We celebrated Christmas in our home in Pahrump. First time to have a real Christmas Tree since leaving Tahoe. It was awesome.
New Year's Eve (our 22nd Anniversary) was celebrated at the Ranch with a Casino Night. It was alot of fun. Mom was there as well since she is a resident of Rancho Calif RV Resort. She and I played Bingo and Black Jack while Rob tried his hand at Craps. It was very well done by the Resort.
JANUARY - 2019
Barbara turned 90 years old on January 4th. We had a big dinner party in Fresno with my Cousins who live locally (Ken, Virginia, Laurie & Jay, Kristie and Shannon) Art, Erik (from Denver) and Chris and Veronica (from Mazatlan, Mexico), Rob, Mom and I. It was a fun evening and Barbara enjoyed it.
There is a picture of Erik, Chris, Barbara, Art and I somewhere and one that includes Rob and Veronica as well, but I can’t seem to find them.
FEBRUARY
Back in 2017 we did a caravan trip down to Baja. We became very good friends with Chuck and Laurie Knese from Minnesota, and with John and Lori Barbee from Tucson, AZ. Well, they returned to Los Barriles in their RVs for a couple months so we flew down there to hang out with them again.
We stayed in a cool little Casita in East Cape. That is where we stayed in our RV when we were down there before. Chuck and Laurie stayed in Del Norte, the same park they were in before on the North end of town, but they ended up buying a lot in A park called Buenaventura’s Vista and will eventually do a little build out on it. John and Lori stayed in Baja Sunrise which is where they were before at the South end of town. We were in the middle.
While we were in Mexico I went to visit a Stem Cell Doctor about my knee. He was recommended by some friends who had treatments on his shoulder and ankle and another who is having treatments on various parts of his body now. I thought what the heck, it can't hurt to check it out.
For some reason my left knee decided to blow up. It is super swollen, pops out of place and is painful most of the time.
The Dr is in San Jose Del Cabo so we checked out stuff while there. Like the Mall!
We also got together at each other's places for dinner and wonderful gatherings around the fire pit.
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| John is always smiling and I love it. |
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| Looks like these two are ready for bed! |
John, Rob, and of course Bella and I went and played a round of golf at Baja California Sur. Golf is super expensive in Mexico so we usually only get to do it once.
It was a pretty course with lovely views. That never improves my game, but it makes for a better time. Tequila helps also. Nothing like a little "aiming fluid".
Rob, Boo and I also went on a Quad Poker Run through the dessert. It was a dirty, dusty blast.
Afterward we had lunch at the Beach Club while they figured out who the winner was.
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| These are our same friends from Canada who were staying in East Cape when we were here in 2017. They are even in their same camp spot. |
Rob, Bella and I also drove over to El Triunfo to our favorite Bakery/Cafe.
MARCH
Our friend Steve Martin from the Ranch carves and paints Gourds and makes them into planters. I already have two very cool small ones and then I asked him if he could do the Anasazi Ruins out of the big one he had. He did, and it is awesome!
Meanwhile, the rest of the materials came in for our Entertainment wall and Andrew was able to finish it. We love it.
For my Birthday we went with group of RV friends from the Ranch over to Paso Robles for the Tobin James Zinfandel Fest. It is amazing. You go for the evening and they are pouring all of their wines with food pairings to go with the various varietals, they also have beer and they have probably 5 bands playing in various locations where you can dance to whatever kind of music you enjoy. It is a wonderfully fun night. This is the second time Rob and I have been to it.
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| pailla |
We also went and toured Hearst's' Castle which was fun.
And then we went on to Morrow Bay. Where Rob and I went on a bike ride through the country side.
Our friends continued to journey for another week or so, but Rob and I had to get back so he could go to work.
APRIL
We returned to Pahrump and while there decided to take the truck off-roading to Death Valley. It was quite the journey up and over the mountain.
But there were some pretty views from up there.
And it was especially pretty driving through and out of Death Valley back to Pahrump.
We had a fun day and Rob decided he needed a jeep rather than the truck for these adventures.
APRIL
I decided to go to Pahrump by myself. I had some sewing I wanted to do and didn't want any interruptions other than feeding and taking Bella for walks.
I wanted to build a quilt called "Eagle Dancer" It was originally a "block of the Month" Club quilt, but being the impatient one that I am I wanted the whole thing at once and I wanted to make the whole thing at once.
Here are my first three blocks.
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| Each of these feathers are individually cut and sewn on |
I was making the quilt to go on this wall in our living room. This is the wall that Andrew built the shelves on. The hanging that is shown used to hang over our stairs in Tahoe. Its more foresty, plus it is to small.
It took me 11 days to complete the 12 blocks, put them all together, sew on the various embellishments, bat it and back it. 11 days to completion.
I'm just a little proud of it. Rob made the dreamcatcher that is hanging on that pot in the bottom right. There are real feathers, beads and turquoise nuggets on it.
After I finished it I returned to the Ranch and Rob and I enjoyed a round of golf at Pechanga Casino/Resort/RV Park, Golf course.
And later spent a relaxing evening on our deck enjoying the views of our golf course and the Palomar Mountains.
Bella found it very relaxing as well.
We had an Artist's appreciation at the Ranch one day and got to go around looking at peoples lots and their artistic endeavors. This is what one of the owner does with his empty wine bottles (we drink a lot of wine at the Ranch)
MAY
May means Cinco de Mayo and they had Mexican food on the patio. It was slow going, but we passed the time with friends.
I went back to Pahrump in time to catch a beautiful sunset.
JUNE
We did a little Mountain Biking out at Greer Ranch. It is off of the 215 across from Loma Linda Health Center. It was a fun ride.
On Rob's Birthday he piloted the Airplane to Lihue, Kauai and I went with him. I actually flew from San Diego to San Jose and met up with him there. We landed in Lihue at about 10 ish.
His First Officer had made an announcement to all the passengers that it was his Birthday and 3/4 of them wished him a happy birthday as they deplaned. It was cute. Shelly, his First Officer had the whole crew, and me, wait until all the passengers got off and then we sang happy birthday to him. They had candies and a cake for him.
He was chomping at the bit to get off and go get a car, and couldn't figure out why I was not getting off. He was pleasantly surprised tho.
We did go and get a car and then went to the Hotel to change
We went back to Lihue and had cocktails and a nice dinner with the rest of his crew plus another crew that came in after us. We sang Happy Birthday to him again and then we all had a little piece of the cake they had for him which was really sweet. I gave him a new hula dancer for our golf cart back at the ranch.
The next day we hiked around a bit and played in the ocean again and then flew to San Diego for a layover.
The next morning in, San Diego, we wandered down to Little Italy and found a really cool new restaurant where we had a yummy breakfast.
After breakfast we rented some stand up scooters and rode around a bit. We encountered this very odd looking Navy ship
As you can see, it is a try-hull. Now I cannot remember what it was. It is new though.
JULY
July is when Rob has to get his second Flight Physical of the year and we always go to Tahoe to see our Dr. It used to be that we (Rob, I and the animals) all would go back to Incline for our annual physicals. Dr. Lane, our Vet, has retired and we don't have those furry kids any more, so just Rob and I go see our Doc.
Its always nice to get back to Tahoe
and this time we took the RV. We played some golf at Truckee Donner on July 14th.
We drove on up to Graeagle on the 16th.
On the 17th we did another Mountain bike ride on Blairsden Graeagle. We drove up to the fire look out.
It started out fun, but then it got super steep and rocky and I was saying to myself, "man you are 64 years old, what the hell are you doing on this trail?". I was also saying to myself, man I love this bike because it is staying up on its own. And then it wasn't........I landed on the rocks right smack on the top of my knee. It started swelling, (not to mention hurt so bad I wanted to pee) and started getting colorful. Problem was, I still had to ride 4 miles down the rest of the hill and back to camp.
We got back to the campsite and I sat with ice on it. I convinced Rob he was not going to ride my bike up, but rather got a ride in someone's truck to go back and get our truck.
Jennifer had driven out from Truckee to have dinner with us and she convinced us to drive back to Truckee to go to the ER (again! two ERs in two days). So we did. Turned out I had a hairline fracture on my left Patella (knee cap).
The next day we drove up to Quincy. It was a pretty drive and Rob did another mountain bike ride. We went up to Lake Almanor and had a look around.
When we got back that evening Rob went biking.....Back up the trail we did and back down. He loved it. Oh, he did it on my bike.
He survived without a scratch. Thank goodness. And we returned to Aguanga and back to the Ranch.
AUGUST
The RV that Mom was living in was on a lot that was for sale. A couple times during the year and a half she lived at the Ranch offers were made on it, but they usually fell through. But not this time. They sold the lot out from under us. Mom wasn't as happy at the Ranch as she thought she would be. There was no Bridge groups and not nearly enough social activities. As the thought of the lot selling kept creeping up I started looking at Independent Living facilities for Mom thinking she would have more opportunity to socialize and get into card groups. I looked at a couple places in Temecula and Murrieta and shared them with her. When the final offer was made on the lot Mom decided she would like to go into an Independent Living Facility, but she wanted it to be in Fresno where she would be closer to Art, to Barbara and to her other bridge playing friends who are still up there.
She went up to Fresno and stayed with Art for a week and they went looking at the different places. They found one she liked and we moved her into a one-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of Fairwinds Woodward Park. Art and Barbara also live in Woodward so it's great.
We got her moved in, got her a few pieces of new furniture, hung her favorite pictures on the wall. And I stayed with her for a couple days just to help her settle in. The second day there we met a group of ladies who were playing bridge and they invited her to join their group.
The facility also has a Bistro where they have Happy Hour at 3 pm everyday and a glass of wine is only a dollar.
Needless to say, she is happy there. She misses Rob and I and especially Bella, and she misses the Ranch, but she has settled in nicely.
SEPTEMBER
My Mom's sister lived in Seattle most of her married life. She had two sons, David and Ken. I've always been very close to Ken who also lived in the Seattle area most of his life. David married and moved to Seaside, Oregon and I did not see that much of him. He and his wife had three children, Amanda, Dave and Kai. Dave and his wife divorced and she mysteriously drowned when Kai was about 10. Very sad. Amanda grew up and left home and has been very successful with Marriott Hotels. Dave became a police officer in Oceanside and Kai lived with her Dad while going to school and was an amazing high school/town soccer player. David had a massive heart attack and died leaving Kai a teen age orphan. She graduated from high school with a soccer Scholarship and went on to College to pursue a teaching credential.
Dave being the good brother that he is introduced her to a fellow police officer buddy and they hit it off quite well. So well in fact that the dated, got engaged and today got married.
Here is my Cousin Ken with his niece Kai
Ken married Barbara and they have two boys Trevor and Tyler. Tyler was to be a pro baseball player with the New York Mets, but he got injured and now he is also a police officer, but in Edmonds,Washington. Tyler and his wife Sherman (former cheer leader and then cheerleader coach, and now Nurse have three children. Trevor is married to Tamara. They have no children.
Kai's brother Dave is married and has two children a little boy and a little girl who was born the night before Kai's wedding. Here is the gang.....Plus, the young man on the far right turns out to be a half brother of Amanda, Dave and Kai and they only found that out after their Dad died, but they all love each other dearly.
Also in September, I went back to Pahrump, by myself to sew again. This time I made a Fall Quilt wall hanging. Not quite as big as Eagle Dancer, but almost.
I love the fall colors.
OCTOBER
Rob bought a jeep. There is a jeeping club in Pahrump and their are awesome trails all around us. We have Red Rocks Canyon, Lovell Canyon and many others. Not to mention Death Valley and all the canyons leading into it.
So he bought a jeep
and we went off to Lovell Canyon. It was pretty, but man oh man is it ever bumpy. I had a bed pillow on my lap and had Bella on top of it with my arms wrapped around her and we bounced all over the place.
He liked it a lot. I'm still not sure.
I think I'd rather stay home and sew. I started my Christmas quilt wall hanging.
NOVEMBER
Rob sold his Prius. He had two, one here in Pahrump to get back and forth between the McCarran airport and one back at the Ranch to get back and forth to LAX. Since he has the jeep he didn't need the Prius here.
We went on another Jeep trip. This time with our friends Kris and Kirby. I know her from the ladies golf group.
This trip was to give Rob some jeeping lessons and to give him some serious off-road, rugged terrain experience with the help of an experienced guide.
We went through Warm Spring Canyon to Ballarat (ghost town) and then continued into Death Valley.
It was very bouncy, somewhat exciting, and definitely rugged.
At one of our stops there was this cabin.
Rob hiked down to it to take a closer look.
The area around it was amazing;
Bella liked the wild Burros that were out there in the desert.
We continued on through some pretty narrow passages.
And we encountered some amazing wildlife.
We continued on through the narrow passage and came out into Death Valley.
Well, it was fun and all, but my bones were rattled and my brains were scrambled and I think I'd rather have a RZR
Bella was happy to be back home safely snuggled in her bed.
Nine days later Rob went off for a run with the local group. They went up Red Rock Canyon and had a Bar-B-Q.
There were quite a few of them for lunch.
He said it was awesome being up there in the cool, crisp, pine scented air.
Two days later, Rob was playing golf here in Pahrump. He texted me to tell me he was coming up on the 12th green so that I would go out on our patio and wave at him. The next thing that happened was he called me and said come pick me up in the street at the 12th green. I hurt myself and am bleeding badly from my mouth and need to go to the hospital. WHAT??!!!!
He tried to hit a ball out of the rocks. He gave it a full swing and the ball hit the rock and came up and hit him square in the mouth. It cut the bajesus out of the inside of his upper lip/ It didn't cut through, just the inside and it loosened two of his upper front teeth. The doctor had a heck of a time sewing it all together. The good thing was that his mustache hid the whole thing. You couldn't see the swelling or the bruising. Rob would be very upset if I posted the pictures, so I won't.
I mean while was busy with another project. Our neighbors at the Ranch are only there on weekends. Craig is a golf fanatic like Rob and Pam loves to cook. They bought the lot next door to us while we were doing our two year trip around the US. They became good friends with the various people who rented our lot while we were gone. When we got back we all became good friends.
When they first arrived they had two dogs, Bella and Shelby. Bella made friends with them all and especially Pam because she would always feed Bella yummy stuff. Sometime after they arrived they got a puppy. A darling long hair dashound named Marley. She is so cute and fit right in. We really enjoyed watching her grow up and Bella loved chasing around with Marley and Shelby.
Well this year, Marley's breed had another batch of puppies and a friend got a little male named Dexter. Now the problem is, a week after they got the 7-week old puppy they were leaving for Hawaii for 10 days. Who is going to take care of him.
Well, naturally we did. Oh My God, what a darling little pesky mosquito he turned out to be. I tried soooooo hard not to fall in love with him and not to give him to much attention or affection so as not to upset our little Bella.
I called him Pesky Mosquito, or just Mosquito because he was always chewing on my. He had needles for teeth. He really wanted to play with Bella, but she would just snarl at him and tell him to get away.
It is winter and cold, so I crocheted him a sweater. He seemed to like it.
He and Marley look identical, except for size. They have the exact same markings. When Dexter gets as big as Marley the only way you will be able to tell them apart will be to turn them over and look at their private parts.
Meanwhile, since I love Craig and Pam and Marley and Dexter so much I decided for Christmas I was going to make them a quilted wall hanging. Only problem was, I couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to them.
We had them, Laura and Guy and Colin over for Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before and I gave it them then.
Here is Craig with Dexter and Colin with Dexter
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| Craig and sleeping Dexter |
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| Colin loves Dexter |
And here is the quilted wall hanging titled "Naughty or Nice"
DECEMBER
We went back to Pahrump for a week or so. We arrived early evening and the drive into the sunset was beautiful.
We got a real Christmas tree again and decorated it and the rest of the house. I love the colors, lights and smells of Christmas.
I even got my Christmas quilt completed and hung.
We went into Las Vegas and had dinner one night at the Stratosphere. That was amazing. Incredible view and wonderful meal.
And, we had our first party in our house. Just cocktails and heavy appetizers for some of the neighbors and friends from golf. It was a nice turn out and a good time getting to know everyone better.
But for Christmas......
We went to Boston!....
We arrived on the 23rd and come back on the 26th. It was awesome. We stayed with Anne and Dan and both girls (Grace and Lauren) were home from College. The walks, the snow, the smells, family. It was everything Christmas is supposed to be.
December 31, 2019
For New Year's Eve, and our 23rd Anniversary, we went to Escondido. Remember Ventana, the restaurant at the Lexus dealership? Well they were having a New Year's eve special. Dinner and then Casino night and dancing. We had so much fun at Casino night the year before at the Ranch, we thought, Why Not.
We got a room in a hotel two blocks away.
We stopped in at Colleen and Jacks on the way down and had cocktails and hors d oeuvres with them, Laura, Justin and the little guys, Jude and Malon. We really enjoy getting together with them.
Then we checked into our hotel, took Bella out for a walk and fed her, changed clothes and uber'd over to Ventana. The meal was very good, but the Casino night was very disappointing. They didn't have enough set up for the number of people, so you couldn't even get near a table to play anything. We danced a bit, toasted the New Year and went on back to our sweet Bella
