The Adventures of T N A

Dan Long - Minnesota Highway Patrol Officeer

2011-09-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Just ran across this old Photo of my Grandfather Dan Long. He was a Minnesota Highway Patrolman. He was a pretty sharp looking guy.

Before and After

2011-09-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a progress report on the Engine.

Before

After

Looking

2011-08-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone even looking at this anymore?

Chrysler 413

2011-02-01T19:10:00.001-08:00

Tom is making some headway with the Engine. The new Engine hoist worked perfectly!
The engine stand is holding up nicely and will help out tremendously with the tear down.

Engine Hoist

2011-01-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well, It's been a while since our last post. We've been busy with the Holiday's and now the auction is coming up again in a week. DH's brother Charlie is hauling down Tom's 413 from his old Imperial. He needed something to be able to get the Engine out of Charlies truck and onto an Engine stand. DH's dad and wife assembled it today while I was at work. It turned out great and DH can't wait to try it out this coming weekend.

Arizona

2010-05-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

All is well here in Arizona. We hope to start posting on a more regular basis again soon.

Saguaro Lake - Phoenix, AZ.

2009-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a nice day here in the desert. We booked a reservation to board a boat that does a 90 minute tour of Saguaro lake. The Captain narrates as you putter along so you get a story behind what it is you're looking at. It was very informative.

The views of the lake are breathtaking. Steep cliffs pushing upward towards the sky as if trying to grasp the sun. It's magnificent!

One of the mountain views we had was of a peak called "Four Peaks". It's the mountain range that's actually shown on the AZ license plate. We did not know this until the captain told us. We learned something very important that day.

The tour of the lake allowed us to see for the first time nesting Bald Eagles on the face of a cliff. It was spectacular as they looked at us taking photos of them. It truly is a sight to see.

It was a great tour and we'd recommend it to anyone.

Of course a trip wouldn't be complete without a photo of us together.

What we've been up to....

2009-08-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, to update everyone on what we've been doing - we moved again.
We're in Scottsdale, AZ very near Westworld.
We're in a great house and we actually hung a few pictures on the walls, we feel that comfortable here!
And the dogs love it!
As you can see, Muncie is totally relaxed!

Phoebe can't stop smiling!

One of the many cool features of this place is the fact that it has an area in the back that is like astro-turf. No mowing, no watering and it's always Green.

It's Awesome!
In order to get our bearings in our new neck of the woods, we wandered out today and took some great pictures of a place called Greasewood Flat.

They have Fabulous burgers and a really neat Old West vibe with old wooden buggies and other old items scattered around.

And we found a small shopping area that had a center courtyard. Very neat!

Then we traveled over to Old Town and wandered around there. Thanks to a friend of ours, we found the LOVE sculpture again.

You Break It, You Buy It

2009-05-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows the saying, "You Break It, You Bought It".

Well, tonight, we traveled to Target for a few essentials for the home and to get some dog treats.

In the pet treat/toy aisle, DW was scanning for the right treats for Phoebe when DH decided to see how well a duck/sling shot toy worked.

DW launched it down the aisle and it flew about 10 feet before crashing to the ground and breaking free of it's packaging!

There was another customer in the aisle with us and she giggled quite a bit when DW asked DH if we just bought a duck. DH just said "Yup, I think so."

And we giggled about it the whole way out of the store! Muncie loves his new duck!

Strawberries!!

2009-05-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

DW has been trying so hard to grow strawberries from the little plant she bought 2 months ago and has finally been rewarded!

DW asked DH if he would like to have the first strawberry. He wisely declined.
DW bit into the strawberry and her sour taste buds Still hurt!
Of course we'll keep trying!
The next one should be ready to try in a couple of days!
:-)

Latest Update

2009-04-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hi to all! We hope everyone is doing well! DH is back from Florida! Yay!
He's finally back on Arizona time - that 3 hour time change wasn't fun!

So what have we been doing?
First, trying to keep the pool clean! LOL!

But seriously, it's been VERY windy here and there's some kind of tree just on the other side of the wall that is really annoying! If it's not shedding it's tiny leaves, it's shedding it's little yellow flowers!
We know, we're getting lots of sympathy right about now......
:-)

Today we decided to head back over to the Scottsdale Gun Club for some target shooting.

If you want a specific weapon, I'm sure they have it.
Is this a sign of what's to come????

It's always interesting to see 10 year old kids shooting weapons! But safety is the key and we love the fact that between each shooter is double pane of bullet proof glass!

Today, we shared a couple of targets, alternating shots between us.

Another fun afternoon!!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T20:48:00.001-07:00

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter and provide an update of life in Phoenix/West Palm Beach!
DH is still in Florida, where he's been for the last 2+weeks and won't return home for another 5 days. All of the preparation for the latest auction has paid off and the auction went well! Today, Speed Channel even continued broadcasting 45 minutes later than originally scheduled!

Now that Easter is here, DW decided to continue the tradition of coloring Easter eggs, so tonight that's what was on the agenda. Here's the before picture.
/

And here is our very own Easter basket!

Happy Easter everyone!

Thunder in the Desert - Air show - 2009

2009-03-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

We attended an airshow this last weekend and it was INCREDIBLE!
The (AIRFORCE) Thunderbirds put on an amazing show and the static plane displays were at your fingertips.

DH has always had a hidden fantasy to take flying lessons and soar the skies. Although he hasn't had that chance yet, he still loves to attend and hear the full throttle of a Jet flying low overhead. It's kind of his "FIX" for relaxation.

Here's a video DH shot of the Thunderbirds. This is a slow flying jet that is going as slow as it possibly can. It's amazing to see such a super sonic plane just about ready to fall out of the sky.

2009 Air Show - Thunderbirds - Phoenix, AZ.

Below is a video DH took showing two planes doing a crossing maneuver. INCREDIBLE they don't hit each other!

2009 Air Show - Thunderbirds - Phoenix

We had a great time attending. Below you'll find some photos of our day. Enjoy!

DW when we first arrived on base. "LUKE AIRFORCE BASE" that is. DW was greeted with "yes ma'am" and DH with "yes sir". It was really great to see some respect from the youth of today. It's funny how safe one feels as you walk around.

It was pushing close to 90 degrees while we were walking around. If you notice in the above photo, everyone is sitting in the shadows of the plane. This happened with every aircraft on the base. DH found it funny because the outline of the shadow was followed precisely. We ended up taking shelter behind a beer truck so we could eat our lunch.... Guess we understand the reason. LOL!

No trip would be complete without DH making friends with the local authority.....

DW has always had a thing for men in uniform... So of course we had to have a photo taken.

All in all, we were very impressed with the quality and number of aircraft. We will definitely attend again in the future.

Birds!

2009-03-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, DH decided to see what would happen if we replaced our hummingbird feeder with a regular bird feeder.
DW loved the hummingbird feeder but had become frustrated when it seemed to be leaking/broken. Well, it turns out it was a bird that actually damaged the humming bird feeder!
DW was enjoying some quiet time on the patio late one afternoon when she spied a sparrow type bird hanging upside down on the hummingbird feeder sticking it's beak into a seam on the bottom. It was trying to suck the red sugar water but actually ended up somehow spilling a lot of it on the ground below. That attracted ants.
So enough's enough!
Here's our new bird feeder and a young mourning dove that's begun hanging around the backyard.

As you can see below, it didn't take long for the word to spread among the bird population! There are brown speckled ones, red breasted ones, doves and many others not shown here. It's really neat to see all of them!

Our dogs love harassing the birds that land either on the feeder or on the ground looking for seeds.
I wasn't able to catch Muncie being himself but here's Phoebe.
She's the mini-lioness, laying in the shadows, waiting for the a victim. Stalking, lurking, licking her chops. Little does she know, if she were actually able to catch one of these birds, they'd probably kick her $#%@!

JUST FIX IT!

2009-03-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

(For those of you who watch SNL, you'll get the title of this blog.)

Tonight, DH had the perfect opportunity to be a handyman.

DW discovered a water leak under the sink after running the rather old garbage disposal. Upon closer inspection, we found that a ball bearing from inside around the edge of the spinning wheel had actually busted through the container! (You can see the hole near the center of the picture.)
That would have been tough to explain in the ER! Like they'd believe one of us had been standing in front of the garbage disposal and ended up with a BB in our leg!

Anyway, DH quickly removed the old disposal and off we went to our local Ace Hardware for some help. The guys there are so helpful and soon hooked us up with a replacement garbage disposal.

Back home we came and, after some swearing, pounding of wrenches and general frustration, DH successfully installed the new disposal.

And boy does it work like a charm! It's Awesome!! Thank you!!

Now IT"S FIXED!!!

A spaghetti dinner with friends

2009-03-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening was full of food, wine, laughter and friends.

DH made his home made Spaghetti dinner (with meatballs!) for his co-workers/friends.

Our friends showed up with bottles of wine, appetizers, salad, and french garlic cheese bread.

It was really good to have a house full of people!

Everyone ate till they couldn't get one more bit of food in their bellies!

Well, that is till the Coconut Cream Pie was brought out! Man were we stuffed!

The evening went off without a hitch and we and everyone else enjoyed it immensely!

We can't wait to do it again!

Flower Power

2009-03-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

With all of the things going on in the world and in our lives, we decided to take a moment and smell the flowers.

These are all found in our backyard or front yard. (We aren't sure of the names of all of them, we just like how colorful they are.)

Tom has decided to quit his job and become a Professional Flower Photographer. He has a snazzy straw hat and we're working to find him a piece of straw to gnaw on. :-)

Weekend Update

2009-03-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

To celebrate a friends' birthday, Saturday night we traveled to a restaurant that was a combination of Old West style and Claim Jumpers portions!

This was the place!

This was the type of old restaurant that started as one small room, then as time went on, individual rooms were added on so the floors between the rooms were unlevel. It could be a bit difficult to navigate if someone was to have one too many! But the 6 of us all behaved and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. DH and DW decided to order 2 different entrees to share. The Atlantic Cod and Crispy Chicken arrived!

We found out that when we were told it was a "whole" chicken, it Really was a Whole Chicken! What flavor! And the cod was flakier than any other fish we'd had!
After a Wonderful meal and Great conversation, this was our parting view of the Horny Toad -

It was a great, relaxing evening with good friends!

Today, we had 3 friends over for a bbq. We were able to relax on the patio in wonderful 85 degree weather. After burgers and hot dogs from the grill, we discovered a visitor trying to break into the house! Here he is checking to make sure the coast is clear!

Here's a Great example of an Arizona sunset taken from our house.

FBR - 2009 - Scottsdale, AZ.

2009-02-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

DH & DW attended the final round of the FBR tournament here in Scottsdale today.
Neither of us had ever been to a pro golfing event ever. It was one of the coolest things we have ever attended. The FBR is known for the rowdy crowds that gather and heckle tournament players.
Today was no exception.
The 16th hole known as the "PARTY HOLE" didn't let us down. We were told to avoid this hole as it's very rowdy. Actually, we had the time of our lives at the 16th hole and DW had to buy a shirt to prove she was here. Here's a photo showing our view. It was great!

Below is a few more photos showing our adventure. It was amazing!!!

DW looking down at the 18th Green. Behind her and under the jumbo-tron is the 17th Green.

DH sitting on the hill just left of the 18th Green.
It was an amazing day! Thanks Mike James - CER

We hope all is well with each and everyone of you!! We miss you all.............

Insight Bowl - Tempe, AZ

2009-01-01T18:48:00.001-08:00

We have some visitors from Minnesota staying with us here at the house and we all celebrated New Year's Eve by attending the Insight bowl in Tempe, AZ, compliments of our friend Kurt. The Minnesota Golden Gophers played Kansas University.
The day was beautiful with no wind, blue skies, and warm temps. On the way to the game, the outside temp gauge on the car in read 80 degrees. We couldn't have asked for a better day to watch a college bowl game in an open stadium. The excitement was everywhere.

Of course it wouldn't be right if we didn't feature DH with a photo of him being himself.
"NICE HAT" LOL!

We sat one section away from the Minnesota Marching Band. That alone was cool.
Those guys ROCK!

There were 5 paratroopers from the local military base who jumped from a plane above the stadium, spun around in the air and landed on the field, one after the other! The synchronization was incredible! The last jumper brought the American flag into the stadium. They shot off fireworks and concussion grenades above the stadium. Some were so powerful, you could feel the shock wave in your chest!
The Gophers didn't win the game but DH & DW and friends felt like they were back in Minnesota for a brief moment and it felt wonderful. The sun didn't feel bad either. :-)

The Minnesota Gophers Marching Band performed Michael Jackson's "THRILLER" during the half time show.
They stole the show!! Way to go!!

Vikings VS Cardinals

2008-12-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to attend the Vikes/Cardinals football game yesterday. The Vikes gave a WHOOPEN to the Cardinals. It was a great game to attend.
I want to throw a shout-out to our friend Timmy and his friend who hooked us up with the tickets and parking pass. Thanks Timmy!!!!
Here are some photos we took on our adventure.

This is the Westgate area which is right next door to the main stadium. We posted a blog earlier about this spot but at that time a game wasn't scheduled.
As you look at the photo you will notice LOTS of Purple and Gold!
It was amazing walking around as you actually felt like you were at a Vikings game in Minnesota! Pretty cool.
DH actually thought of not wearing his Jersey at one point because he wasn't sure how many others would be doing the same. He wanted to make sure it was a safe adventure for both DH & DW.
As we found out, he had nothing to worry about.......

One of the restaurants has people on stilts that walk around on game day and make fabulous balloon hats for a few select people to enjoy. If you look closely you can see he's making a hat of Purple and Gold colors.
If you look at the previous photograph, no one has one of these fantastic hats.

Would you Looky there, out of ALL those people, who would have thought DH would end up with it?? DH was a great sport and kept it on his head all the way to our seats in the stadium.
He actually had a motorcycle cop who was laughing as he drove past him and gave DH the thumbs-up.
DH has always loved the opportunity to make people smile and laugh!
Doesn't he look fabulous?? LOL!
,
On the way back to the stadium we ran across some other Minnesotans and couldn't pass up this rare photo op. LOL! Everyone was laughing HYSTERICALLY at this one.

We found our seats and snuggled in comfortably. We looked up and to our amazement they started opening the roof. The comfortable 74 degrees when we got to our seats was very soon replaced with a balmy 51 degrees. What one must deal with here in the dessert..... Brrrrrr...

Go "VIKES"!!! (If you notice, the balloon hat is just to the left of us in the above photo.)

You didn't actually think we'd get through a blog post without DW having a showing did you??

You look "Maaaahhhhvelous" Sweetie, simply "Maaaahhhvelous"......

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!

It's Auction time again..... Some funny photos in Phoenix as well.....

2008-12-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

It's that time again and we've begun the process.
The skins on the end of the main auction have started to be removed to allow all the adjoining tents to be put up.
DH is looking forward to another successful auction. He'll keep you posted........

We thought we'd post some photos of the different and strange things we've come across in our first year in Phoenix. Enjoy!!

Yep, It's mounted directly to the nose of the car. It use to eat and drink at one time...... Ugh!

SERIOUSLY???

We LOVE this bumper sticker!

A "MAGIC" truck. You see everything IN the truck right now, but 5 miles down the road you'll be lucky to see just the mattress in the back.
Large quantities of belongings all held in with itty bitty string.
Sure honey, it will hold.........
YOU be the judge......

You're as cuddly as a cactus

2008-12-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Grinch is alive and well here in Arizona again.
Here's a photo showing him in all his glory! Hope all is well with everyone.

Cars, Cars, Cars. Goodguys.

2008-11-15T18:21:00.000-08:00

Another day has passed with the Goodguys car show. It was packed with people and cars again! DW attended today while DH was working and she was able to take photos of some great cars. We are both attending again tomorrow, Sunday, because DH doesn't have to work and the both of us can wander around together.
We wish we had a car that we could bring to a show like this. The people here are amazingly friendly and it's a great opportunity to meet people from all over the United States.
Here are a few of the photos DW took while wandering the grounds of Westworld. Enjoy! We'll take more photos tomorrow and share them with you.

This is an official "RATROD" Too cool!

Just a few photos to show you the quality of the cars that attend this event.
A few interesting rides are here, but interesting is always Great in the realm of customs, Resto-mods and classics!

Finally in this last photo, if you look closely above the roof of the truck you see DH's place of employment's motorhome coach. On top of the coach, on the left side, in a black and white shirt is DH who was talking with a co-worker and DW snapped the photo.

Good Guys - Scottsdale, AZ.

2008-11-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

DH had an exciting day today!
He was asked to work the B-J Booth at the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association car show held at Westworld here in Scottsdale, AZ.
Of course he "hemmed and hawed" at the thought of having to work..... Sigh! You know DH - he NEVER wants to work. :-)

http://www.good-guys.com/news/hotNews.aspx

DH arrived at Westworld early this morning to help with the final set-up before the gates opened up at 8 a.m. We had 4 cars on display that will be auctioned off in January.

We had the B-J Motorcoach with the cars on either side of it, tables in front to hand out poster calendars and an observation deck above to overlook the fields of cars below.
The number of cars that showed up was Amazing!
Even crazier is that all the cars arrive by 8:00 a.m. and all leave at 5:00 p.m. They all do this each of the 3 days of the show. "CRAZY"!!!
The sound of Horsepower, the smell of Unburnt fuel in the air, and the vibrations felt in your body as some of these incredible pieces of art roll by makes any car "ADDICT" smile as if in a ZEN like state.
DH is so upset that he has to get up and do it all over again tomorrow morning, Saturday.
Oh the Inhumanity!! LOL!

A shot from above the Motorcoach.

Another shot from above the Coach.

Another shot from above the Coach. Look at all the cars. Amazing!!
Remember they all have to leave at the end of the day and return in the A.M.

Oh Yeah, I almost forgot. We even have our own blimp to fly. We had to fill it with Helium. Let's just say that step alone is it's own adventure. LOL!

Here's the Goodguys Car of the Year for the West Coast for 2008. "SAH-WEEEEEEEEEEEET"

DW will be joining DH at the car show tomorrow and DH will take more pictures to share.

Rain Delay

2008-11-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Today was the day of the 2nd to last Nascar race of the season here in the Phoenix area at the Phoenix International Raceway.
We attended the race last year but decided to take a pass this year.
Good thing we did!
The race started at 1:45 and had about 1/2 hour rain delay from 2:30 to 3. It didn't look too bad on tv.
Well, we found out differently!
About 1/2 hour after the race resumed, the storm hit our house!
There was actually Thunder!
DW took the following picture thinking we'd only get a few sprinkles but it was pretty exciting! We don't remember the last time we had rain fall!

Well, the sky opened and in just a few short minutes, there was actually hail! DW had been upstairs checking to make sure the rain wasn't coming in the windows we had opened when she noticed hail on the neighbors roof! She high-tailed it downstairs, yelling "it's hailing!" and grabbed the camera to get the following picture. This is a rug that is just outside our back door under the patio overhang.

Meanwhile, the rain poured down!

After the rain had stopped, DW stepped out the front door and surveyed the clouds. She took the following pictures and only after about 30 seconds outside, there was a lightning strike too close for comfort! DW ran back inside and slammed the front door! And yelled "Holy S%#$, Holy $%^%!"
But she managed to snap the following pictures showing the storm as it passed us.

It had been cloudy most of today. We're so used to it being sunny everyday that when it's cloudy, it's just weird. But we manage!
We hope everyone is keeping safe and warm in Minnesota!

Incredible Dining Experience

2008-11-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

Tonight, we decided to treat ourselves by dining out. The whole first year we lived in Phoenix, we would drive by a newer seafood restaurant on a daily basis. We had heard wonderful things about their food, so tonight we decided to give this restaurant a try.
Neither of us are huge seafood fans, but we will eat fish and we'd been told they also have steaks on the menu.
We went early, about 5:45 p.m. and when we entered the restaurant, we only saw 4 other tables with patrons. But on the other half of the restaurant, there were approximately 30 people in the bar area. We were seated in an elegant booth in the dining room and opened our menus.
Before we had a chance to review the menu, our server placed a bowl of tortilla chips and a dish of salsa on our table. We looked at each other with raised eyebrows. So this is how seafood places operate now? Apparently they weren't so much a seafood place as a mexican food place.
Ok, we'll go with that.
DH ordered a taco salad and DW ordered a balsamic chicken wrap. Our server was very prompt and attentive. Our food arrived after a short wait and we enjoyed it. The food I mean.
Our dining experience just seemed to get weirder and weirder. There was a gentleman who had apparently been outside holding a sign advertising the restaurant and now decided that he needed to be in the restaurant and loudly claiming that the fact there were 5 whole tables of guests was because of him and his work.
Ok. We'll let that one go.
One of the waiters brought 3 balloons to children seated at a table behind us. Once again, we looked at each other and waited for the inevitable.
Yup, about 2 minutes later, one of the balloons hit a sharp decoration hanging from the wall and popped. From the kitchen, we heard one of the employees say he thought it sounded like gunfire coming from the dining room.
Ok, once again, we let it go.
Neither of us had finished our dinner when our waitress brought our check and told us she would take care of it when we were ready. But there was no hurry.
Really? Seriously? Ok.
We decided not to rush since there were still 20+ empty tables in the restaurant and we figured they didn't Really need ours RIGHT NOW!!
After finishing her chicken wrap, DW was eating the seasoned fries on her plate when one of the waiters came over and asked if she was finished and could he take her plate?
DW looked at him and finished chewing the fries in her mouth before replying "no, I'm sorry. I'm not done yet."
Seriously? Seriously??
Ok, we let that one go too.
We couldn't stop giggling now though! It just kept getting better!!
After another waitress came by and asked DW if she was finished with her plate (yes, she was, finally). Instead of taking the plate, the waitress said she'd be right back to get it.
So now, they Really Don't want to take the plate!
A table of 4 was soon seated behind DH and one of them asked the waitress where all the seafood had gone from the menu. We heard the waitress tell them that the restaurant had gone through 3 menu changes since she'd been there. We didn't hear how long that had been but apparently it was a relatively short time.
Our plates were finally cleared from the table and a young waiter stopped by our table and asked how we enjoyed the food. We both said the food was good. The waiter felt some inexplicable need to tell us that he'd like to order some food but he loaned $20 to his friend and now his gas tank is near empty and "Holy Crap", he doesn't have any money!
SERIOUSLY???!!!!
As we left the restaurant, we were still giggling and told each other that next time, we have to remind each other to "Turn it off!" Our Freak magnet, that is!!
Life is one constant adventure!!

Oh, The Embarrassment!!

2008-11-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!
Lots of ghouls and goblins made a quick stop at the Jarvi household for Halloween candy last night. From 6:30 to 8:00, we had about 50 trick-or-treaters show up at our house. The funniest one was a young man about 12 years old who was dressed as a zombie mummy with lots of wrapping hanging down over his face. After a handful of candy was dropped into his outstretched pillowcase, DW observed him actually sticking his face into his the pillowcase. DW looked to his companion who explained that he can't see through his costume. She grabbed his elbow to turn him around to leave and realized he really couldn't see!
And here are our 2 dogs, they were feeling the Halloween spirit as well as a Ballerina and a Pumpkin!

Or NOT! It's almost like they're embarrassed or something!
But DW thinks they look Adorable! And the tiara on Phoebe's head lasted about 3 seconds after the picture was taken! Yes, DW is one of THOSE people! But just see how cute they are!
Ok, back to reality.
A couple of weekends ago, DW drove to Las Vegas to support DH during the latest auction. And DW learned the hard way that you don't wave to someone to get their attention while you're sitting on an auction floor. All is fine, no car was actually bought and other than that one time, DW had a Great time wandering around the auction! Lots of wonderful cars, cool memorabilia and even drifting! The room that DH had was on the 27th floor of Mandalay Bay and had a Great view of the drifting track and the car tents. Here's a view from the room taken at night.

Oh, and by the way, don't forget that Daylight Savings Times ends early Sunday morning. So those of our friends back in good ole' Minnesota, don't forget to change your clocks and gain an hour of sleep!

Vegas Baby!

2008-10-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yes,
DH is still alive.............. Sore, Exhausted, Tired, Yet functional!!

All DH can communicate is "WOW, ONE HELL OF A SHOW" - "CAN I GO SLEEPY NOW"????

After two weeks of walking the Mandalay property, DH could kick anything that you might need knocked down. His legs are STRONG now. With the help of some recommendations for footwear from the "OKIES", DH had a successful auction with little to no pain of any sort with his feet. Thank you "OKIES" your input was AMAZING! I can now look forward to Scottsdale and not have to worry about being uncomfortable.

What can I say? Vegas was an amazing accomplishment. For the first time at a site of this magnitude and to pull it off successfully, is a feat in itself. The cars were amazing, the turn out was amazing. Mandalay Bay as a Resort itself is amazing...... DH & DW would love to go enjoy what the property has to offer during non auction times............

Here are a few photos of DH with a few cool cars at Mandalay Bay.
With the Scottsdale Auction right around the corner, hopefully we can keep up to date with the blog. Sorry it has taken so long to update.

This is a photo of DH with a 1968 Plymouth "HEMI" road runner. DH was able to drive this car to a security check point where he could take a left to re-enter the auction site, Orrrrr take a right and make a run for it. He thought long and hard on this decision and of course with the little man on his shoulder guiding him as he has through life, DH proceeded to the auction site. DH stated "That had to be ONE of the most difficult decisions of his life"! For those who know DH best, this body style and "HEMI" option would make 99% of Mopar fans think the same thing. It was a great reminder of the past.

Here's a photo of a 1969 Plymouth GTX. DH has been a fan of this body style since he was in High School. DH hopes one day he can again navigate one of these "MONSTERS" down the road with the biggest of smiles on his face.

Here's a photo of DH's room that overlooked the parking lot. It was really cool to get back to the room at night and overlook the 480' long car tents and everything around them. It was a great sense of accomplishment to see it from the 27th floor of Mandalay Bay.

Hope all is well with everyone! Just so you know, it's supposed to be 92 Degrees here tomorrow.
Hopefully we are heading to the State Fair tomorrow. Weather permitting. "GIGGLES" :-)

Dickies Dogs - Update!

2008-09-30T21:50:00.001-07:00

What the heck is happening here??

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2008/09/29/20080929sr-dynamite0929ON.html

Beamz

2008-09-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

We were exploring this weekend and ran across this awesome Musical creation. It's AWESOME!
DH & DW actually had the chance to play around with it. Perhaps in the future we will own one. It's really cool. Enjoy!
www.thebeamz.com

Hope everyone is doing well. We miss all of you!

TnA

PHOENIX "NEWS"

2008-09-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

In the "NEWS"
We posted a blog not too long ago about this place. It has the BEST chili dogs and the guys DH works with eat here probably once if not twice a month. "CRAZY"!! What is the world coming to?

PHOENIX -- Scottsdale police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are investigating an explosion that caused extensive damage to a restaurant in north Scottsdale.The explosion happened late Sunday at Dickie's Dogs, at Bell Road and Thompson Peak Parkway.The owner was inside the deli-style restaurant when he heard glass breaking followed by an explosion. He was injured, but not seriously.The same business was pipe-bombed four years ago.

Police did not release information about the type of explosive device used in the latest explosion, but they said it was not a random act."It's just early in the investigation, so we're going to have to put the interviews together with the forensic evidence they collect to try and determine what happened," said Scottsdale Police Sgt. Mark Clark.The restaurant did not have surveillance cameras, Clark said."There is no videotape in the business or the immediate businesses next door, but we are going to be looking at other areas of this shopping center to see if there's other video that may give us some help," said Clark.The restaurant's appliances were pierced by shrapnel. Investigators were going through the business with a fine-toothed comb Monday morning, pulling fiberglass insulation and other items.A neighboring chiropractic office was also damaged.

Gathering of friends

2008-09-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

Friday night we were invited to a friend's house for a small get together. We arrived at 8:15 p.m.
When we walked in, we were introduced to someone we had not met before. He is good friends with a friend of DH's friend's wife.
Come to find out, he is a world class Chef.
___________________________________________________________________

Executive Chef

Paul Carter is the Executive Chef at The Phoenician, a 654-room luxury resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Chef Carter supervises a staff of over 150 and nine kitchen operations including Windows on the Green, The Terrace, The Phoenician Café/ Ice Cream Parlor, The 19th Hole, Oasis Grill, Canyon Oasis, In Room Dining, and all the Banquet kitchens. He also oversees pastry, bakeshop, butcher shop, pasta shop and garde manger operations. As the resort’s Executive Chef, he takes charge of all menu creations and preparations, overseeing daily supervision and training of restaurant staff. According to Carter, “Perfecting simplicity, is the essence to great food.”

Chef Carter’s worldwide background has provided him with a culinary expertise that far exceeds his 17 years of cooking. His love affair with the kitchen dates back to his early teens. A native of London, Carter attend Colchester Institute of Culinary Arts in Essex, at the young age of 15 yrs. Upon earning a three-year culinary degree, he began his cooking career at the Hotel Sonnenhügel in Bad Kissingham, Germany where he held the title of Commis de Cuisine. He later served in the same capacity at Chateau de Montreil in France for three years. After rising through the ranks in the kitchens, he moved to the venerable Connaught Hotel in London where he held posts in all kitchen operations from butcher, to garde manger, saucier of fine dining, to banquets. In 1992, Carter moved to the United States to head up kitchens at world class resorts including Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, California where he held the position of “Saucier” for the fine dining restaurant. He held the position of Executive Sous Chef at the Ritz Carlton, Naples, Florida and also the Executive Chef at the exclusive Vinings Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to joining The Phoenician, he was Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland, Ohio.

Carter is the 1991 recipient of the coveted William Heptionstall award, an honor given to “The Most Enterprising Young Chef in the U.K.” He also received the Maitrise Culinaire Diplome by Palmes Culinaire in 2002.
__________________________________________________________________

We had a great time with everyone. One of DH's co-workers made what are known as "Tony's Nacho's". They're made with the "SCOOPS" you buy in the store. They consist of filling each and every "SCOOP" with blended beans, beef, and many other fixens. You place them on a cookie sheet and arrange them to stack on top of each other as a pyramid. You sprinkle assorted cheeses over each layer, then keep layering until the structure threatens to tip over. Then you place in the oven to melt the cheese and enjoy! It's a great idea and every "SCOOP" you get has everything in it. Brilliant idea! He owns the rights to this.

Chef made a treat for all of us for dessert. "Tequila Chocolate soufflé". We each had our own individual soufflé and believe us, they were to die for! Perfect melty chocolate with a warm gooey center and the best vanilla bean ice cream ever!
This was the BEST dessert we've ever had. We hope sometime in the future we can have a lesson in cooking from him to step up our cooking knowledge.

We hope all is well with each and everyone of you! We miss you all!

"WESTGATE" Entertainment

2008-08-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we were feeling like we needed to go do something. Some friends of ours said we need to go and check out the Westgate area. They said it's got great food and entertainment.

We headed out on an unknown adventure again here in AZ. They have so many unique areas to explore that you just wouldn't have the time to see them all if you tried during a short vacation! Westgate has really cool fountains that dance to music that plays through the speakers as you wander about.
This place was immaculate. Workers were pushing around carts with soap and water to wipe down everything. Tables, columns, chairs. It was really a great place to check out.
We noticed all the palm trees had Christmas lights on them and can only imagine what it looks like at night. We will venture back here at night and check it out.

This photo shows the stadium where the Arizona Cardinals football team plays. It is just a stone's throw away from Westgate. You can imagine what this place is like when a game is scheduled!

We stopped and had lunch at Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville"
The food was fantastic and the restaurant was really cool.
http://www.margaritaville.com/

DH had the jerk chicken. It was delicious! And the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger DW had was Great as well!

We continued our exploring after lunch and ran across Lots of Harley riders. We thought "what in the world is going on here"? Well.............

We ran across a huge Pink fire truck that is on tour for Breast Cancer.

They had a huge turnout and all these big burly guys wearing Biker Jackets and sporting major Tattoo's all walking around with pink on. It was really cool to see. http://www.pinkribbontour.com/

We were even able to get the driver of the fire truck and the Military escorts to pose for a photo. We thanked them and DH said a special "Thanks" to the serviceman for all they do for us. They got bright smiles and said "It's our Honor".
We smiled and continued on our way. That was a nice surprise for us.

As we were getting ready to head for home, we ran across this sign that had all different cities and countries and how far away they were from the spot we were standing.
DH & DW looked at each other and said "Do you think we can make it to Paris?"
We took a big chance coming here to Arizona & we wonder if we will ever be able to make it to France. DW has wanted to go there for as long as she can remember.
"Follow your dreams to pursue your destiny!" - The Harpinator

We leave you with one last photo of Westgate. Definitely worth the visit!!

Trip to Oh-Wah-Tan-ahhhhhhh

2008-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

We're back in AZ from our recent trip to O-Town MN. We had a GREAT time spending it with our family and friends. We were able to head to the local Steel County Free Fair (SCFF). It's the biggest county fair in the state of Minnesota.

We ran into people from year's past and met family and friends on Friday night at Ye Ole Beer Gardens. This in itself is worth the trip.

We never realized how much the "Yaaa, Sure, You Betcha" is said in everyday conversation. DH & DW looked at each other in amazement every time we heard that........ We actually laughed out loud! Only because people laughed at us due to our accent when we first arrived here in AZ. We've been told that our accents have almost left us completely, but they still hear a little of it in certain words....
We love our roots and if people find our accent funny, by all means, laugh. We know sure ya betcha did don't ya know. LOL! :-)~

We went non stop from Thursday night when we arrived, to Sunday early afternoon when we boarded our flight back to Phoenix. We can't say enough how wonderful it was to see each and every one of you. Thanks again!!!!
Below you will see a few photos we took of our short and quick trip.

Here we are at "SKY-HARBOR" airport here in Phoenix. It's great that they allow you to park your car and have a view of the flights leaving the airport. DH could stand out here for hours watching the planes take off. "HOW COOL"

No trip to the SCFF would be complete without a photo with Steely the Steer. As you can see in the background, the sky was perfect. Not a cloud to be seen. For a second, we thought we were still at home in Arizona!
It's true, you DO get a few nice days in MN!

Here is a photo we took of Fair Square. It's an entertainment area that has a variety of performances happening throughout the day. This picture shows a friend of the family that was called on stage to be a helping hand. We didn't even know he was around till the performer picked him out of the crowd. It was a show stopper to say the least! Thanks for the laugh Gener!! :-)

A trip back to Oh-Town would not be complete if you didn't enjoy a Pizza Pie from Nick's Pizza Palace. This pizza is the BEST in town. DH & DW devoured the whole pizza in Olympic time! Mmmmmmmmmm

Cars, Cars, Cars

2008-08-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

With the auction in Las Vegas being only months a way now, a flurry of fine automobiles have graced the floors of DH's work place for a chance to become the new flavor of the auction world. DH helped the Photographer "Tony" with what he could as Tony took the shots.
DH was able to sneak himself into the driver seat of a few beauties to have his mug shot taken. "HEAVEN"

With the smell of the exhaust floating around, several of DH's work mates said, "If we could bottle this smell, we'd all be millionaires".
It's true!
It's amazing to think of putting the horsepower, the smell of exhaust out of a big block engine, and the shaking of the ground as these monsters fire up into a bottle of men's cologne, who would need to work?
Ahhhhhhhhh Boys will be boys!

Happenings

2008-08-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

We are starting to feel settled now in our new digs.
We are loving the home and especially the pool. With the warm days and warm nights, nothing beats settling into the pool for a night's swim before bed.
DH has brought it upon himself to update the paint on the block wall in the back.
It's stucco so you can't just roll on the paint hoping it fills all the tiny little areas.
You have to have SO much patience to accomplish this task by using a brush and swirling it as you paint. We've already ruined two brushes! DH has been diligent on making sure this doesn't turn into a 6 month adventure. It is looking FANTASTIC!

Sunday, DH was at it again and was taken by surprise with Heat exhaustion. With a restless night of sleep and hydration issues, DH took his first sick day from work.
Anyone who knows DH knows that for him to take a sick day, it HAS to be bad.....

Tonight however, being hydrated with back still sun burnt, he had enough energy to "SHUCK" some bark off one of our palm trees that has been driving him mad since we moved in.

As we post the blog tonight, it is pouring down rain here as a monsoon has developed and is moving through the area..... SO far so good! :-)

We hope everyone is doing well and we miss you all!

Yup, We're Still Here!

2008-07-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things have been going here in AZ!
We started moving stuff into the new house early in July then took formal possession of it on July 15.

We were able to move all of the small stuff ourself but for the couches, beds, etc, we hired a moving company. After getting lost trying to find the old house, the 2 guys finally found us. They were incredibly conscientious and polite - DW was referred to as "Ma'am" and DH was referred to as "Sir". It was weird! We're not old!!

But these 2 guys did an amazing job for us and continually told us not to help them! We are just not used to not helping and it was difficult to not grab a corner of the couch or the edge of the headboard!
So we got moved in to the new place and we had our final walkthru at the old place on Sunday after spending time there on Saturday cleaning. Everything was immaculate Sunday morning until DW "pulled an Andrea". DH can fill everyone in on exactly what happened. But everything turned out well and we turned over our old keys to the gracious homeowners.
Here are some pics of our new place prior to us moving in.

And the dogs spent Saturday morning at the "beauty salon" and are ready to take a swim!

Phoebe (the little brown one) loves being in the pool and standing on the top step. She hasn't ventured out to swim yet, but we can see her being a water puppy!
Muncie on the other hand, wants nothing to do with the pool! We ask him if he wants to go in the pool and he growls a warning and runs away! We'll keep working on him!

And above is what an evening monsoon looks like. They really pack a wallop! Monsoons are very isolated storms and thankfully this one didn't roll our way!

"SHELBY" GT500 Mustang

2008-07-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's a sad day for a "SHELBY" GT500 Mustang. On our way to lunch the other day we came across the "SHELBY" GT500 mustang on the back of a flatbed.

This thing was messed up.

We believe this car has to be at least $50,000 to purchase new. "OUCH"!

Harp update!

2008-07-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

The harp is here. "YAY"! DH awoke this morning at 5:00 a.m. in anticipation of having what one would call his best friend show up.
The schedule of the arriving truck from Minnesota was 7:00 a.m.
DH showed up at 6:35 a.m. after driving most of the way through the heart of Phoenix to a High School in Mesa, AZ. When he arrived, the delivery truck from Minnesota was parked and DH saw two drivers he worked with for many, many years waiting for him. The smiles and hand shakes between everyone solidified the bond people have with one another coming from the Midwest.

The harp was delivered in perfect shape as anticipated and was handed off again with smiles and hand shakes.
DH drove away with tears in his eyes because of the generosity of a corporation with whom he spent many years building friendships and relationships. DH had so much respect for this corporation when he worked for them, but has now realized that they do so much more for the community in which he and DW left last year.
We can't thank them enough for everything they have done to allow us to chase our dreams. For that alone we are grateful!!!

DH's family who packed up the harp and made sure it was worthy of the trip decided it would be fitting to send a long a little "present" in the harp coffin.

DH & DW, who fancy themselves to be quite sneaky when it comes to pulling "Funnies" on people, have actually had a "Funny" pulled on them.
When DH & DW first saw this picture a couple of years ago, we thought it would be Hilarious to give it as a gag gift for to a member of DH's family for Christmas. We thought we'd NEVER see it again!
Well, as you can see "The jokes on us"!
DH's family managed to fit this large, obnoxious picture into the harp case before closing the case.
We laughed our butts off at knowing we have to devise a plan at getting it back to Oh-town...... Hmmmmmm....... Anyone have any suggestions??

Here's a photo of the harp settled nicely in AZ.

Oh, before we end this blog, we think everyone should see the "DEVIOUS" photo of DH's family with the monkey picture just before they put it in the "Coffin".

Thanks go out to you all who helped make this possible!!!!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say Happy 4th of July!!! We hope everyone had an enjoyable & safe holiday! :-)
We miss you all!

A New Hobby!

2008-07-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

Later last night, we were handed the keys to our new home and tonight, after getting the harp situation taken care of, we headed to the new house for a quick visit and to make sure our keys worked in the locks!
Once inside the house, we immediately headed to the back to check out the pool.
Within 3 minutes of arriving, DH had already found his calling.

He grabbed the surface skimmer off the wall and made sure the few leaves and flower petals that had fallen were cleaned up.
We are both SO excited to have the opportunity to enjoy the pool and actually do some maintenance outside the house!
Tomorrow (Thursday), we have both taken the day off and plan to begin moving boxes into the new garage so this move will be less stressful on both of us. We will have 4 weeks to move our stuff as well as make sure our current house is cleaned and ready for the next family.
More pictures to follow of the move tomorrow!

"The Harpinator" rides again!!

2008-07-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

Everyone will be glad to know that the harp will finally begin it's journey to the Valley of the Sun.
For DH, it's been a long time coming.
DH's former co-worker and friend "THE GREAT AND POWERFUL KAISER" called DH and said "we have a truck heading your way and if you'd like, we can throw the coffin on as we have some room".
DH was THRILLED at hearing the news! The catch is, it needs to be delivered in the coffin by four o'clock tomorrow (Thursday) to the pick up site in O-what-a-tonna.
DH's family came to the rescue!

Photo of DH's brothers preparing the "HARP" coffin for transport.
By 7:00 MN time, they had it loaded and ready for delivery tomorrow.
DH's previous co-worker and good friend, Jim, has agreed to leave work tomorrow on his lunch hour, pick up the coffin from DH's parents and deliver it to Wenger before the deadline.
In life, DH has been taught by his parents to not burn bridges and treat people as you would like to be treated. DH has taken this philosophy to heart throughout his life and it has had it's rewards ten-fold!
DH would like to thank everyone involved with making this short notice trip possible. He has already started composing a "thank-you" song for everyone involved. Once the harp is settled in it's new home, the song will be recorded and shared with everyone.
"THANK YOU"!!

Photo of the coffin fully loaded.

Crown King community fire north of Phoenix

2008-06-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

"A signal fire started by a lost hiker June 28, 2008, erupted into a 500 acre wildfire about a mile from the Crown King community north of the Valley, Yavapai County Sheriff's Office officials said."
Yesterday afternoon while DH & DW watched the Nascar race, DH walked past the back patio door and noticed what he thought was a monsoon storm brewing. He told DW to grab the camera and come take a look at the AWESOME storm. Upon further watching of the storm brewing both DW & DH noticed something actually building up from the ground below. Both wondered, was it a fire?
DH hopped on the Internet only to read of a fire that had started north of Phoenix.
Here are a couple of photos of what we could see from our backyard. The fire is approximately 50 miles to the north of us. It's truly amazing how much and how far one can see here when a fire starts.

Just before bed, we looked out our upstairs window and could actually see the red glow from the fire!

DH got home from work tonight and walked out to the backyard to see DW had filled a little blue plastic pool with water to allow the dogs to cool off. It was so cute to see them huddled together enjoying the cool water.
The most impressive part was DW had her bathing suit on in anticipation to our up-coming move. She is so excited at the fact that when it gets hot here in the valley that we can FINALLY jump in some water and refresh ourselves. I wish we had a photo of her standing ankle deep in the pool when I walked out on the patio. She seemed a little surprised...........

A "Wildfire Adventure"

2008-06-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

After doing the yardwork (aka watering 4 potted plants) and wanting to take a break from packing for our upcoming move, we decided to check out the Ethan Wildfire that was still burning in south Phoenix.

We could still see the smoke plume from our house and it seemed so close. We drove south to see how close we could get to it, knowing full well we wouldn't be able to drive next to the flames but sometimes you just have to see how far you can go!
We drove down 67th Ave and watched the changing smoke. And we were amazed to see that this area is agricultural! Here's a pic of some corn that looks a little different than MN corn.

We were just amazed at how the wildfire smoke plume changed from white to black and seemed to grow in size!

We found a gravel area to pull off the road, of course there were "No Trespassing, Private Property" signs all over, but that didn't stop us or the other 10 people from stopping there for a few minutes.

And we debated about picking up the couch, but decided it would clash with our current furniture!! LOL!
The police had the intersection blocked so we could go no further south.
We spotted a casino sign and decided to check it out because it was just up the hill from the barricade.
Once we entered the parking lot, we spotted many local news vans and reporters holding a press conference of sorts with an amazing view of the wildfires burning below.

There's DW hanging out next to the reporters!

While we were standing there, one of the wildfire hotspots flared up and you can actually see the flames! We were amazed that this was happening so close to us!

We decided to take a break from the heat and went to check out the casino. The smoke in the background is probably 2 miles away, but appears MUCH closer!

DW's brother will be glad to know that this casino doesn't hold a candle to his!!
We made our $20 deposit rather quickly and decided to head for home. As of 9:00 p.m. tonight, a local news website stated this wildfire is 30% contained and 16 homes have now been evacuated.
We are 35 miles away so the only evacuation we face is the self-imposed one in 2 weeks into a great new home with a pool!!

"Current wildfire in Phoenix, AZ named the Ethan Fire."

2008-06-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

A fire has been burning here in Phoenix now for the last couple days. It was started by a lightning strike in the first storm of the "MONSOON" season on Wednesday.
Some of you have inquired if we've seen the fire and smoke.

Here are a few photos showing what we can see from our house.

Photo "BY DW" showing the smoke plume rising towards the night sky

Photo "BY DW" showing the smoke in the sky. The smoke is actually causing it's own atmospheric conditions. If you click on the photo you will notice in the middle of the photo, a UFO was checking out the fire as well. We have EVERYTHING here in Phoenix!!

The fire is located near Avondale, AZ. In relationship to where we are located, it's roughly 25 miles due South from our home.
Tonight on the news they are reporting that the fire is approaching a neighborhood in Avondale and that the residents may have to be evacuated. Avondale is where DH and DW spent their honeymoon. This is the area we initially wanted to live in. Now after being here for close to a year, we are certainly glad that we aren't in that city!

The photos below were taken off a local news website. They give you a better perspective of what it's like.

This photo better shows the amount of smoke the fire is causing.

This photo shows the smoke in the air and a HUGE "MONSOON" brewing in the background. This is such a GREAT shot. We wish we would have been the ones to take it.

Do to the low housing market - Hunting has ended.

2008-06-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

We've decided with the still down-turning housing market that we will lease one more year. Home values continue to fall here in the valley and we're taking a chance that they haven't hit the bottom yet. So we have rented a home that is closer for DH to work but still puts him on the interstate for commuting. DW has about the same commute as she had before.
We are excited for our move and to actually have a pool. "FINALLY"!!
As those who've come to visit over the last year will understand, it will feel SOOOO good to be in another location. Here are a few photos showing the place.
We will send out new change of address to everyone in the near future.

"Front"

"Pool"

"Entrance"

ALL CRACKED UP - COOKING AN EGG IN A FRYING PAN USING THE SUN

2008-06-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Harnessing the Arizona sun to actually cook food.

Well we tried our experiment today.
We cracked an egg in a frying pan and put it in direct sunlight in the heat of the afternoon. The temp was 124 degrees on our glass table top. We weren't surprised that it actually did cook. DW was able to pick the whole egg up out of the frying pan yoke and all. It was fun seeing how it changed.
It was in the direct sunlight a total of three hours.

As you can see, the yoke was cooked to a "Sunny Side Up" state - crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside!
Not quite the way we would eat our eggs, but definitely a way to use the sun as a cooking resource......

Here's a link to building your own solar oven.
http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_solarheatbuild-1.shtml

BLACK WIDOW SPIDER

2008-06-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight we ventured out into the heat to hit the local grocery store. We opened our garage door and as DH walked around the back of the car to get to the driver's door, he glanced in the corner of the garage where one of the garage door rails is anchored and noticed a spider.
Further inspection proved it to be a Black Widow spider.
You know it's a Black Widow because of the signature red hourglass on it's abdomen.
This is the first one we've seen since our arrival to Arizona last August.
It's just another example of how you need to be aware of what's around you at all times. It's not that they are everywhere, they tend to come out this time of year.

Here's the link to "Wikipedia" for the break down of the "BLACK WIDOW"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_widow_spider
DW was not too happy to see that "thing" living in our garage, so I took care of it. One quick swipe of my shoe and it is no more!
Also it's our understanding that we broke some temp records here in AZ. We will admit that today it was HOTTTTT!! Our digital thermometer was left out on our back table in full direct sunlight all day. It has a High/Low setting for the day. Here's what it recorded!

Tomorrow for our own fun, we are cracking an egg early in the morning, sticking it in a frying pan and leaving it on the patio table outside. We'll take a photo later in the afternoon and actually see if we can cook an egg in these kind of temps. Stay tuned!!

Where's Waldo? Video of DH during BJ-Florida auction

2008-06-16T19:58:00.002-07:00

I'm directly under the Barrett-Jackson logo under the Auctioneer's "SPANKY"

"SCORPION HUNTING"

2008-06-14T22:14:00.001-07:00

This morning DW started researching scorpions. She learned that if you shine a black light on them they glow like crazy.

So today we went and purchased some black lights to start checking the property before we let the dogs out after dark. Just in case!!!
We checked the spot where we killed the one from last night and we were amazed at how it had a three dimensional effect to it. It was really cool!
We searched the whole yard hoping we wouldn't and yet hoping we would find a scorpion.
We didn't!!
If you look closely at the image above, you can see the scorpion and the words that state "SEE SCORPIONS GLOW IN THE DARK BEFORE THEY SEE YOU"
They actually make a MAG lite for scorpions.....
We'll take a photo of one glowing if we find one........

While driving around today, the Thermometer on our car read 118 degrees.
Quite mild actually!

"SCORPIONS"

2008-06-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

We are in total shock tonight! All the years DH went to college in Tucson he never once saw a scorpion other than the ones they have at the Saguaro National Monument exhibit. Tonight, Muncie, bless his heart, was patrolling our back yard as he and Phoebe do every night, when we saw him doing something we haven't seen before. He was actually on his hind legs, standing upright and looking pretty agitated at our back yard wall. After DH yelled at Muncie to leave the wall alone, DW grabbed a flashlight to check out what Muncie was so focused on.
Low & behold, a scorpion was hanging around.

DH made the dogs go inside and grabbed the camera. As you can see we had a nice sized visitor. We will be more aware of our surroundings in the weeks to come. Mosquitos would feel nice tonight. "NOT"!!

P.S. The scorpion is no longer amongst the living. DH made DW take off one of her thongs and smacked the scorpion into oblivion!

Enjoy!!

House Hunting Continues

2008-06-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend we went and looked at several houses again that are still for sale. We ended up liking one of them......... HOWEVER, it would take lots of elbow grease and some $$$ to get it in tip top shape.

The interior is in dire need of some serious TLC!! We think if we can buy it right & put in some hard work, we could probably have a unique home with LOTS of selling potential.......

The lot is huge and it even has a pool. "YEA!!"

The front landscaping is AWESOME!! The cost of doing the landscaping out front alone leaves one thinking what it cost???
It even comes with a saguaro cactus...... DH has always wanted a place that had a real saguaro. When he attended the University of Arizona, he lived in an apartment complex that had a tree that looked like a saguaro but unfortunately, it died. The apartment complex actually painted the tree green to make it look like a saguaro. DH had to look at that tree every day and vowed he'd have a real one some day.......

One of the drawbacks of this property is the master bathroom. It has a nice tiled shower but it sits about 3 feet below the porcelain stool. DH & DW laughed when we saw it because one could be sitting on the toilet and one could be in the shower and you could have a conversation face to face. This eventually would have to be raised to the main floor......$$$
The other drawback on this property is the kitchen. It's tiny.... The house is very livable at this time and we could chip away at the things we don't like. We have gotten to know lots of people with various skills in construction work. This is a difficult decision for us but we feel it's one we need to consider. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Our parents have always said "you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear", however we feel the purse is complete, we just need to add the silk....... Ahhhhh the joys of house hunting and stress!!

House Hunting! :-(

2008-06-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's a sad day.............. Our offer wasn't accepted......... Back to square one..... "sigh"!!

House Hunting!

2008-06-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Quick note - We put in a counter offer this evening at 4:30 p.m. We have our fingers crossed!!

House Hunting Continues - No More!!

2008-05-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

"Perfection! This is what happens when Crate and Barrel meets Pottery Barn! Meticulously maintained and highly upgraded single level 3 bedroom plus office/den (could be 4th bed.), Vaulted Ceilings, upgraded flooring, maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances, ceiling fans,custom lighting, custom paint, and many more quality details! The backyard is awesome with fenced pool, grassy play area, and large covered patio! Need storage? This 3 car-garage is just what you need for all your toys! Great location, just minutes to Desert Ridge, Kierland, the 101 and 51, only 20 minutes to downtown, yet surrounded by all the Scottsdale area restaurants and shopping!"

Here's the front view of the house. It's a one story nestled in a quiet neighborhood. The owners have taken great pride in maintaining this home. It's meticulous in every way. Starting with the very first impression you get as you approach the house.

The kitchen is to die for. It's very clean and neat. The feel of this house screams "RELAXATION"! The best part of all is when we move in, we pull out the lawn chairs, put on our swim suits and start enjoying this house immediately. DH & DW could not find one thing, I repeat, not one thing between the two of us that we would change. This is a feat not easily accomplished. Not sure it actually has been accomplished till now.
Hence the offer we made on this home.
We think that if family & friends were to visit now, we couldn't get rid of them! They'd want to pay some rent and stay forever.

This is a sitting area for conversation. As you cook in the winter months you can enjoy the fireplace. We both heard Christmas music playing in our heads as we stood in the kitchen area looking at the fireplace. These pictures truly don't do the view justice.
This is a view of the backyard pool area. It has all the things we're looking for. Grass, covered patio, landscaping, pool, and an area built in the corner of the block wall for planting flowers. Nothing is set in concrete yet, but it's our first step to beginning the rest of our lives in beautiful sunny Arizona.

Mall Shopping, Scottsdale Style

2008-05-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

We've known about a mall in Scottsdale called Fashion Square and thought we'd check it out. It's a shopping center that the "WHO's WHO" of shoppers frequent regularly.
After waking early due to neighbors getting ready for a Memorial Day get-together, we headed via the freeway to the mall.
One of the anchor stores is Neiman-Marcus and they have Many other high-end stores. Several of them left DW drooling! Kate Spade and Jimmy Choo! Whoo-Hoo!

We wandered around the mall and found a Louis Vuitton store. We thought we'd meander through and see what the store had to offer.
Well, after seeing a $395 pair of flip-flops, we couldn't stop giggling about it! On our way out of the store, a group of four 20 youngen's were asking the price of a Louis Vuitton golf bag. We overheard the clerk tell the group the bag sells for $9,300. FOR A GOLF BAG!
SERIOUSLY!
They have sold two in the last year..... SERIOUSLY????

Unfortunately (or fortunately!), the Tiffany store was closed for the holiday.

The mall had a 2 story wall of rain that was absolutely memorizing!

This mall is crazy insane and the people watching is over the top!
After having enough of the mall, we decided to see what else was in the area. We walked a few blocks away and there were many other shops in the area.
There is a canal nearby which is near Old Town Scottsdale.

There was a very neat sculpture near the canal that was in honor of the Pony Express.

So we wandered around Old Town and found that quite a few shops were closed for the holiday but there were enough open that if you needed a trinket or a piece of art, today was your day!
We found a quiet oasis with a small, beautiful fountain in a little courtyard.

We found these clowns in the window of an art gallery. Wouldn't they look GREAT in your house??!!
DW thought this sign at the entrance to a parking garage spoke VOLUMES about driving in Phoenix!

On our way home, we decided to wander through a neighborhood and see what was there. Here's a view from the road looking toward some homes on the water.

YES, there's water in Arizona!

Hilton Squaw Peak Resort

2008-05-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today, some friends asked us to join them at a resort for some relaxing water fun.
Here's a fountain at the entrance to the resort.

We had a blast today with great conversation and good laughs as we floated on our innertubes down a lazy river through Hilton's Squaw Peak resort. Lot's of families enjoying the sunshine and warmth.

Here's a view of the start of the lazy river. With the heat returning today, the water felt wonderful.

Here is a photo of DH & DW overlooking one of the many pools this resort has to offer for relaxing.

At the end of the day, we all felt the intensity of the sun and decided enough is enough. DH had to have his photo taken with a Lobster blow up floatie before we left. It was a great day!!!!

THUNDER STORMS - AZ STYLE

2008-05-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here it is the first day of the three day weekend and we are freezing our butts off! Wednesday of this last week it hit 110 degrees. Today we mustered a whopping 72 degrees and a storm to boot. AZ storms are quite unique in the fact if it decides to storm, the punch and furry they unleash is quite astonishing. The lightning is fierce and the concussions of thunder that follow are awe inspiring to say the least. Mother nature does have the upper hand in life!

Here are some photos showing what rolled over our house and glued us to our windows.

This photo shows the slow moving storm as it approached our house. You could feel the cold wind associated with this storm as it brewed. The winds started to howl around the homes making the storm's presence known.

This photo shows the storm as it passed over our home. It moved ever so slowly and growled like a saber tooth tiger. Mind you, this is the first "STORM" we have had since our arrival in August of last year. We have always wondered what the fuss was about when it rains, but we now understand. We were glued to our back patio door watching it roll across as if we had never seen a thunderstorm. Kinda like kids in a candy store so to speak. It was impressive. The storm blocked the sun and made it look like night. This photo was taken at 5:37 in the evening.

House Hunting Continues

2008-05-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

We looked at another four houses tonight and found one we really like. However, it doesn't have a pool and is a bit more expensive. It is bank owned and we think could be bought pretty reasonably. We can add a pool at a later date as the backyard has plenty of space.
DH & DW are mulling it over and have the weekend to decide. We'll take time to do another drive by and to weigh the pro's & con's.
Just so everyone knows, it's BLASTED COLD HERE TONIGHT!!!! Argggggg! Supposed to be a low of 47 we think. NOW whoever sent this cold front our way should be ashamed of yourself! THAT wasn't funny!!! Hope all is well & we miss you all!

RANCHERS RESERVE BEEF CHUCK EYE STEAK

2008-05-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

We stopped at the local grocery store because we had an urge to grill some steaks. We looked over the meat section when a butcher approached and asked if he could help us find anything? We said we were looking for Fillet Mignon. He chuckled and said I don't know of a single butcher who would take that home and serve it to his family. DH & DW kind of looked at each other in amazement. We said "REALLY, why is that?" The butcher explained that the Chuck steak has the same texture as a fillet, but much more flavor and you certainly can't beat the price.

We were amazed to pay under five bucks for a pound and a half of beef. He said try them and if you don't agree, come back and I will reimburse you the price of the chuck steaks. "GAME ON" We thought for SURE we had a free meal coming to us.........
We came home, wrapped some bacon around the steaks and threw them on the grill.

The butcher was right on the money! These steaks were delicious. Only the smallest amount of fat had to be discarded. They truly were flavorful and tender in every way. To think we can buy these steaks for little to nothing.
Eating good in the neighborhood. :-)

DICKIE'S DOGS

2008-05-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

After a long morning and early afternoon of House Hunting, DH & DW visited a quaint little restaurant called Dickie's Dogs for lunch. DH was directed to this place based on his love of Coney Island "Chilli Dogs" that he enjoyed as a child in Duluth, Minnesota.
He had mentioned his love of Coney dogs to a co-worker, Hank, & was pointed in Dickie's Dogs direction. DH and some co-workers took time out from work 3 weeks ago and visited Dickie's Dogs for lunch for the first time and DH was hooked!
Today, DH took DW to Dickie's Dogs for lunch in Scottsdale, AZ and we had a fabulous lunch!
DH has FINALLY found the 1st Street "DULUTH" comparison!

DH will be spending many lunches at this quaint little restaurant!
DW was impressed with the food-the cheese dogs and fries are AWESOME but what most impressed her was the fact that every employee AND the owner, Dickie, were absolutely meticulous in making sure the tables and overall restaurant were clean! Not less than 30 seconds after a group left their table, someone was over to wipe everything clean! It was great to know that they took pride in their business! We appreciated it!

Is this the future home of the "HARPINATORS"

2008-05-17T21:01:00.001-07:00

This is a continuation of the previous blog regarding house hunting!!

DH & DW did finally find something that interested them more than they thought it would. This home kind of struck a chord with the both of us. We are STILL talking about it this evening and we're not sure why. I guess it has soooo much potential for us and with a little hard work we could see living here for a very good long time. It was a refreshing moment for the both of us to think we might have found the one. We are not jumping right in and saying this IS the place. But it does make one think of the "what if" ideas.

This is a photo of the front of the house when we arrived. Compared to the photo on the internet, it was exactly as it was posted. It's a corner lot with a HUGE backyard and it has a pool with a water feature to boot. However, the interior has carpet through out the whole house with the exception of the kitchen area. We would have lots of tile work to do if we purchased it.
This is the pool area. It's not filled because the city of Phoenix has helicopters that fly over neighborhoods and write tickets to home owners that don't maintain their pools. Our understanding is it's a pretty hefty fine. The reason is that they don't want an explosion of mosquitos hatching and raising havoc with home owners. We have been here since August of '07 and haven't been bit by a Mosquito yet. We would like to keep it that way. However from our previous post, I see some neighborhoods in the future having a HELL of a time with the skeeters.

This photo shows the other half of the back yard area. It truly is a large backyard that would allow our four legged darlings to have plenty of play area.

This would be our view from the master bedroom. French doors to the large back patio and a full view of the backyard. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Here's a photo of DH looking at things in the Kitchen area. The wallpaper would HAVE to go, but that's what makes this property so appealing to us. With a little work, it could be a GEM!! We welcome any comments you might care to share.

"TO BE CONTINUED"

House Hunting Begins!!! Oooooh Boy!!

2008-05-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

"Few repairs and clean up in process
AWESOME 3 Bedroom plus Loft (could be 4th bed) and Play POOL all Upgraded to the MAX! Beautiful Gourmet Kitchen with Granite Counters, Raised Panel Maple Cabinets and Stainless Steel Appliances. This Kitchen is BEAUTIFUL. 18in Travertine Tile Flooring throughout and carpeting 2 years new. All Baths have TRAVERTINE Counters and Bath Tub Surrounds with new Sinks and Brushed Nickel Fixtures. The Back Yard offers a Cooling Play POOL, Great for the HOT Summer and Entertaining. This home is fully remodeled. My Seller's Loss is Your Buyer's Gain. PRICED $40,000 below the neighbor with no Pool!"

This is what was printed on a sell sheet that was on the Internet. Well, we thought it sounded just like what we are looking for. DW & I set out with our realtor today and had to choose 6 homes out of 45 to look at. Well, we compiled our list, agreed to the homes we wanted to look at and went off on our expedition.

The above photos are what are posted on the internet sales sheet. Granted, this was our first home we stopped at on our homes tour. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. for the showing. The place looks nice with a nice sized pool but nothing over the top. We are not looking for the "CASTLE" of homes, just something landscaped with a pool in the back to hang out and enjoy. When we arrived at the property, we GASPED and looked at each other in disbelief of what was in front of our eyes. This couldn't be the home we saw on the internet could it?? We were in TOTAL shock and thought "Oooooh Boy this is going to be one long morning"! We were here so we walked through it anyway. We made an offer and they excepted it. Hope you all can fly down and help us with the landscaping. It shouldn't take too long to fix it up. LOL! Just kidding. We didn't put an offer in and we ran as FAST as we could off to the other properties!

Here is the photo of the house when we arrived. I can't imagine being the neighbors on either side of this house having to look at this every day. When we pulled up, both DH & DW noticed one of the next door neighbors peek through their blinds to see what was going on. If it were us, we would have been saying BUY IT!!!
Puhhhh LEeeeezzzzzzzzzzzz!!

This is the photo we took of the back yard. Now in looking back at the photos they have posted on the internet for this property, we are STUNNED they can still have those up. What a complete disappointment to show up and see this. We hope you all can understand what we were feeling seeing this as our first choice........ Sigh! Off to the next property "THANK GOD"!!

Here's the photo of the next place we stopped to look at. Seems ok at first, but wouldn't you know it, right before we get to the entrance to have a peek, we see this!

Oh My God! How can this be possible?? Yep that's Bird Shit!!! Apparently they "Cop A Squat" here in the desert also. Who da thunk! LOL!

Here is the FABULOUS pool as they mentioned on the internet. Sigh....................
After leaving this STUNNING beauty, we were off to the next property.

In doing so, we passed this lovely home that we didn't have on our list. It has been added so we can pursue the details. It looked VERY nice with beautiful landscaping. Hopefully we'll get a peek at it VERY soon. We can't post anymore photos on this particular blog. We will post another so you can see the one home we really did like and would possibly put an offer in. We think we can buy it right!!

Yes, it rains in AZ!!

2008-05-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today started as a normal day at work for both of us. There were a few clouds in the sky on our drive to our respective offices and the wind was quite gusty.
In Glendale at DW's office, the clouds kept building until mid-afternoon when she heard lots of window blinds zip up to open the view to outside.
DW literally ran to a window and narrowly missed knocking over a fellow employee!
It was actually raining!! And not just a sprinkle! It poured down and very quickly filled the gutters of the parking lot and the landscape rock around the building!
One of the department managers ended a meeting and commented that judging by the number of people standing at the windows, it must be raining!
Rain here in Phoenix is such a rare occurrence outside monsoon season in the fall, that everyone stops what they're doing to relish the moment when the skys open!
By the time DW left work, most evidence of the rain had disappeared except a few gutters along the parking lots.

Unfortunately, we did not receive any of the rain at our house, but monsoon season is coming!
Here are a few pictures of the rare clouds in the sky taken from our backyard.

Here's what the strong winds have done to some of our backyard decorations.

If you saw our blog from October 21, 2007, you can see what the winds here can do to outdoor decorations. Today wasn't as bad, but there was still a little cleaning up to do.

Car Trouble

2008-05-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

This morning was interesting. We were both ready to head to work when out of the blue, our Envoy wouldn't start, not even a click from the engine!
DH, being the mechanic he is, was at his lovely maiden's beck and call.
He popped the hood, removed bracing, covers and shrouds that protect the battery area and off we went to the nearest auto parts store to get a fresh new battery.
DH installs the battery only to discover that the cover for the battery won't fit.
The parts store gave us the wrong battery!
After many expletives from DH, we returned the battery for the correct one. With a few turns of some wrenches, some more expletives and a bloody knuckle, with the turn of the key the Envoy sprang back into life. Off to work we go for another sunshiny, warm, beautiful Arizona day!

Birthdays!

2008-05-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Some overdue news regarding an early arrival!
DW's older brother and his lovely wife were expecting their 2nd child to be born around May 12. Well, the baby had other plans!
He decided to make his rather speedy entrance into the world just in time for the snowstorm in northern MN on April 26, 2008. He almost didn't wait for the doctor!
Jonathan Thomas, it turns out, wanted to be here in time for his mother's birthday which was the next day! What a Birthday present for her!
Mother and baby are doing wonderfully and have been home for one week now.
Here's a picture of him.

Older brother, Alex-soon to be 3 years old, is adjusting to his new brother and wants to help constantly!
And DH's brother's son recently turned 1 and is doing Great!
Lots of Birthdays all around and we wish everyone many more Happy Birthdays!

"AMERICA'S GREATEST PAST TIME"

2008-05-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

We were invited to attend a Diamond Backs Baseball game today at Chase field here in Phoenix. When we first arrived in Phoenix last August, DW got tickets to attend one of the games. We thought it was great.
Today was no exception. Brett & Patty (who we met through mutual friends) invited us. Brett had the tickets and a parking pass that allowed us to park right next to a walkway above street level to cross right into the stadium. It was "SWEET". We didn't have to deal with all the "NORMAL" people meandering the halls stopping and going and stopping and going.
We had lunch in a semi private area where probably 40 people at most were enjoying themselves. Not knowing what to expect next, we went down a private elevator to the concourse level. We walked a short distance from the elevator to the section where we were sitting. The seats we had were AMAZING! We were 16 rows up from the field. We could see EVERYTHING. Countless foul balls down the 3rd base line came our way and we each had an "avoidance plan" which mainly consisted of ducking down as low as we could to avoid being hit!
We had a GREAT time and look forward to attending many more games with these two wonderful friends of ours. We wish all of you in Minnesota could have been there.
We did notice at looking at the scoreboard that Minnesota won today. "Go Twins!"
Below are some of the photos we took of the game. We hope you all enjoy.

Here is the location of where we were sitting and the view of the field. They were fantastic seats.

Today was "KIDS" day. If you look in the photos above, you can see the line of all the kids that were honored as Little League players today below the large video screen. It was funny because all the little kids exited the field up the rows on either side of where we were sitting. We didn't know this was the case at first, but when we left to get some nachos before the game started and tried to get back to our seats, we had to wait quite some time till all was clear to return.

Here's a photo of the field and crowd.

At one point, we had a fireman meander past us. The gentleman in front was to keep him from falling forward & the gentleman behind was to keep him from falling backwards. They guy in the costume was having a HELL of a time traversing the stadium steps. We kind of felt sorry for him. He looked like he had been climbing Mount Everast when he passed us. Slow and lethargic.
To sum the day up as a whole, this is how it would be. Compliments of the gentleman sitting directly in front of us.
"LIFE IS GOOD"!

Minnesota has sprung to life in AZ!

2008-05-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

On one of our previous blogs, we posted photos of some seeds that were sent to us by our dear MN friend, Elizabeth.
All will be happy to know that we have flower growth in AZ from MN!
We can't wait to see how they do in the weeks to come. Thanks again Elizabeth!! We look forward to sending you the blooming photos when they get established. How fun & exciting! Perhaps we can spread some colorful yellow flowers here in the desert.
"DANDELIONS ANYONE"? LOL!

The "HARPN8R"

2008-05-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today it's official!!
DH has become the one and only "HARPN8R" in Arizona!
DH got his personalized plates today which he has been anxiously waiting for weeks now. Many of you who know DH have known he has been called this for some time now thanks to his brother Charles. A great friend whom we won't mention in this blog but perhaps we should, Oh just check out the Gracious Acres Blog which is a link from our blog home page.
Let's just call him Chet. His name sounds REALLY close to Chet, but actually starts with a "B" kinda like Bah-rette? Hehe!
DH actually got a tattoo of a drawing Bah-rette asked one of the artists we both used to work for to draw.
Long story short, DH has wanted to make sure that story lives on.
Here is the official photo showing the "HARPN8R" Plate. "Thank's Charlie and Bah-rette!" I couldn't have done it without ya!!

Package of seeds arrives in AZ from MN

2008-04-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

We received a package from our good friends the Oki's from good 'ole Minnie-Soda. It contained seeds for some gorgeous flowers that Eliz had grown at her house in Oh-wah-ton-ahhhh and she had said numerous times that she would be sending some seeds down that she thought would do really well here in the desert climate.

The types of seeds she sent were a 'Jolly Bee' which is a Geranium hybrid & some 'Jacob Cline Monarda'
DW was so excited to receive the package that DH & DW zipped right out and bought a special planter just to get them started. Here is a photo of the seeds planted and ready to grow!

We were so excited at the thought of having native MN flowers here in AZ that it inspired us to venture out and take some photos of the vegetation here in AZ. Lots of the cactuses are in bloom right now and lots of other plants are blooming with flowers. It's quite beautiful actually.
We know that most people think the desert is a brown, dust bowl of a place, but it's quite the opposite. Here are some photos we took tonight showing the blooms.
Enjoy! We'll keep you updated on the progress of our little seedlings!! "YAY"!!

Here is a photo of a pink flowering bush that we have NO idea of what it's called. Still a beautiful color!

Here's a photo of some flowers DH & DW had at the house in Owatonna. We fell in love with the fact that they had multiple colors for the flowers. I "DH" can't tell you what they are called, but I'm sure when DW proof reads this blog she'll know the name of the plant. Granted, we NEVER had bugs like the one pictured above to deal with. Just dem pesky mosquitos. DW actually killed one of these on our block wall the other night and the back of it was FULL of eggs. As we were watching this "CREATURE" we were actually wondering if it was laying eggs?? "YUCK"

Here is an amazing flower. The colors and look of this makes us think of something you would find at the bottom of the ocean. The color is amazing!

Here is a small flower garden in front of a home in our neighborhood. As you can see it's not much different from a flower garden we had back in MN. Beautiful aroma and colors.

The Prickly Pear cactuses are starting to bloom. It's quite amazing to think something that could wreak such havoc to a person if you mess with it, can actually be quite tranquil at the same time. Again the Desert is quite beautiful in it's own defensive way.

Here's a close-up of one of the blooms.

This one we thought is very unique. The flowers actually seemed telescopic, one blooming and extending from the previous one! We learn something new about the desert every day & this day it was because of our dear friend ELIZ. "THANK YOU"

Here is a photo of a tree that blooms here. They are EVERYWHERE! DH has been mad on many occasions because of this tree. He parks the convertible by one of these trees at work and it sheds worse than anything he has seen in MN. He spent several hours detailing the convertible today and as we took this picture he said a few expletives. LOL! Still it's an amazing color to see as you drive around.

Here is a photo of a different type of Prickly Pear Cactus that looks like a bunch of hands sticking out. DW mentioned it looked a lot like monster hands from the movie "MONSTERS INC." DH thinks it looks a lot like a b'day cake.

Here is a photo of an exotic flower that blooms in MN as well. We don't think it's something that can be planted in the ground in MN, but can be stored indoors till spring. DH knows this is a Hibiscus. DH's family have these in the back yard in MN. Beautiful.

Back in AZ! Finally adjusted back to AZ time.

2008-04-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well, What can I say? It's been a difficult time for DH to adjust from the time change from Florida to Arizona. 3 hours difference. DH returned Thursday night last week and was pretty much a Zombie when he landed.
It was soooooo great to see DW at the airport and our little guys when we got home that the tiredness wore off for a brief time. DW picked me up at the airport in the convertible and chauffeured me back to our house.
DH retired to bed about 10:45 and was WIDE awake at 4:30 a.m. on Friday morning. DH knew at that moment that this was going to be difficult. Living in a Hotel for 3 weeks is not as easy as one would think. Just the loneliness of it all is enough to drive someone nuts.
DH has always been able to handle the travels because of his previous job, but has not spent that amount of time away from home at any given time.
Tonight all is well. First day back in the office and the preparations for the upcoming auctions have already begun.

Next Auction - Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas in the middle of October.

Here are a few pictures DH took during the Palm Beach Auction.

Hope all is well with each and everyone of you!

Here is where I had to stay for 3 weeks. Now before all the comments come about how TERRIBLE it must have been, remember "away from home for 3 weeks"! It WAS a nice place to stay however. "GIGGLES" That was for those of you who live in "OH-TOWN"

For those of you who know DH's family, they have a '56 Buick that resembles a Pumpkin in color. DH was excited to see an old Buick cross the block. It did exceptionally well.
For those of you who know DH's family, an old fire truck was donated to the Village of Yester-year in Owatonna by DH's Grandparents. Granted it wasn't like this, but it did catch his eye.

Here is a photo of a firetruck that was displayed by one of our sponsors. It was absolutely beautiful! This resembles the one at the Village of Yester-year.

Here is a photo of a 1911 Ford Model "T" that went across the block. Again DH's family have a 1912 Model "T" and this caught his eye as well.

Now for the rest of you who are TRULY muscle car fanatics, here is the new Camaro Convertible. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I would jump behind the wheel of this and drive it till the wheels fall off. This was a HOT looking car!!!

Now back to reality. Here is a new Rolls-Royce. Comes complete with a fancy white bow. In looking at this car, it truly takes your breath away. The detail they have taken in the fabrication of this car is truly amazing. This has a stainless steel hood that screams gorgeous.
Here is a picture of the interior. WOW!

Bentley was at the show as well, and DH couldn't help but take a photo of the interior as it was incredible!
DH is ready to settle down now without the stresses of being away from home and will get the blog back to the "Valley of the Sun". Thanks for reading!! Miss you all!

West palm Beach, FL.

2008-03-27T20:05:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note since it's late here in Florida - 11:00 p.m. Florida time, 8:00 p.m. Arizona time.
The auction started today and has gone very well. Lots of great cars went across the block.
When I return to my lovely wife and normality in a week, I will share some great photos I have taken.
Tonight after the auction ended, I had my photo taken "On The Block".
Sold it, Sold it, Sold it!!!!

Here are the photos of me "On The Block".
Not the best shots, but we had to take them quick. After the first full day of auction, many things behind the scenes will need to be tweaked.
I will try to show myself on cam on Saturday. I know many of you have been looking for me on t.v., but it's not quite as easy as one might think.

Hope all is well with each and everyone of you!!

Quick Update

2008-03-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

Well, we know it's been several weeks since we last posted a blog, but life has been somewhat hectic. Wonderful but hectic!
We had 2 very close friends, Kaza and Frenchie, come to visit us for their spring break. They arrived Sunday, March 9th and were here through Friday, March 14th.
It was SO great to have them here! We were able to spend all day Sunday with them, once Frenchie got some sleep since he had to work the night before!
The day they arrived, we decided to tour open houses and found some amazing dream homes that come complete with guest houses!
Ah, Someday!!
We also took them to our favorite restaurant in Scottsdale called Tommy Bahamas. Their burgers are Great and we're always treated Wonderfully there!
During the week, they both were up early and took DW to work, then spent their days exploring, hiking and sightseeing. They took some Amazing photos of their adventures and you can view them on their blog - the link is in the upper right corner of our blog.
They left, then 2 days later, DW drove DH to the airport so he could catch his flight to West Palm Beach, Fl. He'll be there until April 3 for the next auction.
Right now he's doing the prep work to get ready for the auction which starts next Wednesday and lasts for 4 days.
So DW is spending her evenings at home, talking to the dogs.
They're slightly confused but will get over it.
Sorry there's no pictures for this post, but I'll work on getting some online soon.

The Arizona Renaissance Festival

2008-03-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

We had a great day today. We awoke early to the neighbor's dog barking and decided to get away for the day and go to the Renaissance Festival. http://www.royalfaires.com/arizona/Default.asp?page=1
It's about 1-1/2 hour drive from our house. We thought this would be a perfect day for it. We arrived and thought how different it was to see mountains in the background as opposed to corn fields.

The feel of the Festival was close to what we had experienced in Minnesota but it felt much more roomy. I think it had to have been 3 times the size. The same types of people dressed in costume wandering and parading themselves throughout.
Some, however, should NOT have been wearing what they were! Can you say bright, yellow sun, Heat, and sweat! Brings a picture to our minds we can't soon forget.
We had a great time and look forward to attending again next year.
Here are some photos of what we experienced. Enjoy!

When we first arrived, we ran across a rather large woman sitting and turning some large birds above a fire pit and other maids cooking side dishes. In the background sits a woman of royalty who made sure you knew it!

Here is a Harpist we found playing her Troubador harp. We got a cold beverage and listened. DH was chomping at the bit to have some fun with her, but he resisted and enjoyed her playing. It was nice to hear some harp music. DH hasn't played a harp since we got married. He's itching to play!

The belly Dancers were AMAZING! They move ever so gracefully to the beat of the music. Hell they weren't bad looking either. DW pulled DH's shirt several times to lead him away. Oh wait! That was the other way around. DW has tried this at one point and knew how difficult the controlled movements truly are. She loves to watch the professionals. We spent QUITE some time here enjoying ummmm the music!! :-)

They even had Vegetable Justice. The difference being, they say WHATEVER they want here. Cuss words included. It was quite humorous!! We actually heard the guy say to a woman "it's nice to finally see you with your ankles below your head"! The entire audience just groaned "Ohhhhhhhhhh.................."!

We checked out the Jousting show, INCREDIBLE!!!

Not sure what this pic was for????? DW I think wanted a photo of his butt?? (side note from DW - the pirate characters had kidnapped the mayor and his wife and were going to blow them up. Notice the line of gunpowder and the flame in the lower right corner.)

They had some ROCKING bag pipe players. They put on a whole musical production that included some ROCK!! They were incredible! As they said in the show "IF IT'S NOT SCOTTISH - IT'S CRAP!"

Here we are just before we left. Notice the sky in the background. Not a cloud. It was 84 Degrees today! Ahhhhhhhh...........

"Easter Bunny"

2008-02-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

Quick Blog.
Apparently, the Easter Bunny visited DH's family's backyard today.
Here is a photo. Enjoy.

Dually be gone!

2008-02-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

It was a very busy day for DH & DW today. DH was up early and cleaned everything out of the Chevy Dually we bought to haul our trailer down from Oh-Town.
DW awoke to find DH cleaning it out, didn't question a thing & knew what was going to happen today. We've had numerous conversations regarding trading in the dually, but have not had the time to pursue it.
Well, DH decided today was the day. In our budgeting he discovered the truck was costing over $400.00 a month for fuel. He decided enough was enough. Last weekend for President's day, there were car sales all over the valley and we participated in attending. NEVER again! It was the most pathetic display of "in your face" selling that we just gave up.
However, the last dealership we stopped at, they seemed really reluctant to be in your face to make a sale & that is the place we went back to today.
Everyone will be glad to know that the "REDNECK" dually is no longer ours. We purchased a Pontiac G6. It's a sporty two door with a hard top that retracts into the trunk making it a convertible. We bought the car and waved good bye to a truck that served it's purpose of transporting us to AZ and changing our lives forever.
"Good Bye little Dually. We will certainly miss you"
It was a pleasure working with the dealership and our sales person who moved here from Romania. We drove our new ride home and smiled all the way. Oh and yes the top was down. Heeeeeeee!
Here is a photo of the Dually in our garage. It pretty much controlled all the space available.

Here is a photo of the G6. We just love it!

Here is a photo of the G6 in our garage tonight. It has allowed us much more room than before. We think we can actually re-arrange the garage to allow both of our vehicles to have a resting place.

Before sending the G6 to bed tonight, our friend Tony invited us to a place called Greasewood Flat. It's a great place that's in the middle of the desert that has a country vibe to it. Multiple fire pits are burning, giving it that camping smell & live country music is being played adding to the atmosphere. The locals actually ride horses to this place and tie them to hitching posts.
It truly was a great place to visit.
Here are some photos showing Greasewood Flat. We look forward to the next time we are there. Hopefully it will be with our friends and family.

If you look closely, the age of the crowd is much older than us. That's what made this place so interesting. It was retired people out drinking beer and wine and having a GREAT time. We envied them because it's a place to truly relax and you could tell everyone enjoyed it. Including us!!!

Back in AZ!

2008-02-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

We figured now that DW is back in Arizona and has finally thawed out from the chill of spending 2 weeks in Minnesota, it's time to post a blog!
The time that DW spent there was Wonderful and Miserable, all at the same time!
Wonderful because she was able to see family, friends, and co-workers not seen for 6 months and Miserable because of the cold and wind.
As soon as she told people she would be spending 2 weeks living in Owatonna in a hotel, everyone she knew wanted to make sure she wasn't alone. Almost every lunch and dinner was booked by loved ones! And she was thrilled that she was able to eat at Taco John's again! 6 months with no Potatoe Ole's!! The only Taco John's in the entire state of Arizona is 1 1/2 hours away near Tucson on an Air Force Base!
It has been about 10 months since she had to deal with bitter cold and snow. DW groaned loudly when she picked up the rental car at the airport and there was an ice scrapper on the dash! It just confirmed once again why she and DH had left the "frozen tundra"!
DW's mom loaned her a heavy winter jacket for the visit because we had gotten rid of our heavy, heavy winter jackets! But thankfully, we had not gotten rid of her gloves, scarf or stocking cap that DH's mom had given to her last winter! Thank God for moms!!
These are pictures that made DH laugh when he saw them! And a Very good reminder that our decision to move to AZ was a Good one!!

What DW saw everyday when she parked her car at the hotel! Made her want to cry!

This is what the temperature was at noon on the Friday DW was in Twin Cities on her way to the airport to come back to DH! Yes, that is 3 above 0!!

Not a tear shed to be leaving this behind!

And this is the view to the west 5 miles from our house in AZ! Welcome Home!

Before and After

2008-02-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight, both Phoebe and Muncie went in for their grooming appointments. Apparently, neither of them made friends with the groomer. I think we'll have to find a new goomer!
DW wanted to make sure their hair was cut before she left for 2 weeks back to Owatonna for training so DH wouldn't have to worry about brushing them.
Below are the before and after pictures of both of them.
For a good laugh!!

Here's Muncie trying to avoid eye contact.

Now he's just embarassed!

And here's Phoebe Finally with the hair out of her eyes!

Now she's just pissed off!
DW will spend the next 2 weeks in lovely Owatonna where the temperature highs are forecast to be in the mid-20's with chances of snow several days. She's leaving behind highs in the upper 60's, lows in the upper 40's.
"Sigh."

More auction photos worth seeing

2008-02-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

DH & DW finally went through the photos that we had a chance to take at the auction. Here are some great photos we hadn't previously blogged about. Enjoy!

This photo makes an AMAZING background photo on your desktop. ENJOY!

This is Robosauraus. What an INCREDIBLE engineering marvel!!

Here is Robosauraus eating a Saturn for breakfast. It was so cool to see..... DW didn't like it as her car in OH'town was a Saturn. Robo cut through it like a hot knife through butter.
Oh wait, our neighbors in OH'town now own DW's Saturn!
DH shot video of Robo with the camera & will try and get it posted on YouTube & post the link here for all to see.

You couldn't help but feel the heat of the fire and see the ease with how it ripped that Saturn apart and set it on fire! It could easily destroy the simplest of things.

This was the "ITALIEN" Ford Thunderbird from Minnesota that crossed the block.

Here's TNA's Dually with the bed full of 42" LCD T.V.'s for the sky boxes.
To think the dually went from Fort Dodge, IA to being in the presence of the best of the best cars! It truly brought a smile to DH's face!

More BJ photo's - NOT what you think!!

2008-01-28T19:56:00.000-08:00

DH wanted to post a few more photos. The Scottsdale auction is over and we are full steam ahead for the Palm Beach auction.

The auction was no sooner over and things started happening like a whirlwind here at West World. This photo is of the main tent where all the cars went across the block. It was simply amazing to say the least of how fast things started happening. The whole site is just about abandoned already. I still can't believe it!! All that work for everyone & it's like it never happened. We created a city in a month and a half and it became a parking lot again in about 5 days.

Here is a photo of where all the vendors were housed. It too is a ghost town. All the tenting has now been completely removed.

DH wanted to post this pic while the auction was actually taking place, but he didn't have access to a laptop back at the hotel. Yes, you are seeing this correctly. It's a watch that normally sells for $465,000 on sale for $372,500. They actually knocked $92,500 off for the auction.
Now, DH & DW are simple folk. We realized that our combined income for the year doesn't equate to the discount applied to the sale of the WATCH!!! It's a WATCH!!! You can't live in it, you can't drive it..........Crazy!!
Oh well...... Sigh....... Pretty sure it's a good watch. LOL!

The Scottsdale auction is officially over for us. We were able to go to dinner together for the first time in over two months. We had a couple of beers and some good laughs.
We miss all of you & wish you were here.

BJ auction summary

2008-01-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

DH wanted to post another blog on the auction. DH & Brother Charlie A.K.A. "STICKER BOY" had an incredible time working with one another. I'm not going to go into great detail about the photos. I'm just going to post them with a little blurb for all to see. Enjoy!!

This is the "SHOWCASE PAVILION". The Best of the Best that were to go across the block.

This is the "VENDOR" area where people sell anything and everything imaginable!! Words can't describe everything that happens at the auction.

This photo was taken from one of our sponsor's sky boxes. It shows how many people are here while the auction is taking place in the main tent. It's amazing!!

Here is a photo of DH & brother Charlie after Robosaurus had to be moved from one place to another. They were actually chased down a road on the site that was large enough to allow Robosaurus to move on his own power, but no one realized how fast he can move. At one point, 9 people were actually running down a road while Robo chased them. That sucker is quick. It was like a live Godzilla movie. They were actually yelling "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES"! Something we will never forget! Too Funny!!

At one point, DH & "STICKER BOY", had a few minutes to try out one of the vendor's foot and back massagers. Ahhhhhhhhhh! It didn't last nearly long enough, but we were able to get a picture to share.
This is all for now on the auction. DH has many photos on his phone he needs to get transferred over. However, tomorrow is Monday and he has to start getting ready for the next auction which takes place in March in Palm Beach, FL.
We wish everyone well!

Finally home!

2008-01-20T21:07:00.000-08:00

DH is Finally home!
It's the first time in the last 9 days. The auction was INCREDIBLE!!!!!
Words on this blog CAN'T explain the excitement and the amount of effort that everyone who is involved puts forth to pull it off! This will be a quick blog! Enjoy! More photos to follow at a later date.
Please bear with us as we try to sneak a few minutes in to update everyone!

As everyone knows, DW's Dad, Gary, was a HUGE Tony Stewart fan! DH was able to line up a photo shoot for DW that made her cry! DH knew how special this photo op would be and was able to pull it off. It was a VERY special moment for both of us and we will remember forever!!

DW & DH's Brother Charlie A.K.A. "STICKER BOY" as he's become to be known here at B-J had the opportunity to have a quick shot with Goldberg, the infamous wrestler.

We will let things settle down and resume our normal blogs very soon!
We miss you all & love you all!

TnA

January 16, 2008

2008-01-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, Wednesday night, the 2nd night of the Barrett-Jackson auction and 5th day of the overall event. Saturday, January 12th was the beginning of the action at WestWorld in Scottsdale. DH and his brother have been working crazy long hours and are currently staying in a nice hotel 1 1/2 miles away from the auction site. They'll stay there until Sunday, the last day of the auction.
They moved into in the hotel on last Sunday - DW brought their luggage to the hotel while they were working because they would not have had time to get checked in and drop everything off.
Since then, DW has made 2 additional trips to the hotel to drop off items previously forgotten. :-)
Last Sunday, after dropping off their luggage, DW drove to an off-site parking lot and took the shuttle to WestWorld. DH was able to take a couple of hours off to spend time with DW.
Right after DW arrived at WestWorld, she and DH were able to see Robosaurus in action! This was one of the coolest things DW has seen in a very long time! It was as cool as the jet engine race car, The Green Mamba, her father took her to see when she was 12 years old at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN!
Robosaurus is a 40 foot tall mechanical dinosaur that roars, snarls and breathes fire! He fired up, grabbed a Saturn in it's claws (broke DW's heart because she's previously owned 2 Saturns!), ripped the roof off with it's jaws and set it on fire before dropping it 30 feet to the ground!
Robosaurus is set to cross the auction block on Saturday, and sadly, we know it will not be coming home with us, as cool as it would be to own!
After seeing Robosaurus, we wandered the site to check out the sights and items for sale.
If you need to buy a corporate jet, an outrageously large speedboat or a $500,000 Mercedes, you can find it at Barrett-Jackson! Even Gautier had a booth with jewelry for sale!
One booth DW could have spent hours at had Hollywood memorabilia for sale. Many autographs, original guitars, napkins with lyrics, and even the top to the picnic basket used in the original Wizard of Oz movie, signed by the cast members, was for sale!
DW and DH have taken many photos but can not post them at this time because the memory card is in DH's phone, 20 miles away.
DW will hopefully get that card and be able to post some pics this weekend, before the auction ends.
In the meantime, keep your tv tuned to the Speed channel, where you'll see DH's brother on the auction block!

1968 Plymouth GTX.

2008-01-11T20:28:00.001-08:00

Here is a blog about a car DH used to have. Need he say more? We think not!

Crazy!

2008-01-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

Things are getting over the top here at West World. It's difficult for DH to drive around the site in his golf cart. People and Vendors everywhere! DH thinks and has been told that in a few more days, walking might be the best option. DH has seen cars, boats, planes, helicopters, and so much more being hauled in to be placed in the vendor locations. DH walked past a Mercedes with a sticker price that was close to $500,000 with a top speed of 210 MPH! "WOAH!"
Here are a few photos shot today.

If you look closely, you'll see Charlie in all his glory working. He was putting up the skins on the tent that the cars go through to get staged before heading to the auction block.
DW stopped by to have a quick tour with DH and was able to see a boat on display called the "INTIMIDATOR". She has eagerly added this to her Christmas wish list for next year!

Here is a photo showing the "BIG-TOP" tents being filled with cars. All day you hear the sounds of these powerful engines and you have to look as they drive through the site.

Here is a "SUPER-BIRD" which has been autographed by "Richard Petty" and caught the eye of DH. He has always wanted to drive one of these because of his love for "MOPARS". Perhaps one day he will......
We miss all of you and wish you were here to feel the excitement brewing. More photos of the happenings to follow.

P.S. It was 71 degrees here today and sunny skies.

Work, Work, Work......

2008-01-08T20:30:00.001-08:00

Here it is, a few days until all the excitement hits it's peak. DH & his younger brother, Charlie , are in the thick of things. Today was the busiest we have seen it yet.
Vendors are moving in, the main auction tent is being prepared and things change on a minute by minute basis.
Did we mention cars, cars, cars?! They are beginning to show up everywhere. One minute you look and you see something you haven't seen before, then you turn around and you think to yourself, "Holy Crap, where did that come from?!"
If you take a moment to think how large this site is and imagine every square foot of it changing minute by minute, you can imagine that every corner you turn, you see something new..... It really is quite amazing!
Here are a few photos from today that DH was able to capture while helping the vendors move in and handing out site map drawings to all who needed them.

It has been raining here in the valley for the last few days. It was great to see the sky open up and let us tend to our duties without getting soaked!

DH grew up around the time of the Monkee's and has the matching die-cast car. It was great to see the actual car in person.

Here is a photo showing the actual stage where the cars are auctioned off. It is moving along quite nicely and will look fantastic. Remember, if you click on the photo it will show you a much larger image. More updates to follow.

Update 01-05-08

2008-01-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post a blog on the current events here with Barrett-Jackson. My younger brother Charlie has taken the trip from MN to AZ to work the Barrett-Jackson auction. DH was able to have Charlie join the auction team due in part to some great people that DH works with.
Charlie is over the moon with excitement at the opportunity. Our understanding is he will be working security on the block where the cars actually get auctioned off. He will be in the thick of it all. What an opportunity for him! DH and DW are glad to see family but we know Charlie left his family in MN and we feel bad they couldn't be part of it also.
DH and Charlie checked out some of the cars that showed up today & couldn't pass up a photo op!! We will post more as the auction date gets closer.

Here's a photo of Charlie in DH's golf cart. They zipped all over west world today.

DH couldn't resist having his photo taken by the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard.

Charlie couldn't resist the "Jesse James - Monster Garage" Jeep Drag car. Pretty impressive!

Also the "Jesse James - Monster Garage" Flying car. Yes this car can actually get off the ground. It's a crazy contraption...

We weren't sure what this actually does, but it looked like a set-up of some sort for Pasta. Notice the LP tank sticking out of a headlight bezel in the front of this Ferrari. Another "Jesse James - Monster Garage" creation.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2007-12-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is our first Christmas away from friends and family. We won't lie, it was tough!! We got through it with phone calls and web cams and it was nice to see and hear familiar voices again.
Most of you will laugh to hear we went and found a pizza place for our holiday meal. It was a place called Famous Ray's.
We've never eaten there before and drove past an open grocery store and found the pizza place only because numerous cars were parked in the parking lot. Come to find out the owners were transplanted from the New York area. It was extremely difficult to understand them because their East Coast Accent was thick. The pizza was awesome & we enjoyed ourselves.

We were able to get the Infamous Grinch from Truman Ave in Owatonna, MN erected and let him check out the new digs. Let's just say he enjoyed the weather!

Also the Penguin had scoped out his area and claimed his squatting rights. He made a fabulous addition to our festive Christmas decor and the neighbors loved it!
We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and we miss you all!

P.S. Santa stopped by and dropped off a shiny new present!

Too Close For Comfort!!

2007-12-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

The pictures below tell the tale of a hot air balloon that came extremely close to our house. The balloon was so close to the ground that DW could hear the people talking, see them waving to those on the ground and hear the "whoosh" as the pilot turned on the burner. Our dog Muncie, did NOT appreciate the balloon so close and barked at it while Phoebe, "the Princess", did not consider it important enough to acknowledge.

We see these hot air balloons at least 3 times per week from our back patio, but have never seen them so close to our house.
We can just imagine the view that those inside the gondola get while enjoying the ride! Maybe Santa made an early delivery?

Update 12-22-07

2007-12-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!! Here it is another weekend and DH was working at West World again.
DW brought DH lunch today & DH gave DW the latest tour of the site in his golf cart. Today we were lucky enough to see how one of the big car tents gets put up. AMAZING to see.
DH asked the supervisor (Mike) if it's dangerous setting these up? Mike said it's VERY dangerous. If a gust of wind were to hit, everyone under the tent would scatter. Basically he said it's like shaking the dirt off a rug.
Once the waves start rippling across the tent, the poles get strewn and tossed about as if you threw a box of matchsticks in the air.
Luckily today was a calm day and nobody got hurt.

We also were treated to something both of us have never seen, a full on Polo match that was indescribable. West World has two Polo fields. When Barrett-Jackson has the auction, the tents you see above are actually set-up on one of them.
It was simply amazing to see the grace and skill of both the jockey and horse work together as one. Something we will never forget.

We wish each and everyone of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Update 12-17-07

2007-12-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, another week under DH's belt at Barrett-Jackson. DH worked both Saturday and Sunday in preparation of the up-coming auction. Without going into much detail, here are some current photos of the site progress.
The additional tenting that gets added to the main tent is just about finished as you can see below.

The site is transforming quickly. The office is now relocated to the auction site. The tents are up on the Polo fields where a majority of the cars being auctioned are kept. These are the photos shown below.

As time permits, DH will take photos when he can and post them on here for all to see.
DH is having the time of his life while learning many new things! DH can hardly believe the logistics involved behind the scenes to pull this auction off! Incredible!!!
We hope all are doing well and we miss all of you.

Update 12-09-2007

2007-12-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, we apologize for the lapse in postings.
It has been crazy busy here! DH has started his new job and is loving every minute of it. It's crazy to see behind the scenes of the greatest collector car auction in the world.
DH has been working crazy hours and YES weekends if you can believe it!

Here is an aerial photo showing the site as it was last year. In the upper left corner with all the tents is the actual auction site. All cars you see are from the people that attend the auction, not the cars that cross the auction block.
Saturday, DW brought lunch to DH at Westworld and DH gave her the tour of the site as it is today.
Here are some photos showing the progress. Granted the auction is now only 34 day's away. DH anticipates his hours getting longer and longer.
Not to worry though, this has been a dream for DH for many many years. His dream has come true and he is absorbing everything he can.

Here is a photo showing the main tent where the cars cross the auction block. The tent color has changed this year because a weather system came through and destroyed parts of the shell after last years auction. If you try and relate the photo from the photo above, this replaces the tent that had the American flag on it.

This is the view of the mountains from the auction site. Granted, this was taken early in the morning on Saturday when we had rain moving across the area.
YES, it does rain here in AZ!
DH has seen this with full sun and it's absolutely breath taking.

Here is a current photo of the main tent as it sits right now. Many more additions of tenting will be added in the up-coming days.
This is where it all happens. Hard to believe the auction is just a few weeks away.
I can't wait to see it all come together and hear the famous last words: Sold, Sold, Sold!
What an adventure!!!

Turkey Day!

2007-11-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

Well here it is, our first Arizona Thanksgiving. It was a GREAT success! Our friends Dale and Sherri arrived early Thursday morning about 2:30 a.m. because the plane leaving MSP had an "unscheduled maintenance problem". It was so great to see familiar faces again!
DH & DW had gone to a local grocery store that was offering a full Thanksgiving dinner for 6 people that you could order to pick up the day before. We ordered our dinner so we didn't have to take a whole day of our guest's short vacation preparing the meal. We know this was taking a chance, but it turned out wonderfully. Here is a photo of our delightful meal.

We gobbled up our fix'ens and had some wonderful wine and conversation catching up on the hometown gossip! It was great to hear familiar names and places.
Friday, we traveled to our favorite people watching place, Kierland Commons in Scottsdale, to allow Dale & Sherri to see how the "other half" in Arizona live. Dale & Sherri say they come from the town of Mayberry and were amazed to see the surroundings.
Here's a photo of Dale & Sherri in front of a Rolls Royce. It was one of many "EXPENSIVE" vehicles that are present in the area. We also ran across a Lamborghini and a very nice Bentley.

We walked around the area and checked out a few of the shops. One shop we walked into had a fabulous Christmas tree that DH & DW had to have a photo with. We thought it was beautiful.
With Christmas right around the corner, this tree was a reminder to us of how important friends and family are. Thanks again Dale & Sherri, for it was your love and support and the same from many others that allowed us to chase our dreams. We thank all of you!

While walking around, we ran across a sharp dressed "IMPORTANT" lady who was dressed to the hilt. She had a Teacup Maltese named Coco Chanel. Now, how many people do you know who name a dog after a brand name!!?? She was a very friendly lady and her dog was adorable! DH asked if DW could have her photo taken with Coco and the lady said absolutely! She set her bag down, the dog jumped out and DW was handed the dog. The dog is 2 years old and 2 1/2 pounds! Here is the photo.

We returned home after our adventure and relaxed. At one point, someone asked where is our laptop? DH explained that he's tried numerous times to get our wireless network working with no success. Dale being the true friend he is said "I can get that working for you".
Well, we are posting our blog from the comfort of our living room because of Dale's knowledge of networking. Here is a photo of Dale working his magic and "hooking" us up. Thanks again Dale! It works FANTASTIC!

Dale and Sherri left for the airport this afternoon and we are so bummed they had to leave. We had so much fun with them!!
Our spare bedroom is once again available for reservations. EVERYONE is welcome to visit and our door is always open. As they say on Motel 6, "we'll leave a light on for ya".
We miss all of you!

Sold, Sold, Sold!

2007-11-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/
A quick blog post. DH was offered a position within the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company this evening and has accepted the position. Further details will follow soon.

Boogaty, Bootagy, Bootagy, Let's Go Racing!!

2007-11-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

In honor of Veteran's Day and our love of racing, we attended the 2nd to the last race of the NASCAR season at Phoenix International Raceway (from this point on - PIR).
Tom drove us along with our good friends, Tony and Scott, to PIR for the event. The gates opened at 8:00 a.m., race time was 1:30, and we arrrived at 8:30 in order to stake out our "spot on the hill". Tony and Scott sat in the stands but we wanted the full experience of the hill that we had heard about.

We went our separate ways and found a great spot between turns 3 and 4. We laid down our stadium blanket, grabbed our water bottles and settled in for the wait. We were amazed to see the number of people that had already staked out their spots by setting up their portable gazebos.

The hill has terraced levels of flat ground that you are able to set up your mini camp. People around us were way more prepared than us! We forgot to bring our grill!
The hillside filled up and the nice people next to us offered us water, snacks and general good chatting!
We watched 2 planes, 1 blimp and 2 helicopters circle the stadium for hours, we thought sometimes coming too close to each other for comfort! (Air traffic controllers nightmare!)

We have heard that NASCAR is the most popular sport in America today & we truly believe it. We were just about to the "HILL" when we heard what sounded like several helicopters approaching. We looked off to the right and saw the 5 helipads. It about took your breath away seeing them fly in!

In honor of Veteran's Day, the track had a sky diver jump into the infield with an American flag,

all the while, Lee Greenwood's song, "Proud to be an American" was playing. The national anthem was wonderfully played on a trumpet and then 4 jets from Davis Monthan Airforce Base did the flyby. Talk about goosebumps!!!
We heard the words "Gentleman, Start Your Engines" and the race began!
Now, DW is a die hard fan of #8, Dale Jr, and unfortunately, he had a wreck by himself 1/3 of the way into the race. Below is a photo of his semi leaving the infield before the race finished.

The drivers were really on their game today and at one point, drove 100 laps without a caution flag!
Fortunately, there was not "The Big One" and the few minor wrecks were individual drivers and didn't result in major damage to any of the vehicles or injury to the drivers.
We both agree that this was an Amazing experience and are thankful for the opportunity. Our goal earlier this year was to be able to make this race. And we did it!
This experience was priceless!

"Halloween" AZ Style

2007-10-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

Tonight was a great night for all the kids in the neighborhood. They managed to reap us of 3 HUGE bags of candy in about an hour and a half. Seemed tonight DH & DW saw more trick or treaters here in one night than DH had seen at the Truman address up north. DW even said it was crazy! We could have doubled our candy purchase and it still wouldn't have been enough!
Our neighbors across the street decided a haunted backyard was in order. From the sounds of it, success they did achieve. Kids were everywhere. It was fun. Family and friends sent pictures of everyone's costumes and we reflected on who had stopped by on a regular basis up'nordth! DW was even able to use our web cam to see her family's kids real time. Pretty awesome. Here are a few photos of how our house was decorated. DH was playing his own Halloween music "Recorded" and a strobe light flashing to add to the affect. He managed to scare a few little ones into not approaching our door. "EVIL GRIN"

Our wonderful "hosts" Munci & Phoebe even decided they would participate in this years spooktacular festivities by dressing up. You can see by the photo below they are to DIE for!

"TRICKED OUT TRUCK"

2007-10-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today we took a quick ride to the local mall to wander around. We arrived at the mall and noticed a truck show was going on in one corner of the parking lot. It was mostly Hispanic owned "low-rider" vehicles with Hydraulics to raise and lower the car.
We came across this one and it was amazing. We thought we'd share it with you. The paint job on this truck was SMOKEN HOT!
DH wasn't impressed however that it was a Scion. Most of the trucks here were Scions???? Is there something I'm missing here???? We're not knocking the Scion because we've never personally driven one. I'm sure it has it's pros and cons like any vehicle, but a SCION?? C'mon! What happened to the old chebby's??? We guess this is a sub-culture here in the area. Still very impressive what they did with it......... (sigh!)

Pumpkins "BEWARE"

2007-10-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

After the adventures of the swap meet and zoo, we stopped at a local grocery store to pick up a few essentials and couldn't resist buying pumpkins to carve for the up-coming holiday. Halloween is DH & DW's favorite holiday other than Christmas. This year we thought we could try our hand at carving pumpkins professional-like. We both thought that it couldn't be that hard. Little did we know.............

We had previously bought a "pumpkin carving kit" that included stencils to carve intricate designs. We gave it a go!!!!
Below is a photo of DW getting her hands full of the Orange guts of our newly slaughtered friends. "BOO" She looks like she is enjoying herself.

The photo below shows DH so focused he didn't even realize DW was taking a photo! The intricate designs made you take your time to ensure that each design would turn out perfectly. We had a great time "MASTERING" our pumpkin carving abilities.

After 2 hours of brow furrowing and little chatter between us, we ended up with the following designs.

The "Comedy-Tragedy" pumpkin is the work of DW. "NICE"
The "Pirate Ship" is the work of DH. "NICE"
We can't wait for Halloween to display our Artistic masterpieces for all the trick-or-treaters to see! DH & DW are still wondering how the hell we pulled that off? We are already searching for the next Pumpkin carving possibilities for next year. It was a blast!!

"WILDLIFE WORLD ZOO"

2007-10-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

We went exploring today and found a swap meet in Goodyear, AZ. We walked around for a couple of hours looking at the things for sale. We didn't find anything we HAD to have so we called it a day there.
We were on our way home when DH punched in Local Attractions on the GPS unit and it pulled up a zoo. Of course we were only a few miles away and thought what the heck. Little did we know!!

More like "WILDLIFE WORLD POO"!
The price to get in was around $17.00 a person. We questioned spending that amount when DH noticed a small sign taped to the ticket office that read "Half Price Today Only". Well, we thought what the heck and started our "Poo", or we mean "Zoo" tour. The parking lot and the entire zoo walking area was dirt. It made for an interesting tour. We will try to be as nice as we can regarding this Zoo, but it had Bird poop on EVERYTHING! You had to be careful as you looked up at the animals because you never knew what bird was flying above you!
The first thing we ran across was a Duck Butt. "Duck Butts drive me Nuts" was a bumper sticker we had seen here in AZ. We HAD to get a photo. Too Funny!

DH laughed when he took the following picture and mentioned that this blog post was going to be about the birds and the bees of Poo, or ummmm, Zoo life. DH said that every time he goes to a Zoo, he seems to see things with the animals that just makes him question to visit another Zoo again.
Today was no exception. We happened across the Penguin exhibit and ahhhhh, YEP, penguin lovin'. They actually have penguins outside in AZ. We never would have thought.......... Aren't they cute little buggers? "Ya you betcha"! (Sorry for the bad Steve Irwin impression combined with "Minnesota slang".

We had to stop and say a quick hello to the family. Very typical reaction we received

The Zoo had a very nice display of local and non-local animals.
All of the buildings that we went into to view fish, snakes, bats etc all smelled a little "FUNKY"! With a little TLC this place could be a Gem in the desert. Below are a few more photos of the local inhabitants.