Monday, July 18, 2011

NATURE AT OUR SITE AT TT VERDE VALLEY

Jul 05-19 - We are back at TT Verde Valley for two more weeks. This time we chose site A39. We're at the end of the road, so there are no neighbors on our patio side. Sitting on our patio (which we don't do very often because it's too hot), or looking out of our window, there is beauty everywhere.

These beautiful flowering trees provide morning shade. There are four on the perimeter of our site -- three white and this one pink.

And the birds love to sit in the trees. Here is our finch feeder. We have seen as many as nine finch on this one feeder at the same time.

Hummingbirds love the hummingbird feeder; and we love the hummingbirds. They are fluttering around here all day long, just outside our window.

And our beautiful garden!! Ken planted some summer Vinca and other beautiful flowers. Of course, there is our Purple Shamrock, and a pot of basil for salads and cooking, and some mint for Mint Juleps whenever the horse races are on TV!!

A better view of the basil plant!! How it has grown!


It will really be hard to leave this site on Tuesday for our "week out"!!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

JAVELINA REEK HAVOC AT TT VERDE VALLEY!!

We NEVER get to see the Javelina here at TT Verde Valley. We know they are here, but do you think we'd ever see one?? NO!!!

Well, this poor guy, a Thousand Trails member, had his trailer parked out on the free BLM Land outside the TT Verde Valley gate. Seems his wife had been in the hospital in Cottonwood for about a month, suffering with cancer. He, himself, was not in the best of health either.

The other day when he returned to his trailer, there was a ticket on the windshield. He had gone over the 14-Day limit for free parking on government land.

That evening he was moving the trailer to the Thousand Trails park for storage. Driving down the dark curvy road, a herd of JAVELINA darted out right in front of his truck. He swerved to avoid hitting one of them. His trailer jack-knifed into the ditch and turned onto it's side, causing the axle on the truck to break!! What a disaster!!
The next morning, Ken was on his way to town and saw the truck and trailer still overturned in the ditch. He talked with the ranger and learned the above story of the gentleman's bad luck.

Later in the afternoon Ken took me up to see for myself. We happened to arrive as a large flatbed trailer was across the road; workers were attempting to raise the trailer with a large crane and load it onto the flatbed.

And we never see the Javelina!!

VCU RAMS WIN ESPY AWARD!!

This is so Amazing!!!

On Wednesday this past week, the VCU Men's College Basketball Team won the ESPY Award for Best Upset due to their impressive run in the 2011 NCAA College Basketball Tournament!! VCU, seeded No. 11 capped a string of upsets by beating top seeded Kansas and went to the Final Four!

Back in March, I had posted several articles about the VCU Rams as our home-town team thrilled us as they upset one opponent after another all the way to the Final Four!! GO RAMS!!

Monday, July 11, 2011

TACO BELL AND THE DIAMONDBACKS HAVE A DEAL!

July 10 - Harold and Marion invited us to go with them for FREE tacos at Taco Bell this afternoon. FREE tacos!!??!! Seems the Diamondbacks and Taco Bell have a deal for the public!! Whenever the Diamondbacks score six or more runs in a game, Taco Bell gives three free tacos to its customers. All we had to do was purchase a large drink! Harold offered to buy the drinks for all of us!! We laughed and thanked him for his generosity!! Even a complete stranger joined in the teasing and commented on what a Big Spender he was!!

Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our FREE tacos. The price was right!!

SUMMER AT TT VERDE VALLEY, COTTONWOOD, AZ

July 06 - 10 - Back at TT Verde Valley, after our "week out" in Prescott, AZ, we actually found some Pickleball players!! Harold and Marion (left) were still here. We had gotten together with them before we left (see article posted June 28). Another couple of players came in. Linda and Roger (middle) had blown a rod (or something really bad) in the engine of their motorhome, so they will be staying here for an extended period while repairs are made. We had met them at TT Chesapeake Bay and TT Forest Lakes in 2008. We invited the group over for Happy Hour on Friday. Here we are in front of one of the flowering trees on our site!!

Everyone was happy!!

A few days later, another Pickleball couple came in. We had met Mike and Ed at TT St. Clair, MI a year ago. Here some of the group gathers on the courts.

Later, Roger and Linda and Mike and Ed challenge each other to a match!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

ADDENDUM TO: OUR "WEEK OUT" IN PRESCOTT, AZ

4th of July - We were still in Prescott on the Fourth of July, so we celebrated with Ofe and Chuck and friends of theirs. We had Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Corn-On-The-Cob at Ofe's home followed by home-made Ice Cream and Red Silk Cake, brought by her friend.

After dinner we drove over to a hill top in a residential neighborhood close to the Fourth of July Fireworks. A good location to watch the Fireworks. A number of other locals had the same idea. That was fun!!

There was thunder, lightening and heavy dark clouds all around us, but we lucked out. No rain over the Fireworks!!

Here we are in our Fourth of July tees from Walmart - $3.50 each!! What a deal!!

Thanks, Ofe and Chuck, for entertaining us royally during our week in Prescott, plus a very nice Fourth of July celebration!!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

OUR "WEEK OUT" IN PRESCOTT, AZ

June 28 - July 05 - Time for another week out of TT Verde Valley. This time we went only about 45 miles to Prescott, AZ (the locals say "Pres'cutt"). It's a beautiful area up in the mountains. We are actually in the valley -- Prescott Valley. We are staying the week at the Elk's Lodge which has about 12 sites with full hook-up. It is quite a nice set-up. (We're the coach at the far end.)

Our Pickleball friends, Ofe and Chuck, live in Prescott in a 55 Plus mobile home community in the middle of a National Forest. The area is really nice and their home is beautiful!! Ofe and Chuck invited us for a morning of Pickleball, followed by Mexican lunch of tacos with Ice Cream for dessert. It was a lot of fun!!

In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we went for more Pickleball the next morning.

They have solved the problem of too many players and not enough courts!! They play with three on each side!! They have tweaked the rules a bit to accommodate six players. For instance, each team only gets one serve. The server serves until he looses serve, but always serves from the right court. When he looses serve, the other team rotates players and serves (the previous server moves to the center, the center player moves to the far left, and the left player moves to the service position). They usually play that the two outside players get to net while the center player stays back. It was different!! And fun!!

Ru and Pickleball players at TT Chesapeake Bay, notice the net pole stand above!! The wheels make it a lot easier to move for setting up and taking down!! They painted narrow red lines to mark off the Pickleball courts at each end of the tennis court.

It was great seeing Ofe and Chuck again. The plan is to tailgate with them for 4th of July Fireworks.


THE WORLD'S OLDEST RODEO, PRESCOTT, AZ

On Friday night we went to the World's Oldest Rodeo. We waited too late to buy our tickets and did not have much selection. We could have sat up high but at the extreme ends of the arena. We chose the Arena Section, more in the center and closer to the action. I asked if there was anything to block our view!! She said, No, nothing to block our view!!


Well, not if you don't count the chain-link fence, the white fence, the red fence, and all the advertisements!! HA HA!! Anyway, it was a beautiful evening and we were close to a lot of the action. All of the riders entered and departed through the gates to our left! And, the area behind the rider without a flag was the Roping Chutes for Calf Roping and Team Roping. That was exciting!! Unfortunately, all of the bucking events - Bareback Bronco, Saddle Bronco, and Bull Riding - were closer to the other end of the arena. But, thinks to the big screen across from us, we could see all the action up close!!

There were numerous participants in the Opening Ceremony!

The presentation of the Flag!

It was a most enjoyable evening at The World's Oldest Rodeo!! A very special event!!