April 21 through 30, 2009

Tuesday 21~~~~The four of us drove to Vegas this morning and we are staying at "Sam"s Town."We got our same spot as before right in front of the laundry and swimming pool. John and Linda are camped right beside us, they haven't been to Vegas, for many years, so Kent gets to play tour guide again, he does a great job doing it and he seems to enjoy it. I don't like the strip, so I stayed home and played in the pool and wrote in my children's books. They had a great time as Kent took them to all the Casino's that give $10 free playing money or more for signing up to their awards club. (pictures of Vegas) We went out for dinner that evening when they got home. We played cards a lot in the evenings again and everyday this week we were on the go someplace. The picture of the pine tree is actually a cell tower made to look like a tree. They are done like palm trees also and they really look nice in this big city. Sunday 26~~~ We had John and Linda over to our place tonight for dinner and cards as they will be leaving in the morning. Last night we took them to Kent's favorite pizza place here in Vegas, we took Mel and Linda there also and everyone thinks it is the best, Kent should be getting a commission for all the business he gives them. LOL Monday 27~~~~Today is laundry and house cleaning day and fun in the pool in the afternoon. Thursday 30~~~~ We stayed home for three days, so today we rode the bus to downtown Vegas and we went to one of those time share meetings where they give you $100 cash and several free dinner tickets and you have to sit and listen to their sales pitch for two hours. Of course we weren't interested in buying anything, and Kent told the saleslady that right away, we were just there for the money. ha The sales lady was having a bad day or maybe week, and she took it very personal. I told Kent I would never do that again, as she was doing her job and wasted half a day with us for nothing. We have never done one of these give aways before, and I felt so sorry for her, I told Kent to behave and as least act interested in the meeting instead of looking at his watch so much, (10 times) he whispered to me twice and played with his bracelet a lot. She had it all wrote down when we came out of the meeting. We both decided it is not for us, Kent is too antsy to sit that long, and Sharon is too soft hearted to take advantage of the poor sales people. AMEN on that subject!!! LoL

April 11, through 20, 2009

Saturday 11~~~~~ We left Benson this morning for Yuma, stopping at the Benson Donut shop on our way out of town for a donut. I gave up all snacks and sweets for Lent, so while Kent, John and Linda ate donuts, I took a picture. ha We are heading back to Yuma so I can go back to the dentist in Algodones, Mexico to have one of the 17 crowns I had done be buffed off a little, as it is biting my cheek when I chew. What a pain to have to go there again, but we do look forward to the shrimp tacos we eat every time we are there and there is a cute purse I keep eyeing every time I go by this one booth. We are still with our friends John and Linda and from here we will go to Laughlin, NV then to Las Vegas for a couple of weeks or more. Tonight we went out for dinner to a great steak house someone had told us about. Sunday 12~~~Today is Easter Sunday and I sure miss being home with our kids especially the little ones who still believe in the Easter Bunny and the big egg hunt. I sent cards to all the grandchildren and that took me awhile to address and write 15 cards out. I had to go to three banks to get enough $2 bills to send them all one, I thought that would be fun, as it is different to get and all Grandma could afford at one time for so many grandchildren and no tip money from doing hair. LOL We went out to Golden Corral for dinner, it is a very good buffet and it has lots of variety and lots of desserts and the best soft ice cream ever. I think I tried 2 desserts and 2 helpings of ice cream. Lent is over and I was ready for some sweets. I made a yummy chocolate dessert for us to eat tonight while we played cards again. We are having so much fun playing the hand and foot card game with John and Linda. Tuesday 14~~~I finished my dental work yesterday and we headed for Laughlin, Nevada this morning. We got real neat campsites on the top level of the campground with the most beautiful view of the lights of the strip at night. It is also a nice workout for me to walk every morning, I walk down the hill and back up and around the loop of campers a couple of times when I get to the top. I have never walked so much in my life as I walk now, but the weight just stays right there, maybe it is too many buffets???? I might have to change my diet. LOL Monday 20~~~~We entered a free slot tournament one day when the 4 of us were out walking the "River Walk" one sunny day, John did real good, but didn't win. The today we decided to try it again and I got 8740 points and the workers were all cheering for me, and no one had gotten over 4000 again today. We were all excited about me maybe winning the $500 prize. We went back that night and they had posted the winners and my name wasn't there. I knew I had the second prize with the score I had, so we had to talk to several people to get it straighten out, but I did get my money, they paid two second places. So if you ever do those free or any slot tournaments, be sure and remember your score and follow through. I was only 50 points from first place and they said they read my 8 for a 5. We are leaving for Vegas in the morning for more fun and sun.

April 10, 2009

Friday 10~~~~We drove out to the Hummingbird House again today to participate in the Hummingbird banding again. Kent and I have decided to adopt one today. John and Linda adopted one last year and they named theirs Lionel, we decided to name ours Pepsi 2. The day was very windy, and we were afraid there wouldn't be many Hummingbirds feeding today. Were we ever wrong, they were caught faster than the recorders could keep up with all the measurements and records they keep on each of them. There were a lot of them adopted today and there were several banded birds caught and their cards were pulled and updated with their growth and weight. Their adopted family will get a new picture and a letter about their growth in the mail. The money earned from the adoptions helps pay for the study of the birds and the upkeep of the gift shop on the property. We helped hold them in their cages (picture) until they were ready for them and we had to tell the catchers to stop for awhile for the recorders to catch up. It puts too much strain on the birds if they are held in the small cages to long. Finally our name came up for adoption and we got lots of pictures of our bird Pepsi 2. One picture is them measuring the tail and the length of the bird, one is putting the band on and one is feeding it before Kent released it. I like the speckled picture of our bird trying to fly in its cage. Kent held Pepsi 2 and released him while I held one for another lady who we met last week and was done for a bird to adopt and there wasn't one for her, she knew we would be here again, so I got the honor of releasing her bird for her. We are going to send her lots of pictures we took of her bird to her. It might sound dull to some of you, but we really enjoyed it and to see how tiny they really are up so close and the beauty of the different colors beautiful to see so close. The pictures are posted wrong, start at the bottom to see them if order.

April 10, 2009

Friday 10~~~~The town of Bisbee is so neat with the narrow streets and the colorful old houses. I didn't get a picture of the bright purple and blue houses. The town is built on steep hills, so there are steps upon steps going up to all the houses. The people who live here must be in great shape and be very good drivers to get around some of those streets that our long truck had trouble making some of the curves. We had fun walking through the shops, John bought several jars of different honey and a couple of bags of coffee from a neat coffee place there. We just walked around and I took a few pictures of the town and the terrain I found interesting.

April 9,2009

Thursday 9~~~~~Today the weather is in the low 80's and a wonderful day to drive to the old town Tombstone, Nevada and do some sight seeing. The town is kind of like the Black Hills and Deadwood where they capitalize on every gunslinger and the town is full of tourists going through the shops and paying to go into the OK Corral to see a repeat of the famous gun fight there. We packed a good picnic lunch and our friends John and Linda went along and we had a great day seeing it all. We started out in the old towns cemetery reading all the tombstones to see how they all died and who shot the most of the people. (pictures) Then we walked the street of Tombstone checking all the shops out. (pictures) We came home early to play cards again at our trailer. We girls sure seem to beat the guys a lot!!! Ha.

April 7, 2009

Tuesday 7~~~~Today we drove to Sahuarita, Arizona to tour the "Titan Missile ll", 12 miles south of Tucson. Construction was started in 1958 as a deterrent for Russia for security purposes after they launched the Sputnik into space. It is now a museum run by non profit Arizona Aerospace Foundation which includes a Titan ll intercontinental ballistic missile still in its silo as well as the original launch facilities. The silo became operational in 1963 and was deactivated in 1982 as part of President Reagan's policy (1981) of decommissioning the Titan ll missiles. All were demolished including 18 sites around McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kansas, 17 sites around Little Rock, Arkansas and 17 sites around Davis /Monthan AFB and Tuscon except for this one at the museum, a total of 53 missiles. The Titan ll was the largest operational land based missile ever used by the United States. The facility's highest state of alert was November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was shot. The keys to launch the missile were placed on the launch console tables to prepare for a possible launch. The Pentagon had not known if the Soviet Union had committed an act of war. However the keys were not placed in the switches. When we left there after going down the 8 levels and seeing it all and hearing all about what went on. It really made you think that if they had this much security way back in the late 50's and what kind of security we have now. It sure is scary and we know the enemy has as much or maybe more!

More pictures around the rocks near Yuma

April 5, 2009

Sunday 5~~~~~ After Church this morning, our friends and us drove to "Gammon's Gulch", a ghost town movie set out in the middle of no where. Jay Gammon's the owner guides the tours and he is fantastic with the real stories he tells about the different movies that were filmed at this ghost town museum he runs. Jay's dad was an extra in a lot of cowboy movies when he owned the town. Jay has all kinds of pictures of the different movie stars with his dad. Jay was in the movie "Rio Bravo", he played the part of the little boy playing the drums on the main street of the town, he has the picture of it hanging also. He played some good old saloon songs in the saloon there, and the tour down main street past the old jail, blacksmith shop, essay office and the old hotel where he and his wife live upstairs had more interesting stories and a lot of antiques to see. After the tour, we ate our picnic lunch we brought with us, while Jay joined us and we listened to his stories for another half hour or more. The town is set with a gold mine setting up the hill behind the old hotel, with an old cabin behind the town across a dry creek. There is old stuff all over the grounds that makes it look like an old prairie town. We enjoyed it very much and recommend it to anyone who is in the area. It is well worth seeing, just to hear the stories of all the movie stars and different people who come there. The town is about six miles North of Benson, Arizona.

April 4, 2009

Saturday 4~~~~Today is the day we get to watch the banding of the hummingbirds. We stopped in the town of Bisbee, Arizona on our way to Benson. It is a quaint little mining town with very old, colorful houses built on the most narrow streets on the steepest hills. The mine was a copper pit mine that employed most of the town until ????. (pictures) The shops are very small and are full of antiques and lots of neat stuff!!!!! We want to go to the town later in the week when we can stay longer. Next we went to a neat trailer park that was full of old travel trailers restored and refurnished with bedding and articles of the year of the trailer. There was one that was "Luci's Long Trailer". (picture) They rent these out to people who want to share in the experience of that period for a night or what ever you want. They were real cute, but small. From here we went to Benson, Arizona where they band the hummingbirds every year when they return from their winter voyage. These birds fly as far as 5000 miles to Mexico or Canada depending on what state they live in and they return to the same place at almost the exact same day each season. They band them to learn about them for their studies. They have a hummingbird feeder with a large net that is remote controlled to drop over the feeder when one a bird is in there feeding. They remove the bird and they put it in a small net cage and reset the big net to catch another one. They let us carry them to the ladies that weigh, measure (tail feathers, bill, ) check their feathers by blowing on them through a straw to see if they have any eggs, fat or many things they are trained to look for. (pictures) Two other ladies register all of this and they keep a file on each bird. If you want to adopt one, you pay $25 and you pick its name and they take your picture of you and your bird and you get to release your bird when all of its stats are complete. It is a lot of fun when banded birds return and they look up their card and tell us when it was first banded and how many times it has returned and then they redo all the measurements and such again. Four years ago a couple adopted two birds, one for each of them, their male bird has returned every year, but the female has never returned. It was so exciting when she returned this year when we were there and she had two eggs in her. They blow their feathers through a straw and they could see the eggs through the skin. I had a lot of fun realeasing the birds that weren't adopted and carrying then from the catcher to the record keepers. You can feel their heartbeat so strong when you hold one waiting for it to fly away. (pictures) They give them a good drink before we release, so calm them down. (picture)