It's Baseball Season!

Two games in and so far the Mariners are doing well. Then they started off tonight's game in Oakland with TWO home runs in the first inning! The first one from the lead-off batter Gutierrez...

I had picked up some Mariner's Spring Training shirts for some of my great-nephews and great-niece. This afternoon I got this neat picture from Niece Becky of her son Case and his new shirt. I get such a kick out of this age when you get those wonderful cheesy grins when you try to take a picture.

I have spent most of the day off and on, getting stuff organized for my trip to Kansas City in the morning. After a thorough search, we finally decided that we had left our two suitcases in the storage shed at the ranch... So I am packing everything in my Laural Burch bag, which is fine except it does not have wheels. I'll only be gone for two nights, so it shouldn't be too heavy.

The cheapest flight from Phoenix to KC is on Southwest Airlines, almost by half. I really dislike flying SW, but since my way is being paid... ;-(

We wondering what the traffic will be like in the morning. My flight leaves at 7:55 and we've been trying to figure what time we have to leave here. It's a good thirty plus miles to the airport, so you know it's going to be an early morning.

Another Busy Day

It was another busy day, only this time mostly on the computer. I had gotten an email yesterday from Good Sam offering to refinance our RV.  Their 3.99 percent interest sure sounds a lot better to me then the 9.5 percent we are presently paying. Their major criteria on their website seemed to be Credit Scores of over 700; a loan that's been in place for more than a year; and a few other minor things.

There was a phone number on the website, but after being on hold for almost 20 minutes, the lady I talked to said that the application must be filled out on-line. So I spent the next hour or so gathering up the necessary materials and filling out the form. Then I got an email back that said they would be in touch with me in a couple of days...


Next I received an email from the Mennonite Church office asking about which nights I would need a hotel room in Kansas City for the Executive Board meeting in April. Since I hadn't yet made my flight reservations, I needed to do that before I could respond. And while I was at it, I needed to make flight reservations back to Phoenix from Portland, Oregon for the Mennonite Church Biennial Assembly in July.

I was feeling pretty good about getting all my flights organized until I talked with my Son-in-law Todd. I hadn't double-checked the dates and made reservations for our flight back to Portland a day late... Of course, by the time I had figured it out, the travel agency in Kansas was closed! I left Debi an email, hopefully since it was less than 24 hours, she'll be able to change the reservations so that we can come back to Oregon on Saturday instead of Sunday.

We badly needed breakfast stuff - eggs, milk, bread and orange juice. We went over to Red Robin for guacamole hamburgers then on to Safeway to stock up.

Once Again, Home Again

We worked through lunch today finishing up the Executive Board agenda, so that we could get done early. We were scheduled to adjourn at 3 PM, but managed to do all of our work by 1:30. Several of us had flights that didn't leave until four or five, so we had time to sit and have a late  lunch at the airport together.

Going through security at the Kansas City airport went fairly easily even though the pat-downs due to my knees seem to get more invasive every time I fly. The KC to Denver flight passengers had all checked in far enough ahead of time that the pilots decided to go ahead and take off fifteen minutes early! Their home base evidently was Denver and the crew was anxious to get home for the weekend.

Though the Denver to Spokane flight left right on time, but managed to land in Spokane twenty minutes early! I called Forry, who had planned to wait in the cell phone parking lot for me, when we landed and he was just leaving Auntie Violet. Fortunately Ponderosa Falls RV Park is fairly close to the airport, so by the time I walked out the of the concourse and out the door, I only had to wait a few minutes for him.

We made a spot at the truck stop near the RV park and ate a quick supper at the Iron Skillet. My, it is nice to be back home -- I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

Another Trip to Spokane

At least this trip was more successful. My box of #8 Manila Tags was in at Kershaws (and they were open today).

We spent a good share of the afternoon at Les Schwabs getting the rear brakes replaced on the Toad. (The back left rotor was dragging...) Having work done on the vehicles is always a bit traumatic for Forry as he is used to doing this kind of work himself. So there's always lots of muttering about what it costs and how much cheaper it was when he did it. But since he no longer has a shop and since it's a bit harder for him to get down and do physical work, he generally admits he's glad to get it done.

By the time the Toad was finished it was after five, so we picked up Son Sean and went to dinner at Applebees on the South Hill. I should of gotten a picture of Sean -- he had his hair clipped down to the scalp the other day! It's grown out a bit -- there's a little stubble -- and it's quite a change from the shaggy look he's had all summer.

It was after nine when we got back to Auntie Violet and I still have to pack! I have a 5:48 AM flight from Moses Lake (then SeaTac to Denver to Kansas City) tomorrow. I will be in KC through Friday for an All-Boards meeting and will fly home Saturday morning.