Bailey has arrived

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are going to be dogsitting for Susan and Peter's dog, Bailey. He is a Havanese, which is part of the Bischon family of dogs. Peter will be transferred from Belgium to Alabama next year and they asked us to watch Bailey during the move. In trying to find the best time to get him to us, it turned out that when they come to St. Louis for Thanksgiving, they could bring him. So Bailey flew in his crate for the 10 hour flight from Belgium to St. Louis. He did very well.

We have had him here in our condo in St. Louis for the past two days and he seems to be adjusting okay. The final part of his journey will be today when we fly from St. Louis back to Phoenix. Fortunately he will be flying in coach with us. He just fits in the approved size Sherpa bag and we are hoping that the airport authorities will be appoving of him in this bag.

He is a very congenial and good dog. He is playful and loving. Barb is absolutely enthralled with him, as you can see from the picture.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We are thankful to have you in our lives.

Love and hugs,

Linda and Barb

Our first few days in St. Louis

Our flight to St. Louis was totally uneventful. Security lines were short, the plane was on time, and we only had short wait for the metro. We walked from the metro station to the Euclid and Laclede corner. Since it was cold, I stayed at the Sushi/Tea bar while Barb took my vest and gloves and walked to the condo to get the car. We had sushi for dinner ......... very nice treat.

Yesterday, Barb went to visit her mom for the day. They went to a performance of kindergarten children who came to Breeze Park to entertain the residents. They sang several songs. They wore these adorable Thanksgiving costumes ......grey vests with fringe that they made and decorated themselves as well as a headband with a feather. At the end of the performance they gave each of the residents a gift package. Barb said it was an absolutely delightful show.

I stayed at the condo and played on the computer. It gave me a chance to catch up on downloads, pay bills and update several programs that I had to work on. Very relaxing for me!

Today we are taking Elsie shopping for food and toys for Bailey. We thought she may enjoy going to the pet store and seeing the pets that are there. She would like to hang some of the pictures that she has painted so we will also go shopping for frames. Then tonight we will have dinner with her at Breeze Park.

I talked with Susan yesterday and everything seems in order for Peter and Caroline to fly in on Monday with Bailey. We are very excited! We will spend Monday with Susan and Nick and go to the airport Monday evening to meet the rest of the family. We have not seen the kids in a year and they have not been to the states in two years so this will be a very exciting trip and visit for all of us.

Love and hugs,
Barb and Linda

Ads on our Blog

You may have noticed that there are now ads on our blog for you to click on. I read about this in an article in a motorhome magazine as a way to make extra money. Hmmmmmmmm....

Not sure about this idea but thought I would try it. Each time that someone clicks on the ad, I get credit and all these "hits" add up to income for us. So, if you don't mind, when you come here to read about our adventures, would you also click on the ad. We will see what happens.

Thanks,
Linda and Barb

Our trip to St. Louis

Today we fly to St. Louis for a week.

Susan, Peter and the kids will be flying to St. Louis from Brussels, Belgium on Sunday. We are leaving today (Thursday) for St. Louis so that we can spend a few days with Barb's mom before they all arrive.

Susan and Nick will fly in on Sunday and Peter , Caroline and Bailey, their dog, will come in on Monday. And that is exciting news for us. We are thrilled to be able to spend the time with the kids. We have not seen them for a year. Bailey is coming with them because we are going to take Bailey back to Arizona with us. We will be babysitting for him until next summer when Susan and Peter move back to the states. He will be assigned to Alabama for a year beginning in June.

Originally, we were going to wait until spring to get Bailey but as we started trying to figure out how to get him to us in the summer when the temperature was warm, it became complicated. The airlines will not ship a pet to a city with temperatures over 85 degrees. So after much conversation, we figured if they bring him now, then we would not need to worry about the hot temperature. He will need to fly in cargo from Belgium to St. Louis. We will be able to fly with him in the coach at our feet when we fly back to Apache Junction.

As you can imagine, Susan and Peter are a bit worried that we will not return him. And well they should!! But we have promised.................

Will keep you informed.

Love to all of you,
Barb and Linda

Social gatherings, committee meetings and repairs

Our past week has been a busy one.

Barb is now chair of the Card and Games Committee. No surprises there. There is a large activities committee for the park that covers everything from entertainment to potlucks to sports, etc. So cards and games is just one of the activities under that large umbrella. Barb will be responsible for scheduling the various games that are played here on a regular basis. So this has been a week of committee meetings to set up the schedule, get the leaders for each of the games and then making her report to the entire activities committee.

I, on the other hand, have had my head in the basement compartments fixing leaks. Seems that some of the pipes on the outside had developed leaks. Our Shurflo water pump would run constantly which implied that we had a leak somewhere. After checking everywhere I finally found a small leak at the input valve for the water hose. I replaced the valve, but that did not solve the problem. So I had to call Shurflo. I was very impressed with them and their help. The water pump has a three year warranty on it that expires this month. For once, the problem occurred just before the end of the warranty period rather than just after. So we are under warranty, but I had to remove the pump to send it back. Naturally, it did not go smoothly so I had several sprays of water cover me when I disconnected a line too soon.............but the pump is on the way back to Shurflo.

So our days are busy with getting stuff done. But by late afternoon, we stop and move towards the fun side. We have been getting together with people at their houses/motorhomes for dinners and cocktail hours. And then the fun begins with several hours of stories and just lots of laughter. Funny though, how when we talk about a night out, that means home by 9:00 pm and sometimes earlier! Times have changed as we age!

Hope all is great with all of you.

Love to all of you,
Linda and Barb

Homecoming at AJ

We have been back at AJ (Apache Junction) for a week now and it feels great to be home. As soon as we entered the gates, we were greeted by Francie, who just happened to be driving by on her golf cart. Francie was the first person we met when we arrive 4 years ago and she was our contact person who helped us get an RV site. So it was just fitting that she would be the first person to greet us on our arrival.

For the first few days we hugged and hugged and renewed friendships with everyone who also was returning from their summer of travels. It actually took us about 3 hours to get our rig set up once we pulled into our site. Normally it takes about 1/2 hour but with people coming by to say "welcome" and then chatting with them about their summer, we somehow took forever to set up.

But we are now all set up with the chairs , rugs, grill, etc. all decked out on our patio. We have a new decoration for our front area that consists of a large parrot holding a margarita glass. The parrot twirls in one direction from a breeze and his tail twirls in another direction.

This week we have also reestablished our activities and beginning to book our days with scheduled events and dinners. Barb has started with her poker group; we attended the first bocce ball meeting and will participate in a bocce ball tournement in a few weeks; today we go to a "how to stay healthy" seminar. We also are going to learn to throw darts this year.

We have also spent time doing the small repairs and the major cleaning that this coach needs after 7 months of travel. Had to fix the door lock since the door would not close our first night here and had to be held shut with a bungee cord. Had several seals that were sticking and steps that need to be lubricated and hoses that leaked. All is good now. Spent the other day washing the whole rig and now we will start on the waxing.

So this season is off to a good start. I have been wanting to post pictures but have not been able to since all the pictures are on the newer laptop and it is in the computer shop being fixed, I hope. The slot for our pc card to get on the internet is not working and Toshiba has a repair facility in the Phoenix area. It has been there since last week; new part comes in today. Time will tell. Pictures will follow when I get it back.

We are having fun and laughing and enjoying ourselves here. Hope all is good with all of you.

Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb