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.
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Indian Fair and Market at the Heard Museum
I had seen an ad in the Arizona Republic for the 55th Annual Indian Fair and Market being held this weekend at the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix. The ad also had a coupon for $5 off of the $20 entry fee for today.
The booths for the vendors were set up in the parking lots of the museum, so we had quite a time finding a parking place. We finally found one about three blocks away.
The original article in the paper said that there were over 500 Native American artists represented at the Fair --
There were baskets, carvings, jewelry, paintings. pottery, sculptures and textiles...
We probably only visited one hundred and fifty or so of the different vendors. I was struck by this painting of Native Americans superimposed over a railroad flyer recruiting European settlers to the land granted to the railroads by Congress...
There were demonstrations going on of various crafts...
After we roamed through the booths for a while (didn't buy anything as the prices were way out of my league!), we sat down on the grass by the amphitheater to listen to the cultural performances. The first one we saw was a performance by The Pollen Trail Dancers from Joseph City, Arizona.
This group of Navajo dancers were all grandsons of a Navajo "Code Talker." This dance was an honor dance for their grandfather --
The group also perform other Dine or Navajo dances. This one told of the basket weavers --
While this one featured the weavers --
Radmilla Cody, a Grammy Award winner, sang a veteran's honor song written by her uncle --
The Drum Circle --
The Honor Guard of Veterans, who were joined in the Circle by other veterans and their family members who were present. Note the eagle feathers on the backs of their caps...
This is Lowery Begay, a World Championship Hoop Dancer, with his accompanying drummer --
Most of the crowd sat on the grass around the amphitheater enjoying the show --
The American Indian Veterans National Memorial is located in the courtyard of the Heard Museum.
Even though we didn't purchase any artwork, we did have a scruptious plate of fry bread covered with powdered sugar!
The booths for the vendors were set up in the parking lots of the museum, so we had quite a time finding a parking place. We finally found one about three blocks away.
The original article in the paper said that there were over 500 Native American artists represented at the Fair --
There were baskets, carvings, jewelry, paintings. pottery, sculptures and textiles...
We probably only visited one hundred and fifty or so of the different vendors. I was struck by this painting of Native Americans superimposed over a railroad flyer recruiting European settlers to the land granted to the railroads by Congress...
There were demonstrations going on of various crafts...
After we roamed through the booths for a while (didn't buy anything as the prices were way out of my league!), we sat down on the grass by the amphitheater to listen to the cultural performances. The first one we saw was a performance by The Pollen Trail Dancers from Joseph City, Arizona.
This group of Navajo dancers were all grandsons of a Navajo "Code Talker." This dance was an honor dance for their grandfather --
The group also perform other Dine or Navajo dances. This one told of the basket weavers --
While this one featured the weavers --
Radmilla Cody, a Grammy Award winner, sang a veteran's honor song written by her uncle --
The Drum Circle --
The Honor Guard of Veterans, who were joined in the Circle by other veterans and their family members who were present. Note the eagle feathers on the backs of their caps...
This is Lowery Begay, a World Championship Hoop Dancer, with his accompanying drummer --
Most of the crowd sat on the grass around the amphitheater enjoying the show --
The American Indian Veterans National Memorial is located in the courtyard of the Heard Museum.
Even though we didn't purchase any artwork, we did have a scruptious plate of fry bread covered with powdered sugar!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
A Chilly Chili Thursday
We could hear melting snow dripping off of Auntie Violet's roof most of the night last night. This morning there was no trace of last night's snow. But it was chilly, very chilly. There were clouds of various shapes and colors floating around all day. Some of them were dark and looked like rain, but we didn't get anymore of that today either.
I read in this morning's Arizona Republic that last night's snow was the first measurable snow in Phoenix/Mesa since 1990! Evidently skiffs of snow are not that unusual, but it's been a lot of years since there has been enough to actually measure.
The Mariners actually were able to practice outside today. Their Facebook page had pictures of them doing their exercises on the field under some ominous looking clouds. Tomorrow is Opening Day for the Cactus League Spring Training games. Hopefully, it will warm up enough next week for us to go and enjoy some games.
Our friend Juni stopped by with a container of chili for our dinner tonight. She's doing a very good job of spoiling us! Tom said they thought it was pretty bland and not at all spicy, but it did have a bit of a bite to it. It was very good with soda crackers.
I read in this morning's Arizona Republic that last night's snow was the first measurable snow in Phoenix/Mesa since 1990! Evidently skiffs of snow are not that unusual, but it's been a lot of years since there has been enough to actually measure.
The Mariners actually were able to practice outside today. Their Facebook page had pictures of them doing their exercises on the field under some ominous looking clouds. Tomorrow is Opening Day for the Cactus League Spring Training games. Hopefully, it will warm up enough next week for us to go and enjoy some games.
Our friend Juni stopped by with a container of chili for our dinner tonight. She's doing a very good job of spoiling us! Tom said they thought it was pretty bland and not at all spicy, but it did have a bit of a bite to it. It was very good with soda crackers.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Escapees North Ranch
One of the goals we set for ourselves this winter was to look around for a place we would like to settle on for a winter home. While Valle Del Oro is very nice, for my tastes, it is just too big with too many people!
Because of "the mess" you are not allowed to put up bird feeders, so we're not seeing a whole lot of the flying critters. And you can't see the desert from the streets here at all...
One of the places we wanted to check out is the Escapees North Ranch park near Congress, Arizona. This afternoon we headed a bit north and west to visit there. It's beautiful country when you got up there. It's a little over 2000 feet and in the foothills. Lots of saguaros and other cacti and brilliantly colored rock.
North Ranch is an Escapees Rainbow Park which is one at which you can actually buy an individual lot. It looks a lot like the home Escapee Park in Livingston, Texas with a mixture of houses, park models, RV lots -- each one different from the next. I loved it -- and could sure see living there part of the year.
BUT, Forry thinks it's just too far from civilization! It's about 65 miles from Phoenix. So I guess we'll have to just keep looking.
Because of "the mess" you are not allowed to put up bird feeders, so we're not seeing a whole lot of the flying critters. And you can't see the desert from the streets here at all...
One of the places we wanted to check out is the Escapees North Ranch park near Congress, Arizona. This afternoon we headed a bit north and west to visit there. It's beautiful country when you got up there. It's a little over 2000 feet and in the foothills. Lots of saguaros and other cacti and brilliantly colored rock.
North Ranch is an Escapees Rainbow Park which is one at which you can actually buy an individual lot. It looks a lot like the home Escapee Park in Livingston, Texas with a mixture of houses, park models, RV lots -- each one different from the next. I loved it -- and could sure see living there part of the year.
BUT, Forry thinks it's just too far from civilization! It's about 65 miles from Phoenix. So I guess we'll have to just keep looking.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Usery Mountain Regional Park
After a false start or two, we headed out this afternoon northeast of Mesa on Ellsworth Road. We had seen the Usery Mountain Regional Park on a map and thought we should check it out. What a gem we discovered! They charged us $6 for a day pass (though there is an annual pass available). The park is run by Maricopa County.
.
One of the nice things about Phoenix is that you can drive just twenty miles or so and be out in some beautiful desert --
This park has an incredible variety of prickly, spiny plants --
Usery Mountain looms colorfully against the desert lowland --
With the Goldfield Mountains purple behind --
We didn't see many birds today. I don't think they liked the showery, overcast day either. We did see the Gila Woodpecker perched on a saguaro.
The park has some incredible saguaros. When you think that they are usually a hundred years old or so before they sprout arms...
These Thrashers were a long way away. Too far to identify which kind they might be --
This directional sign is just outside the park boundaries --
I got a chuckle out of this cute little budding arm on this nice plump saguaro --
It was starting to get dark as we finished the loop around the park. We are definitely going to have to come back here again. Maybe we'll even get out on some of the trails.
.
One of the nice things about Phoenix is that you can drive just twenty miles or so and be out in some beautiful desert --
This park has an incredible variety of prickly, spiny plants --
Usery Mountain looms colorfully against the desert lowland --
With the Goldfield Mountains purple behind --
We didn't see many birds today. I don't think they liked the showery, overcast day either. We did see the Gila Woodpecker perched on a saguaro.
The park has some incredible saguaros. When you think that they are usually a hundred years old or so before they sprout arms...
These Thrashers were a long way away. Too far to identify which kind they might be --
This directional sign is just outside the park boundaries --
I got a chuckle out of this cute little budding arm on this nice plump saguaro --
It was starting to get dark as we finished the loop around the park. We are definitely going to have to come back here again. Maybe we'll even get out on some of the trails.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Another Tuesday
Laundry and groceries -- how mundane can it get?
But that's how life goes. Two loads of dirty clothes, then off to Safeway. The only different thing we ended up doing was finding an Office Max store over in the Superstition Mall in order to pick up a storage file box for the 2012 ranch papers. I do need to get started getting the books caught up for the year so that our accountant can start having fun.
It was another delightfully warm day here in Phoenix. After the last couple of weeks of miserably cold weather -- and nasty flu -- we are very much enjoying our time here.
But that's how life goes. Two loads of dirty clothes, then off to Safeway. The only different thing we ended up doing was finding an Office Max store over in the Superstition Mall in order to pick up a storage file box for the 2012 ranch papers. I do need to get started getting the books caught up for the year so that our accountant can start having fun.
It was another delightfully warm day here in Phoenix. After the last couple of weeks of miserably cold weather -- and nasty flu -- we are very much enjoying our time here.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Meeting Time
The Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA is meeting here in Phoenix the next few days. I didn't have to be at the hotel until 1:15 today, so it wasn't too hard. But tomorrow we start at 8:15...
It's a good forty-five minute drive from Valle del Oro to downtown Phoenix and the Sheraton Hotel where the meetings are being held. I am NOT looking forward to the early start the next couple of days.
It was good to see everyone today. There are a dozen of us on the Board and some of us have now been together for five years. There's been a lot of trust built up over those years. The newer members have now been on the Board for a full year and they have brought some different perspectives. It's a good group of people.
But, if I'm going to be able to get up and get going that early tomorrow, I'd best shut down the computer and get myself to bed!
It's a good forty-five minute drive from Valle del Oro to downtown Phoenix and the Sheraton Hotel where the meetings are being held. I am NOT looking forward to the early start the next couple of days.
It was good to see everyone today. There are a dozen of us on the Board and some of us have now been together for five years. There's been a lot of trust built up over those years. The newer members have now been on the Board for a full year and they have brought some different perspectives. It's a good group of people.
But, if I'm going to be able to get up and get going that early tomorrow, I'd best shut down the computer and get myself to bed!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Site 1659
After spending last night at Colorado River Oasis RV Park, we headed back on Hwy 95 to Quartzite and then onto Interstate 10 to take us the 133 miles into Phoenix and onto Mesa. As we gotten further south, we've seen more flowers in bloom. I always enjoy my first sight of bougainvillea. I remember how excited I was the first time I saw these tropical blossoms when we took our little trailer to Mexico back in the sixties.
There were scattered patches of bougainvillea in the landscaping on either side of the freeway --
The area around Phoenix is heavily populated -- it seems to have sprawled considerable larger since we were last here two years ago. There are now 13! exits for Mesa alone.
This is where we turned off on Ellsworth Road -- those are the Superstition Mountains in the background.
And here we are at Valle Del Oro, which will be our home for the next three-four months.
We had just gotten settled in at Site 1659 when our friend Juni and Tom drove up. They were on their way to a Costco run and just happened to spot us as they drove by. We made plans for dinner at Tia Rosa's tomorrow night and then went back to unpacking the lounge chairs and bicycles from Toad II.
There were scattered patches of bougainvillea in the landscaping on either side of the freeway --
The area around Phoenix is heavily populated -- it seems to have sprawled considerable larger since we were last here two years ago. There are now 13! exits for Mesa alone.
This is where we turned off on Ellsworth Road -- those are the Superstition Mountains in the background.
And here we are at Valle Del Oro, which will be our home for the next three-four months.
We had just gotten settled in at Site 1659 when our friend Juni and Tom drove up. They were on their way to a Costco run and just happened to spot us as they drove by. We made plans for dinner at Tia Rosa's tomorrow night and then went back to unpacking the lounge chairs and bicycles from Toad II.
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