Life in Arizona

Love our fire pot that Jim & Gloria gave us last year as a house warming. Every evening about 5pm we make it a point to be on the patio to watch the sun set over the golf course. They are magnificent and every one is different.

On the driving range not too far from our condo practicing driving. I get thrilled when I hit a nice drive which is far and few between. Pudge has been very patient with trying to teach me the tricks of this. We also chip and putt on the practice greens. I like that better. Doesn't seem to be as much work but it still can be frustrating. Haven't been on the course yet but soon Gloria, Shannon & I are going to golf. I am looking forward to that.

The last night on our trip down here we stayed at Laughlin, Nevada. The next day we stopped at a Oatman, Nevada. They are known for the donkeys that roam the town. I liked the town a lot. It was a rundown, very western, cowboy town. The donkeys were at the edge. They were so cute.

Bryce Canyon in Utah. We hiked some of the trails.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Arch made out of elk antlers. I liked this town. There were four of these at each corner of the town square. The Tetons could be seen from here and they were beautiful

Follow up on Golf Carts

Just to add a few things to the fiasco on Saturday involving the golf carts. We arrived at John & Shannon's and inspected the golf cart and heard the story of how it happened. John was visibly upset. He & Pudge spent some time in the garage trying to straighten a few things out on the wrecked cart. Now what I am going to tell is going to seem very insensitive but I am going to tell it anyway. When Shannon & I started talking about the experience we got into a fit of giggling and laughing about it. Every time I pictured it in my mind I would go into fits of uncontained laughter and Shannon did too. But when John came in we had to be very serious because we could tell he was not about to see any humor in the situation at all. But he would go out of the room and we would start all over. Even now when I think of it I laugh. I mean it had to have looked like a cartoon with the runaway golf cart and the 2 of them just having to watch it. On Sunday John was able to see the humor in it also. He still was not happy but he did have to smile as we talked about it.

Our golf cart was dropped off at 7:30 am and we picked it up before noon. We were told that the cables were not tight and I guess it created friction and got hot and caused the fire. A hole did get burned through but there is no way you can see it. It is way under and the seats have to be removed in order to see it. Cost to fix $70.00. Not bad. I can handle that.

John's cart had to be picked up and brought to repair shop by trailer. I thought his bill was going to be $1ooo or more. Not the case. They called and said it would be about $450 and he can pick it up tomorrow. It will not have the windshield on it yet because that had to be ordered. When it comes in he will have it put on then.

Today John is laughing about it. He said that most people he has told laughs about it so that makes me feel a little better.

So it is like Shannon says--I now have the most expensive, bent up patio umbrella that I don't even like and paid too much for in the first place. Grrrr----but all is well that ends well.

Golf Cart Catastrophes

Saturday morning - Oct. 30, 2010--The big community garage sale is on. One of my favorite things. It is here in the complex and there are so many that it makes one's heart beat fast. Started at 7 am. We (meaning Pudge, me, John & Shannon) had a plan of attack that we had put together the week before. We were going to take both of our golf carts. The girls in one and the guys in the other. That way everybody would be happy because the guys don't shop quite like we do.

So it started out an absolutely (once again) gorgeous morning. J & S were here at 6:45. I was busy getting money in a pouch to wear around my neck so it would be convenient. 7 am we are on our carts and down the road we went to the first one. Oh Boy!!!! Lots of treasures to be found.

An hour into it and I was driving our new golf cart. It started to smell hot. Mentioned it to the guys and we switched carts. Pudge seemed to think that it was smelling because of being broken in. We parted ways. An hour and a half later phone rings. It is Pudge. He says "come get us at our condo--the golf cart started on fire." OUR BRAND NEW GOLF CART!!! Can't think about it too much though--there were still too many garage sales to hit. We picked them up. They said they were going from sale to sale and from the back of the seat flames started to appear. Someone came up with a bottle of water and poured on it. A home owner got his hose and put it out. There is very little visible damage. A little soot on the seat but the plastic is still on and it can be wiped off. The cart still runs well but needless to say we are not running it until we find out what the matter is.

OK--onto the evening. Pudge & I took off about 4 pm to explore some of the places near here. Then we went out to dinner. Coming back from dinner phone rings and it is John. He proceeds to tell us that he wrecked his golf cart and we needed to stop over. He was upset. Upon first look at the cart it didn't look too bad but upon closer inspection it was. The story behind it was that they were at our condo to deliver a patio umbrella that I had bought and dropped off at their place to make more room for our other treasures. In attempting to remove the umbrella to leave at our place it somehow got wedged, hit the gas pedal and away it went. Ran over John's foot and knocked him down (thank God he did not get hurt). He told Shannon to run to catch cart. She said there was no way she could have caught it. So they watched it going down the road at full speed until it hit a tree and tipped over. They managed to get it upright and back to their garage but there will be no moving it until it gets fixed. Broken axle, chunks of wind shield are out, batteries in disarray, flat and damaged tire, canopy frame bent. John visibly upset. Shannon is thankful that it did not hit a car, house or go into the pond.

Right now as I am writing this the 2 guys are talking to the golf cart repair man here in our complex about both of the carts.

I need to say--that stupid umbrella. Even before this happened I was not happy about it. I paid too much money for it. I should know better. What was I thinking? Throughout the day I was seeing so many of them that were a third the price I paid for this one which was making me more and more mad--and now this happened. STUPID UMBRELLA!!! It also got bent up in the mishap so we are trying to pound it and straighten it. Well--enough said about that.

Now we just have to wait and see what is said about the golf carts from Jim (repair man)


John's cart with the batteries all messed up.

Broken axle and damaged tire.