It's getting about that the time.

I guess we've set a date.  Not for a night out and dinner and a movie.  A date to head back to the Midwest.  We've been assured the snow is all gone.  I do realize that we'll need winter clothes and jackets for a month or so but we're anxious to get back and see the family.  The kids, grand kids, great grand kids, brothers and sisters and their families. 

We want to pay a visit to Mackinaw Island, Michigan.   It's been years since we were there.  To show how long it's been;  They were filming a movie and there were giant cables all over the place.  The movie was Somewhere In Time staring Christopher Reeves.  Friends of ours, Retired Navy Chaplain Fred and Mrs Mary Zobel, will be the summer guest pastor at a church on the island. 

We're going to be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this fall.  We haven't decided what we're going to do for that but we want it to be a little special.   More information to follow as we firm up plans.

BTW, the date we're planning on leaving AZ is April 8th.

Another Wednesday with my Sweetie

As you may or may not have figured out Wednesday is the day we do most of our out and about. Yesterday was no exception.  Tuesday night while we were discussing what we wanted to do on Wednesday, we brought up the possibility of shaking up the Wednesday routine.
Tuesday's email had a very interesting  advertisement from Village Inn Restaurant.  They had a breakfast special which included four (4) columns to choose one from each.  Their display was two egg cheese omelet, 2 pieces of bacon, hashbrowns and orange supreme crepe. 
Well we decided to take them up on that offer and have breakfast on Wednesday instead of a late lunch..  BTW the pictures won out from both of us.  It was not a mistake either.  Yummy and just enough.
Then the decision was made to take a ride to Vail and have a Sonoran Hot Dog for a late lunch/early supper so I could still go to bingo.  Love these Sonoran Hot Dogs.....imagine a plump excellent grade hot dog wrapped in bacon and cooked over a nice slow grill till the hot dog is hot and the bacon is crisp.  Can't loose with that combination.  The remaining toppings seem to vary with the different vendors. 
I'm sure you're wondering how I did at bingo.  Collected money all night but never won. 

Good Day in our home.

Very good day at our house.  Since this is 3.14 pi day I decided to make a pie.  Gave Ron a list of what I had in stock and he chose Coconut Cream pie.  Started on that right after lunch.  The blind crust turned out perfect.  It's been a long time since I've made one.  The filling and the meringue turned out perfect, thanks to my good pots and pans and Kitchenaide mixer. 

Took a break and started on the Sloppy Joes for supper.  Ree Drummond's cook book, Pioneer Woman, was the source for the recipe.  I've made it before and we love it.  Doesn't take that long to make and only has to cook for 20 minutes.  I usually make it ahead of time so it cooks a little longer.
While I was making the sloppy joes, our friend, Larry, drove up and delivered a plate of apple strudel.  Since he was here and Ron had the college basketball games on he stayed for awhile.  Thanks to Gerry and Larry for the strudel.  We haven't had any in a long time.
 
Ron made a quick trip to the office before they closed to check out our mail.  We can get our letters when the office is closed but no any packages.  Today is the day our package of mail from back home is supposed to arrive.  It came and held four special envelopes.  Two addressed to Ron and two addressed to me.  All from the Federal Government.  Exactly four weeks to the day from when they received the renewal application in Philadelphia  till we got our new Passports and Passport Cards.  Of course they came in separate envelopes.  The only thing missing was our old Passports and that's no bid deal.
We decided on both this time so we can just put the cards in our wallets and cross the border into Mexico or Canada without having to remember the passports. 

We're so glad to have them back.  We've actually needed them while we didn't have them.  Just for identification so now we can finish off a project we wanted to do before we left Arizona this spring.

Of course, I can't conclude the day without one more piece of good news and one bad news.  First the bad news, Missouri lost to Florida in the SEC tournament.  I'm still proud of Missou for their performance since they've joined the SEC.
The good news, surprise, Duke won.  It was close at the end and I thought for a few minutes they were going to blow their lead but they hung on to advance in the ACC tournament.

Cactus Country

We've survived "winter" in southern Arizona without putting a single cover on a single plant.  Now that's what I call a good winter.  Today, March 1st, the unofficial start of spring, is 65 degrees, cloudy, windy and waiting for rain at our place and snow in the mountains.  The Mount Lemmon ski resort hasn't even opened this year due to lack of snow.  Haven't seen any rain but we're all praying for it.  First, because we always need rain in the desert.  Second, if we get a lot of rain, just maybe the rest of the country won't get as much snow.  We're all hoping.  Most of us are from Minn, IL, IN, Mich and Ohio. 
Today was our annual Canadian Breakfast at the rec hall.  The Snowbirds from Canada and some of their US friends put on a free breakfast for everyone.  You don't have to be Canadian to go and enjoy.  They decorate the hall with posters about people and things that are from Canada and raffle off very nice Canadian memorabilia.  Lets just say, I didn't walk away hungry.