Phoenix Coyotes vs. Calgary Flames

Kevin, Shannon and the boys gave us tickets to last night's hockey game. We got to the arena/entertainment area in enough time to have supper before the game. This is truly a full service complex with restaurants, bars, hotels and shopping. The arena was about 70 percent full with about half 'n half Coyotes/Flames fans. We met about a dozen people from Red Deer! The game ended in a tie and was still tied at the end of the OT. Unfortunately, the Flames lost the Shoot-Out and the final score was 3 - 2 for the Coyotes. We had a great time in a gorgeous venue. We couldn't believe how clean and shiny the arena is!

Visitors

Jerry and Carol from Powell River stayed with us over the past three days. Yesterday we went with them to view the Del Webb model homes. The weather was overcast and it rained again overnight. In fact, it's still showering and it remains cool.

Our New River

We went for a walk late this afternoon. About a mile west of our house new lots are being developed with a sidewalk running through the development. Also running through this new development is a "Wash", which is the local term for a drainage ditch. Usually there isn't much moisture to drain, but after the recent heavy rains this Wash has formed a new river. Of course, unless we get more rain this river will quickly disappear into the desert sands. In these pictures you will see the banks are badly eroded already and one part of the sidewalk is in danger of washing away. You'll also notice the white tinge to the mountain tops off in the distance. Yes, that's snow! Oh well, it won't be long before we'll be complaining about the heat!!

Collector Car Auction

We spent yesterday with Marv & Rose who came from Red Deer to attend the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction at the Westworld complex in Scottsdale. On Thursday evening a major rain/wind storm hit in that area and a show tent blew down on top of a number of cars doing considerable damage. We learned other car auctions were being held in the area and Barrett-Jackson was not affected.
We met Kristen from JFKustoms in Osoyoos, BC who built one of the feature custom cars in the sale. The car is called R'evolution and sold for $170,000 USD. While Chrysler never built a station wagon in 1956, JFKustoms built R'evolution as their concept of what the '56 Chrysler station wagon would've looked like. As we watched the cars being sold we followed along in the program. There were 12 vehicles per page and we calculated one page to have grossed over $2M!!! Pretty crazy! Heard today that an older model Ferrari sold for over $3M at Gooding Auctions next door to Barrett-Jackson. Check out www.jfkustoms.com for more information on R'evolution.
We awoke to clear skies this morning and no more rain today. However, it is cold and there'll probably be frost overnight. We've covered a couple of 'mums in the yard!
By the way, the guy with all the long black hair standing second from right on the stage is Alice Cooper who was selling a couple of cars from his collection. One of them was called "Billion Dollar Babies" and it had an Alberta Vanity "BLNDLRS" valid licence plate on it. Does he have an Alberta residence?!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

The rain continues. Not quite as much today but more is forecast for tomorrow. They say it's the most moisture in Arizona in a century! The snowfall in and around Flagstaff is incredible. Today we went for a walk along the cart paths of the golf course that runs through our resort. It was too wet for golf! This picture is of the Signature hole for the course; 17. It's just around the corner from where we live. We'll follow up with a similar pic when the heat comes. By the way, it was almost possible to watch the grass turn green as the sun tried to peak out throughout this afternoon.

Oceanfront Property in Arizona

George dropped by to sing his very appropriate song for us. Turn-up your speakers.




We've been having "severe winter storms" for the past 2 - 3 days with copious amounts of snow in he higher elevations and lots of rain in the valleys. Two feet of snow up in Flagstaff and close to 2 inches of rain here in the valley. Now lots of wind and Tornado Warnings in effect. You might ask, "What are we doing here?" The answer, looking for "Oceanfront Property in Arizona."

First Visitors

Getting ready for company. Vacuuming the sand off the screen.








Bill and Barb came for lunch and a visit yesterday. As always, we had lots of fun!! They have their 5th wheel in the RV Resort they have been staying at in Tucson for the past 14 years. Bill is far too serious in this picture!

New Year's Resolution

Here goes!! After 6 months of absence I've resolved to keep our blogging up to date. After spending Christmas with our 5 families in Red Deer we flew back to Abbotsford to overnight at Kevin & Shannon's. We got a fairly early start on the morning of December 29th, got across the border in record time of about 10 minutes and began our southward trek along the I-5. We arrived at Ashland, OR about 5:00 PM to learn the highway ahead through approximately 30 miles of the Siskiyou Pass leading into California was closed due to blizzard conditions at the summit. We found a motel and stayed the night. The next morning we were told the highway was passable with chains. So, we chained-up and started out for the checkpoint at the entrance to Siskiyou Pass. There we were told chains were no longer required; so we took them off! This little adventure helped make us feel right at home dealing with those who have been given a bit of authority! The Pass did turn out to be still quite treacherous. We made it through without incident and after an hour or so the highway was bare. The next thing we had to contend with was the truck traffic that had been backed up for miles overnight. We spent the night of December 30th in Bakersfield and arrived in the Palm Springs area during the early afternoon. We stopped at Rancho Casa Blanca in Indio where we stayed and visited friends we hadn't seen since our last time there 2 years ago. On Sunday January 2nd we left Indio after a late breakfast and got here to the Anthem at Merrill Ranch resort at about 5:00 PM with about an hour's daylight still left. The total trip here was just shy of 3000 Kms.
We are now pretty well settled in this spectacular house we're renting until March 31st. It's 2558 sq feet! I took a few pictures today and will post some here but it's very difficult to show what we really have...