Lasagne, Pool, Hot Tub, Pinochle - A Very Relaxing Day - Sunday, March 24, 2019

Sleep in? What's that? This morning we took it easy and relaxed. At 9:00 a.m., Louise (Bob's mom) and Laura (Bob's sister) came to visit us in our 5th wheel at Lake Pleasant Regional Park. They were on their way home to Las Vegas and the park is on the way. We said our "good-byes" and "see you later's" and they continued home. We thought we might go back to see Skip and Sally one last time, but decided we needed some downtime.

The middle part of the day was spent relaxing and I blogged. Later in the afternoon, we went to visit our friends from Oregon, Charlie and Debbie Smith, who now live in Sun City West, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. 

It was our first time to visit their home in Sun City. It's a lovely home with a pool, hot tub, and grapefruit and orange trees in the back yard. We took our swimsuits in case swimming or hot tubbing was on the agenda. For sure, we'd be playing pinochle. 

When Charlie and Debbie lived in Oregon, they lived down the road from us on the Willamette River. We used to go water skiing with them in the summer. Later they bought a yacht and kept it on the Columbia River and we'd go with them on their yacht to see fireworks on the Columbia. But no matter what, we always played pinochle.

My family loved to play pinochle. For years in Oregon, a group of us played pinochle once a month. We had so much fun. There was always a first prize, a booby prize, and lots of snacks. As people moved away, it became harder to find replacements to play the game. Anyway, a few games of pinochle is always on the agenda when any of the old pinochle group gets together.

But back to today. We had a wonderful visit with Charlie and Debbie, their daughter, Nicole, and their grandson, Christian. We've known them so long, they're family to us. 

For dinner, we had lasagne, salad, French bread, and great conversation. We caught up on what's been happening since we last saw them. 

I'm kicking myself because I forgot to take pictures this evening! I don't think they took any either.

After dinner, we got in the pool. The sun was going down and there was a slight chill in the air. The pool wasn't super warm and I was all for going in the hot tub. Charlie had just turned on the hot tub heater, so the hot tub was the same temperature as the pool. As we sat and chatted, the hot tub finally warmed up. Then we got out so we could play pinochle. We had ice cream for dessert after playing a few hands of pinochle.

Charlie and I were partners and we couldn't get any good hands. Bob and Debbie beat us every game. Oh, well, it was still a very fun evening. 

Since I forgot to take photos at Charlie and Debbie's home, I am posting two photos from yesterday's capital walk of a Korean Bell dedicated to those Arizonans who gave their lives in the Korean War.

Pavilion housing the Korean Bell.

Korean Bell.

Thank you, Charlie and Debbie, for having us over for dinner and a fun evening socializing. We also are enjoying the grapefruit and oranges! They are so good. 

Peonies and Potluck Pinochle Party - Sat., May 31

With sunny skies and a temperature hovering around 70, Mom and I headed to Brooks, Oregon to do a 5K (3.1 mile) Volksmarch in the Adelman Peony Gardens. 

The walk started off in a display garden showcasing peonies, hostas, columbine, delphiniums, allium, lobelia and clematis. The walk then wound up and down rows of peonies until we returned to the start point. 

Mom in display garden with peonies and delphinium

Adelman Peony Gardens

Volksmarch through peony fields.

A beautiful walk!

Winter wheat field we walked by.

Mom and I.

Columbine in display garden.

At the end of the walk, we were able to see vases with cut peonies identified. We made a second pass through the display garden after we finished the walk.

This bouquet is shaped like a heart.

On the way home, I took Mom to lunch at Oswego Grille in Wilsonville. We then spent the afternoon hanging out at Mom's house before driving 20 minutes to my sister's house to play pinochle. 

When we lived in Oregon, our group had a three-table potluck pinochle party once a month (except summer). Over the years people moved away or lost interest. I think it was great that my sister organized a party with family and friends while I'm here. Thank you, Jan.

When my brother, Frank, and sister-in-law, Gina, arrived at the party, they brought my sister, my Mom and I each a bouquet of pink carnations. What a thoughtful thing to do. The flowers are beautiful and much appreciated.

My brother, Frank.

Frank and Gina

Mom, me, Jan and Frank

My son, Mike, and I

Playing pinochle was fun, but my hands were terrible. I ended up second from the bottom. Gina pulled ahead of everyone at the end and won the top prize...$20. We had a good group: Mom, me, Jan, Frank, Gina, my son, Mike, our friends Margaret, Larry, Jo, Debbie, and Jan's friends, John and Jane.

Pinochle players deep in thought

My sister's two cats, Jake and Prince, made an appearance. Jake was the most sociable so he gets to be in my blog. 

Jake

My carnation bouquet with mom's
peonies and a rose.

Mom's carnation bouquet from Frank and Gina.

Another very enjoyable day today.

Games - Tues., Apr. 8

I like games. Most games are social and made to be played by two or more people. It's fun to match wits with others and spend time getting to know them.

My favorite game is Scrabble. Why? I am a word person. It's fun to anagram the seven Scrabble tiles to find the best combination of letters and high-score tiles on the board, also because there's quite a bit of strategy involved. (At any one time I have 15-20 Scrabble games going on Facebook. The games aren't played real time; one person takes a turn, then waits for the next person to take a turn. It can take days to weeks to play one game depending on how quickly your opponent(s) play.)

Other board/card games I enjoy include: Sequence, Rummikub, Dominoes, Qwirkle, Pit, Milles Bornes, Yahtzee, Pinochle, Risk, Monopoly, Connect Four, Topple, Rummy, Spoons, Hearts, and Spades.

For over 25 years, Bob and I were in a pinochle group in Oregon. We played once a month and alternated whose home we played in. It was a social event with potluck, a top prize for first place and a "booby" prize for last place. We had so much fun and made life-long friends.

Qwirkle

When I was in high school I loved chess, but I haven't played that for years. My skills are rusty.

Physical games were played in high school. My favorites were basketball, softball, and volleyball. Soccer was fun, but that wasn't introduced in our gym curriculum until late in high school. I also enjoyed bowling, square dancing and archery in high school.

In college, I was in love with roller skating and ballroom dancing. I played basketball and volleyball there as well.

Mental "games" I scratch my head over are crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, quizzes, brain teasers, Numbrix, Word Scrambles, Cryptoquizzes, etc. When I have time, I'll pick up a puzzle book or do Numbrix puzzles. Other people love Sudoku. (I've never played Sudoku.)

Even TV game shows pique my interest. My favorites are Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Reality shows fall into the TV game show category. I regularly watch Amazing Race, Survivor, Bachelor/Bachelorette, Shark Tank, Millionaire Matchmaker, and Project Runway.
The reality shows are for entertainment value, not for mind exercise.

And that, my friends, is what I do with the little spare time I have.

Travel Bug out.

Cards, Crosswords and Concentration -- Wed., April 3

War, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, Rummy, Concentration, Solitaire: how I learned to play cards starting at a very young age.

As I got older, my grandma taught us how to play "Help Your Neighbor" for a penny ante. I was ten and I loved it. Plus when we won, we won the whole ante! Spending money...a great reward for a child.

"Help Your Neighbor" is played by any number of people, preferably in groups of four. What you need: a deck of standard playing cards (with the aces and kings removed) and a pair of dice. One suit is dealt to each person, either all spades, all diamonds, all hearts or all clubs. Each person puts their cards face up in front of them in order from two to queen. The jack is 11 and the queen is 12.

To start turns, each person rolls the dice. The person with the highest number goes first.

First person rolls the dice. Whatever number comes up, 7 for instance, that person turns #7 upside down in front of them. They continue their turn, rolling the dice and turning over cards until they roll a number for a card that is already upside down in front of them. If you roll 7 again and the card is already upside down, you can "Help Your Neighbor" to the left. If 7 is right side up in front of them, you turn it over for them. The first person continues with their turn until they can't turn over a new number in front of themselves or the neighbor to their left. At that point, the turn passes to the player on their left. Same rules apply. The first person to turn over all their cards is the winner.

Through the years, I have enjoyed learning and playing new card games: different variations of solitaire, Mille Bornes, Hearts, Spades, Pinochle, Slapjack, Uno, Pit, 21, 31, poker and even tried cribbage (but never caught on to the scoring, probably because I didn't play much).

[NOTE: It is 11:30 p.m. in San Antonio and the predicted severe thunderstorm is raging: booming thunder, lightning, pouring rain, wind and two distressed cats. There might be some hail mixed in but I'm not stepping foot outside the door to find out. Our RV park has quite a bit of standing water. I am seeing frequent lightning flashes--the whole sky is lighting up--and the thunder is cracking louder. This storm is right on top of us. Exciting!]

Anyway, I love playing cards. In college it was Hearts, Spades and yes, even Crazy Eights.

I remember one camping trip with my boyfriend and his friends. We camped in our sleeping bags under the stars at Rainbow Falls near Devil's Postpile in the Sierra Nevada of California. Elevation was 7,545 ft. We decided to play cards and someone dug out a deck. Crazy Eights was a game we all knew. As we played, we noticed no eights came into play. Being a bit inebriated after drinking Jack Daniels at that altitude, we started accusing each other of hiding eights up our sleeves. But then, no cards under nine were played at all. Hmm...let's check the card package. Pinochle cards? We tried to play Crazy Eights with a deck of cards that has no card under nine. Crazy us! At that point we had a competition to see who could flick cards into the fire from the farthest distance. Bye-bye pinochle deck. It was all super humorous the next morning.

My family loved playing pinochle, so much so that we started a pinochle group in Portland, Oregon. For over 30 years we had pinochle parties, usually starting out with a potluck dinner. Our group varied over the years, but we usually had three tables of four people and we changed partners at the end of four rounds. The two winning hands moved up to the next table and the losers at Table 1 moved down to Table 3. The group is still playing to this day but not as often. (Shout outs to Mom, Jan, Frank, Gina, Jo, Gail, Margaret and Larry. We miss you!)

We taught our blogger friends Jim and Peri of Tales from the Camping House how to play pinochle. They picked it up very quickly and we had fun playing pinochle with them. Now they are on a seven-month trip to the West Coast. Have fun you two!

Playing cards using strategies, rules and logistics has kept our minds sharp. 

In addition to cards, I have enjoyed working crossword puzzles since I was in elementary school. My first introduction to crossword puzzles was Highlights magazine. I graduated to Dell crosswords and puzzles and have enjoyed their easy, medium, hard, expert and challenger puzzles. The Dell crossword magazines have been my favorites throughout the years as I have found them to be the most accurate. Crossword puzzles have helped to improve my vocabulary.

In the March 13, 2013 issue of Time magazine, there is an article titled, "The Answer Men." The article is about world puzzle championships and why people compete. Truly a fascinating article. It answers the question about "why ordinary people solve puzzles, and always have, and probably always will." Here's where my third "C" word "concentration" comes in. Quoting the article by Lev Grossman:

"Puzzles demand concentration and intellectual effort, to the point where they resemble work more closely than they do play--the main difference being that at least with work you tend to get paid for your trouble. So why bother?

"Because puzzles are actually neither work nor play; they're something else. 'We're faced with problems every day in life, and we almost never get clarity,' says Will Shortz, the crossword editor of both the New York Times and NPR. 'We jump into the middle of a problem, we carry it through to whatever extentwe can to find an answer, then we just get on with things and find the next thing. Whereas with a human-made puzzle, you have the satisfaction of being completely in control: you start the challenge from the beginning, and you move all the way to the end. That's a satisfaction you don't get much in real life. You feel in control, and that's a great feeling.

"'And as with any human activity," Shortz goes on to say, 'you want to know how good you are compared with other people.'"

To me, cards fit into the category with puzzles using the above logic that you start a card game from the beginning and move all the way to the end.

Cards, crosswords and concentration: my "C" words for today.

Game on. Travel Bug out.

We Picked Up a Hitchhiker... -- Sat., Dec. 29

...An unintended hitchhiker, but a hitchhiker nevertheless. As we were driving along a freeway access road, whoosh, a bird flew directly in front of the car. Oh, no! Bob was driving and I had visions of a dead bird on our grille.

When we reached the Camping World parking lot we headed into the store to find out about returning our outside surge protector. When we headed back out to the car, Bob said, "Look," as he pointed just above the front bumper. There, sitting on a little ledge between the bumper and the inside grille, was a beautiful young mockingbird, the state bird of Texas. It was alive.

We tried to shoo it away with our hands, but it jumped up higher behind the front grille. I tried to coax it out with a long pole that I stuck between the inside radiator grille and the outside decorative grille. Finally, we gave up and decided to let the bird stay there. It was protected from 70 mph freeway speeds behind part of the front of the car (no holes there to let air blast through).

Our destination was Pecan Park Campground in San Marcos, TX to meet friends Peri and Jim of Tales from the Camping House. By the time we arrived at their site, the bird was gone. We figure it must have jumped out at one of our stops along the way. Just as well. I don't know what we would have done with a mockingbird living in our car.

At Jim and Peri's 5er we sat chatting before we made our way to Lockhart, Texas, in Caldwell County, the Barbecue Capital of Texas. 

Caldwell County Courthouse

Our destination in Lockhart was one of the four barbecue markets (AKA restaurants).  Peri and Jim chose Kreuz (pronounced "Krites") Market for lunch today. 

Jim, Peri, Bob, Susan in front of Kreuz Market before lunch.

The way you order at Kreuz was a new experience for us. First you stand in line to place your meat order from the "pit" area. The "pit" is the room where all the barbecuing, cutting and weighing is done. (Zowie! Is that room smokey!) Choices of meat ranged from shoulder clod to ribs to turkey to chicken to brisket to pork to sausage. Each type of meat had its own per-pound pricing which was paid for in the pit room.

A whole room full of barbecue pits. You can see glowing wood on the bottom right.

Cutting our turkey breast to order.

This particular barbecue place does not put barbecue sauce on the meat, saying they're not trying to hide anything. Don't ask for barbecue sauce because it offends them. The meat is moist and tender. You can pull it apart and eat it with your hands. Once you have your meat, you make your way into the dining room where you get in line again to purchase your sides, drinks and desserts. I found a table for the four of us while the others went to buy their sides/drinks. We had a great meal and were pretty full at the end of it. 

From the restaurant, Jim drove us around the town of Lockhart where he showed us Smitty's Market, Black's Barbecue and Chisholm Trail Barbecue restaurants...all had lines out the door. We also drove past Caldwell County Historical Museum (formerly a jail) which is a great example of the Norman castellated style of architecture. (In other words it is built like a castle.)

From Lockhart, we drove 13 miles back to Pecan Park. We nestled into Jim and Peri's 5th wheel (with fireplace heater!) where we taught them how to play pinochle. Bob and I were impressed with how quickly they learned the game. (It can be a bit tricky in bidding and strategy.) As the games progressed, we had some really horrible hands, so we did a lot of re-dealing. 

During the afternoon, we snacked on chips, hummus, pretzel chips, praline nuts, smoked turkey, mixed nuts and pepper jack cheese. When the Alamo Bowl game came on TV, we moved the table into the living room to play cards and watch football. Jim and Peri wanted Texas to win. Bob and I wanted Oregon State to win. It looked good for Oregon State through the whole game until the very end. Boo!

Anyway we had a very fun day and capped it off with pumpkin pie and whipped cream. We didn't get home until around 11:00 p.m. 

Jim and Peri are invited to San Antonio to do a 10K Volksmarch with us on Saturday, Jan. 5. Actually, we plan to do two 10K Volksmarches that day, so Jim and Peri can meet us after we finish the first one. Then we are inviting them to our 5er to play pinochle and Sequence. We'll see if there are any good games on TV that day. 

(Note: I skipped blogging on Friday because it was typical chore day--vacuuming, shopping, laundry. Now you know.)

Today was a quiet day for me. I made pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon applesauce, fried eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. Bob went to Gold's Gym to play basketball and relax in their indoor hot tub. I researched the cabins on site at our RV park for my Mom's and sister's visit in late March. I am also looking into booking their airfare. That's about it.

Travel Bug out.

Sable Antelope -- Sat., June 23

Cotulla, Texas:

Long dry spell for us as far as seeing exotic animals on the ranch across the road. Today, however, was my lucky photography day. A few sable antelope were grazing across the road, one came down the fence line. I told Bob, "Every time I go out there to take a picture of sable antelope, they stampede away."

So, ever hopeful, I grabbed my camera and SLOWLY sauntered toward the road, sometimes straying to the left, then to the right, stopping, walking forward a few feet, but never looking straight at the gorgeous, chestnut brown, mask-faced beauty about 100' away.

With the zoom lens, I was able to snap these photos before one of the other antelope "yelped" (?) a warning and "my" antelope bolted off into the trees. (Double-click to enlarge photos.)

Our gate, antelope across the road. Close!

We can see the antelope from the 5er. Pretty mask.

Gorgeous horns.

Pregnant? (Don't even know if this is a female.)

The gray cottontails are out again this evening. Earlier in the day the mockingbirds were teaching their young how to fly and hunt. A family of four was sitting in the mesquite tree by Bob's truck and you could hear them communicating with another bird or two across the field.

Watching the beautiful animals today caused my mind to wander to the subject of hunting. I can't wrap my head around it. Conflicting thoughts occur to me. People hunt for food which I can understand if they're hungry and game is plentiful. Hunts are also scheduled if one species over-propagates and there are no natural predators to cull the group. Culling the herd or flock or whatever can help stop the spread of disease, can stop over-grazing, and over-population.

What I can't wrap my head around, and perhaps hunters out there can help me "see," is why animals are hunted as trophies to hang on the wall. Why can't a hunter "stalk" the animals with a camera, take an intimate, up-close photo of the animal in its natural habitat, enlarge it into a poster, and hang that on the wall? The animal lives. The species doesn't become extinct, and future generations can then enjoy the LIVE animals as well.

Is hunting such a primal instinct from our caveman days that it's in humans' DNA? Why only some people? Others wouldn't dream of harming an animal. Is it needing to feel powerful? Can anyone explain it to me?

Tonight in Oregon, our pinochle group is playing. For many years when we lived in Oregon we played pinochle once a month. I sure do miss it. Mom, my sister, my son, and my brother and sister-in-law still play, plus many of our friends who were regulars. Hello to the group! I wish for you many pinochles, double runs and thousand aces.

That's all I've got for today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend wherever you may be.

The Versatile Blogger Award Post

Thank you to Betty (Texas Yellow Rose) at Phoenix Once Again for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award. 

VBA Rules

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

• Add the award to your blog. Done
• Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.  Done.
• Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.  Done.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.  Done
• List the rules.  Done
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself. (I'll tell all of you.)

Seven things about myself you might not know:

1. I love bungee jumping! Never thought I'd do it because I'm afraid of heights. However on a familiarization tour to Nanaimo, British Columbia our tour stopped at The Bungy Zone (now called WildPlay Elements Park). I climbed to the top of the bungy bridge where there was a sign saying the oldest person (at that time) to have bungy jumped off the bridge was an 80-year-old man. I remember thinking, "If an 80-year-old man can do this, I can do it." I had a blast. That fear was conquered.
2. I did medical transcription for 15 years.
3. I love nature, especially waterfalls and animals.
4. My favorite drink is water.
5. For my mom's 80th birthday, my sister, mom and I took a three-week vacation around the American Southwest: started in Las Vegas, went to Hoover Dam, Lake Mead Recreation Area, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Kodachrome Basin State Reserve, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Marble Canyon, Natural Bridges National Monument, boat ride on Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Pipe Spring National Monument and back to Las Vegas.
6. I am a roller coaster junkie...the higher and faster the better. My absolute favorites are the coasters with the tracks on top where your legs dangle free.
7. Pinochle is my favorite card game.

My nominations/awards go to:

1. Kit at Welcome to the Bertelsen Web Site
2. Carole at Cheshire Cats Capers
3. Lloyd at Wandrin
4. Our RV Adventures
5. Debbie at Fork in the Road
6. Jim & Dee at Tumbleweed
7. Bob at Texas Heat
8. Bob at Plead Ignorance
9. Mike at Phannie and Mae
10. Jim & Gayle at Life's Little Adventures
11. Andy at My Old RV
12. Vicky at Full Time RVing...Our Journey into Gate Guarding
13. Phil and Rudee at Workin' RVers
14. Peri and Jim at Tales from the Camping House
15. Steve and Joan at Friends of Steve and Joan