralyzed, but I don't need my little finger except to dig earwax from the inside of my ear and my elbow still doesn't bend enough for that anyway. I can close the other three fingers enough to comfortably grasp the truck steering wheel so driving is no longer a problem. Teddy is relieved that she will not have to drive the rig back to our winter digs in Arizona.