Dancing Through the Winter into 2015

     Our Winter season started off with helping to prepare and then participating in the Electric Light Parade in Casa Grande.  This is a really big deal, as they have upwards of 50,000 people attend this parade each year.  Those interested can view it on You Tube.  Because of our lateness in entering, we were float #94 out of 97.  Our theme was “On the Road Again.”  We all wore Willie Nelson style braids and played his song as we walked the two mile route.  Here’s a few pictures of our group.  Businesses along the route are asked to turn their lights off and all streetlights are turned off, making the floats really stand out.   It was a great way to start the season.

     Adding to our enjoyment of the Christmas Holiday, was Riki’s family coming to see us for Christmas.  We rented the spot across from us and parked our Motor home there.  That way they had their own place for our few down times.  One of the sights we all enjoyed was visiting the LDS Temple in Mesa to see their beautiful light display.  This year we allowed more time for family games and most evenings went to the clubhouse for cards and scheduled parties.  It was great having them here to join our park in the Christmas festivities. 

     We left mid-January for the SKP Co-Op in Yuma and enjoyed their pool and hot tub for a week.  We also took a tour of a Date Farm while there.  It is amazing the  number of times that the date palms have to be individually attended to each season, from picking thorns, to placing wire rings to separate the dates. 

     From there we headed to Quartzsite, AZ for a couple weeks of RV Rallies.  You’ve all heard my descriptions of Quartzsite before, so know that this is a sleepy little town of about 3,000 that swells in the winter to accommodate over 1 million RV visitors at different times.  There are large areas of desert where RV’s are allowed to boondock (no hook ups) for 2 weeks to several months.   The first area we went to is lovingly called Boomerville by a group of fun loving, active RVers.   Daily hikes and activities from crafting to movies, to star parties take place.  I even led a Laughter Yoga  group for  the second year.  Its one of the best groups I lead, because of the enthusiastic participation. 
    One of the days we hiked to the top of Q mountain, about a ½ mile hike with an elevation gain of about 700 feet.  Here we are at the top enjoying the view and trying not to get blown off.  The white in the background are some of the thousands of  RVs parked in the desert.

     We also had  a karaoke night and dance in the desert.  Here’s a picture of us dancing to “YMCA.”

     From there, we moved about 5 miles to another desert area for the Geocaching Rally.  This is a subgroup of Escapees that enjoys geocaching and especially teaching it to others.  While there we found about 75 caches.  Here are a couple pictures of a mine tour we all took to the “Parade of Toilets.”  Obviously there is a geocache there.  Also there are several toilets along a hillside with plastic flowers planted in them.  We had been forewarned and came armed with more flowers to add to the colorful display.  There has been a mine on this site for many years and continues to be the site of an active claim today for mining gold and other minerals.

.     After all this frivolity, we headed back to the Roost  in Casa Grande for more fun activities.  February is a very active time of year for our park with the annual meeting and fund raisers taking place.   Last year it was the Olympics and this year it was a Senior Rodeo.  The participants were divided into Ranches.  We were members of the 6 R Ranch (Red, Rip-Roaring, Rambling Rooster Ranch).  Gary participated with his friend Steve in the team roping.   After placing in the second go-round, I won the finals of the Bull-Riding Championship.  In order to win this title, I had to guide a remote controlled bull with a rider (doll) placed on it, over a mat with pipes laying underneath it, creating bucking hills., without the rider falling off.  Believe me, I never thought I would participate in, let alone win the title of Bull-riding Champion.  

      Another part of our Rodeo week was a Chili Cookoff.  We had 16 entries and  I was thrilled to win third place with my White Chili.  People voted on the chilies, not knowing who cooked each one.   When Gary labeled mine, he said, “The Chili’s Mild, but the Cook’s Hot.”  I think it was the label that did it.   I won a really nice folding Camp Chair.

      Also in February, our friend Kathy visited us.  She was here as a judge for the local Gourd Festival.  She drove here from S. Calif and rented a spot, where we had our Motor home parked.  Kathy is a fantastic gourd artist, so it was fun seeing the gourds from her perspective.   She’s also a geocacher and was with us to snap this picture when we found Geocache #3,000! 

     Escapees have an annual convention with seminars, entertainment, and  all sorts of fun events.  For the first time this  year, it was held in Tucson, AZ.  Each of the 11 Co-Ops, and several chapters are invited to have a table “on the row” to publicize it to those coming by.  We were the Row Representatives for our Co-Op in Gillette, WY in 2013 and again this year.  We had a busy time  as there were 1,952 attendees with 851 rigs parked at the Pima Co Fairgrounds.  I was able to participate in the daily line dance sessions and learned a new Irish line dance to bring back to the Roost.  Bandit participated in their pet parade and enjoyed the chance to visit with his friends in the fairgrounds dog park.

     The other major happening in March was reaching my Weight Watchers goal.   Many of you know that after I was placed on blood pressure medication in Spring, 2013, I decided I needed to once again do something about my weight.  I went back to Weight Watchers on May 20, in Show Low.  While there, I was very active in water aerobics five days a week.  I lost 43 pounds by the time we came back to the Roost.  I continued my meetings, stayed on plan, and started walking when we came back here in October.  Since then I’ve lost another 33 ½ pounds for a total of 76 ½ pounds lost in 10 months & 3 days.  Now I’m walking 3-5 miles almost every morning.  I’m sure looking forward to getting back in the water when we get back to Show Low.   Thanks to all my friends and family who encouraged me along the way.   The really tough part, as I know all too well, is maintaining the weight, but I’m hopeful continued meetings and exercise will do it.  I have several Weight Watcher buddies in both places and that helps a lot!!!

     Besides the events I mentioned above, Gary continued to participate in billiard tournaments and league with mixed success.  We also enjoyed dancing a couple times a month and even found a few other couples to join us.   We took a trip to Butterfly Wonderland and really enjoyed all their beauty.  

Our park also had another wild desert golf tournament where surprisingly I tied Gary for the most holes in one.  Different folks designed the various  holes and we all linked up randomly with others to play the course.  It was a great day ended with a campfire, hot dogs, and s’mores.  

We also attended a couple geocaching events and found this fellow guarding one of the caches.  He was spotted in plenty of time, since he was out sunning.  The ones I see never scare me, it’s the ones I don’t see that worry me. 

     Now we’re getting ready to head for Show Low on April 11th.  Please do not send any more mail to Casa Grande.  Our Show Low address is 1051 N. Central Ave.  Space #272,  Show Low, AZ 85901.  We’re looking forward to another great summer there.

     March 9th, was 10 years since the passing of Chris LeDoux, one of our favorite country singers from Wyoming.  Little did we know then, that a month later we would lose Robert.  It’s hard to believe it will be 10 years in April.  His children have grown so much with the older two boys becoming young college men and his daughter a high school Junior.   Robert also became a grandfather last summer.  Here is a picture of his grandson, William.  I know Robert’s busting his heavenly buttons! 

     We will be making a car trip to Utah and Wyoming mid-June.  Plans have come together for us to be able to attend and help with the Utah National Fallen Firefighter’s Foundation, (NFFF) Golf Tournament , in Orem, UT.  We’ll head up to Evanston, WY the next day.  Along with Riki and Kevin, I will be flying to Annapolis, MD the end of June for the annual NFFF Survivor’s Conference.  I am again presenting a seminar on Laughter Yoga, we are presenting a joint session on Geocaching, and  Riki and Kevin are also presenting a session on preparing your kids for college.  We’ll be busy, but  looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones while there.

      We think you'll agree that it's been a fun and eventful winter.  If any of  you are in Arizona this summer, give us a call.   For now, we're dancing on down the road to Summer in Show Low, AZ.

       Hugs, Katy, Gary, and Bandit

Dancing in a Balloon, 2014

     I'm really not sure how to describe the Balloon Fiesta.  There really aren't words.  I'll fill you in on what we did, but then post several pictures to hopefully give you an idea of what it's all about.  We arrived at the Fiesta grounds on Tuesday, Sep 30.  It was about a 4 hour drive from Show Low.  The Boomers were all parked together, facing a very popular balloon landing site, about 1 mile north of the launch field.   The views of the balloons landing were awesome.

Our rig is 

in the corner.

The first week was mostly getting to know the grounds.   On Thursday, we all walked over to the launch field and attended a crew safety video.  Following that, we all received the coveted crew pass that gained us free access to all the launch field events.  Normally these cost $10 each in the mornings and $8 each for the evening events.    Mornings of course are the launches and competitions.  Evenings are the glows.

Laying the envelope out and starting the fan.

Opening the throat of the envelope for the fan.

Fan blowing cold air into balloon envelope to inflate.

Pilot Mike Liberti checking the balloon envelope.

Friday most of us met and followed the Liberti family to vacant lots in Rio Rancho, (northwest Albuquerque), where they were going to launch their 3 balloons.  This gave us an opportunity for hands on training and more explanations of how to assist in launching and later in landing.

Hands on to keep balloon on the ground.

Letting go!!!

We're Off!!!

The body of the balloon is called an envelope and it lays out flat on the ground.  Ropes connect it to the basket, which is on it's side at this point.  Then a very large fan is positioned by the basket and aimed at the balloon.  One person on either side of the throat, holds it open and the cold air blows into the balloon and starts to inflate it.  One person does nothing but control the fan,  All directions are given by the balloon pilot and crew chief.   One, two, or three people hold the crown line (a rope going from the top of the balloon to the ground.)  The crown is attached to the envelope with velcro strips all around the opening.  The pilot pulls this open when landing.   When the cold inflation is adequate and when given permission by a launch director (Zebra), the propane burners are lit and the balloon "goes hot."  The balloon rises into a vertical position and the basket goes upright as well.  The pilot will usually ask for "weight on" at this point and the crew lean onto the basket with their weight, so it doesn't take off before the pilot is ready.  Final checks are made, any passengers are loaded, and off they go.  Al the evening glows, everything stops here and the propane burners are lit intermittently to show off the balloons.  A regular balloon uses a crew of 5-7, but a large special shape balloon can require 20-25 people for a crew.  Crowd control is always part of crewing, since in Albuquerque, the public is allow right up  next to the balloons.

The following pictures are from Gary's flight.  He flew during one of the mass ascensions, so with over 500 balloons in the air the sights were amazing!!!

Zebra discussing take off with Pilot.

Launch field as they rose up.

Another balloon flying by.

Launch field from higher up.

Lots of other balloons up in the air.

I could print so many pictures, but this is really one instance where seeing is believing.  You can see why this is the most photographed even in the world.  The views are constantly changing as the balloons inflate and take off.  Then the sky is changing as the balloons move around it. 

Stagecoach and Dairy Cow Laid Out to Fly

Crowds and Balloons!

Zebras Getting Ready for Launches.

Dairy Cow taking a bite of Yoda.

Busy Bees

More special shapes inflating.

Dawn Patrol Getting Ready to Fly

Note shield on the firefighter's hat.

More & more balloons!!!

Firefighters flying their flag.

All in all, we  had a marvelous time.  The early mornings rising wasn't bad and the one day we took off from crewing, turned out to be a perfect day for the balloons to be landing all around our rig.   Even if you don't get us, you hear the shuttle bus on its many rounds and the burners on the balloons flying overhead or landing outside.  Then you don't want to be in bed!  For those of you who are you tube fans, check out the 2014 time lapse video.  You can see a two hour mass ascension in about two and a half minutes. 

Another fun adventure happened when friends Kathy and Chuck met us on the field and took us to "Tim's Place" for breakfast.  Tim had Down's Syndrome and has defied the odds, having his own business and serving delicious food and hugs.

We also visited the Petroglyph National Monument while in Albuquerque to get an earthcache on International Earthcache Day

A Geocache of course!

After leaving Albuquerque, we drove back to Show Low and spent one more week packing up for the summer.  Then it was down to Casa Grande, where we will spend  most of the winter.   We're looking forward to our winter friends arriving and all the park activities.  Since swimming is no longer a daily routine, we're doing daily morning walks of 1-3 miles.

We'd love to see anyone traveling in Arizona this winter, so give us a holler if you're close by, say within a couple hundred miles.  We're enjoying the new-to-us rig we got last year and viewing our beautiful desert.

I  hope you enjoyed our Dancing in a Balloon,
Hugs, Katy, Gary, and Bandit

Dancing through a Show Low Summer, 2014

     It’s so hard to believe we are almost through our first entire Show Low summer.  We’ve loved it here and look forward to many more.  There are Arts & Craft shows many weekends and lots of outdoor activities, besides our personal loves of quilting and billiards. 
     The biggest event of the Summer was the birth of my first Great-Grandchild.  (I’d always said that  since all the Great-Grandkids were Gary’s, I wasn’t old enough.  Guess I can’t say that any longer.)   William Purjue Pak Henderson arrived on July 9th, the day before his Dad’s birthday.   He would be Robert’s first grandchild, so I’m sure he’s bursting his heavenly buttons.

Add caption3 day old William

William with proud parents Hailee and Cory

      The next major event was Anna's wedding.  Anna was married to Robert when he was killed in 2005.  We feel very fortunate to have remained a part of Anna's life since then.  She married Lynn Harp on August 15th, at the Luxor in Las Vegas, NV.  Lynn is an EMT on the Evanston Fire Department an knew Robert too.

Cory walking Anna down the aisle.

Anna & Lynn

      Lynn's great with the kids and combined they now have six children.  Lynn has a daughter Jennifer married with a daughter, who lives in Cheyenne.  They each have two children attending the University of Wyoming, in Laramie.  Ameray is a Sophomore in High School and the only one still at home, year round.  Riki and her family were there, as well as Robert's step-mother and two half-sisters. 

Quite a family!

     Since we were all at the Luxor, we had lots of time to visit.  Riki, Kai, and I even managed to get out early one morning and get a geocache.  Of course we enjoyed the pool as well.  On our way back to Show Low, we stopped to visit friends from Evanston, who have relocated to White Hills, AZ.

Gary & Katy

     We also stopped at the "Standing on the Corner" park in Winslow, AZ, for Gary to get a new shirt.  He's about worn the other one out over the last ten years.

Katy,  "Standing on the Corner in Winslow, AZ."

      Remember the Eagles song?  Interesting that all you see behind me and the statue are painted on the brick walls.  The building that was part of this wall burned down about 6-8 years ago.  Fortunately, they saved the wall and have since torn the building down, but reinforced the wall, so it remains.
     Earlier this summer, my friend Diane and I attending a hummingbird banding at the SIPE Wildlife Area, outside Eager, AZ.   It was very interesting.  They weighed, measured, assessed, and banded several hummers in front of us and explained much about their migration habits.

Hummer inside the screening, being weighed.

Hummer taking a well deserved drink after banding.

      The large band in the picture above is for a goose.  Hummingbird banders have to make their own, as they are so small.  You can barely see one in the magnifying box to the left of the large band.  It was a great experience and one I hope to repeat in coming summers.
     A dear friend of ours, Kathy, came to visit and rented a trailer just down the road from us for a couple months.  She and I got to most of  the craft fairs while she was here and with Gary and Bandit had several geocaching outings. The August Geocaching Challenge this year was to do one of six different kinds of geocaches during the month of August.  We each got a Virtual, Traditional, Puzzle, Multi-Cache, Earthcache, and Event.  We had to go to the Petrified Forest to get the earthcache and attended an event about 50 miles east of here in the White Mountains near Payson.  As usual, its a great way to see new things and learn new facts.

Kathy, Gary, & Bandit at the Petrified Forest

     I've been doing some Kumihimo braiding and some with beads this summer.  My friend Diane Hitzel introduced me to this.  Its fun and addicting.  Here's a couple bracelets I've done.

Kumihimo Bracelets

     My friend Susannah and I took a quilt class called Accidental Landscape that was a lot of fun and taught us new techniques for landscape quilts.

Accidental Landscape of the Beach

     I continue to enjoy the water aerobic classes from 4-5  mornings a week.  The gals in the classes are really fun, so we have a great time while getting some good exercise.
     Gary continue to enjoy his pool tournaments and while practicing on the pool table in the our clubhouse, has met some other pool players in the park.
     I've been learning to play Mah Jongg, a Chinese game played with tiles.  It's a lot of fun.  Hopefully I can get some converts at the Roost when we get there.
     Bandit got a surprise one night when he was outside in our yard and met some of the local wildlife.  Fortunately, it wasn't too close, but the smell certainly let us know it was a skunk.   His facial hair got the the brunt of it, and he  was rubbing his face and eyes for quite a while.  I washed his face that night many times and hte next day we used a recommend solution of 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, and 1 tsp to 1/4 cup dawn dish washing soap.   It worked great and took 99% of the odor out..  We're all hoping it's a one time occurrence.

Poor Bandit after a dozen face-washings.

     Our next sojourn will be to Albuquerque, NM, to attend the International Balloon Fiesta with the SKP Boomers.  We will be there from Oct 1st though the 12th.  We will attend the safety trainings and hope to be assigned to help crew for one of the balloons.  I'm sure it will give us a different perspective, from when we attended as spectators in 2002, although our friends from there, Cathy and Chuck introduced us to a lot of the behind-the-scenes doings. It should be an exciting two weeks. 
     After that we will return to Show Low for a week and then head for the Roost in Casa Grande, our Winter home.  Please do not mail anything to us here after October 1st.  Send anything to us at our Roost address:  3241 S. Montgomery Rd.  Casa Grande, AZ 85193.

Dancing Through a Show Low Summer,  2014
Hugs, Gary, Katy, and Bandit too!