Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

Meet the newest addition to our family!  Yes, Earl was so sweet to commission a good friend of ours to make this quail for me!  I am just thrilled with her.  Our friend Dave has been making these quail at the Lapidary shop here and selling.  His proceeds have been gone to helping with a fundraiser here in the community.  I am thrilled to have this addition to our family but now I have to think of a name.  Oh yes, Dave does make families but no babies without a mom and dad! 

Yes, the $ did burn a hole in guess who's pocket and yes, now we have a new card.  Brand new 2015 Ford Fusion SE hybrid.  It runs nice and very quiet.  Now the test is to drive economically!  Ah, a challenge at moments but there is a little screen to help you keep track!  Very nice and yes, we are both pleased.  Although it looks a little gold it is really supposed to be silver.   The car we just traded in was 9 years old already - where do the years go?  So guess it was time although the chevy drove just fine and I did not have any complaints.  I do like driving this new car but we are still getting used to it!

Saying good bye to Roadrunner These nice folks are proud new owners of  the "Roadrunner"

This year was a small party here with neighbors Kathie and Joan and brother John.  Turkey was great and company was all you could ask for... way too much food but guess that is one of the things we are thankful for this time of year.

Ever since we moved in down here we have had little projects.  Our latest is adding the garage door.  Finally in and working great.  Quiet and adds new dimension to house.  Took all day for Earl and friend Dave to get in along with garage door opener but worth their efforts!

Spent an afternoon watching granddaughter Jaylee while Roy and Natali did the "Roc  Race" in Phoenix.  This is an annual Ridiculous Obstacle Course 5k race.  It was fun watching and quite a crowd.  Natali runs quite frequently but guess this was Roy's 1st so they had a good time and we enjoyed spending time with them as well.

This year for the Veteran's program at Dreamland the "Tappers" put on a little show to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.  Very nice!  I loved it!  I know a few of those Tappers now too so that helps I am sure.  It was a very nice program and quite a nice turn out for the event.  Apparently they have been doing this show for a number of years but this was our 1st time.

I never really gave living in Arizona too much thought while we were gallivanting around the country, however as you can see we do get the prettiest sunrises and sunsets at times (providing we are up for it of course).  The time is flying by and we have been working at marketing the RV, getting ready for a garage door, adding a new security door to front of house and other little misc things.  Our little garden seems to be producing.  So far, we have green beans, carrots, beets, cilantro, spinach and radishes and an unknown volunteer growing under our palm tree.  It's a mystery but I think it might be a cantaloupe or cucumber.  There is definitely something there, just not sure what yet!

One of the items on the "to do" list includes getting a garage door!  Since we already have all the walls all we need is the facing for the actual door.  The door has been ordered but due to special size it will be a few weeks - meantime had to get facing on for the door.  It was quite a job but these guys came over and went right to work.  It will be interesting to see how different it all seems once we finally get the actual door!

Having never experienced a "monsoon" before it was quite exciting for us folks from the Pacific Northwest who are used to a nice soft drizzling type rain to watch the wind and rain come down so hard and so fast the street floods in minutes and you can hardly speak to each other for the noise!  Very exciting and the best part... it's not cold!  AND it's gone almost as fast as it comes.  Fortunately for us, we are in an older development that was very "thoughtfully" planned so no flooding problems (lots of big holding ponds in the area) and with the desert landscaping the ground just sucks that water up right now.  Within hours you would hardly know it had even rained.  Amazing site and fun to watch . Having breakfast one morning with son Roy and Natali we visited a new restaurant to us The Good Egg.  Look at this flag made out of egg cartons.  Wild and very clever!  A little large perhaps but fit nicely on their wall.  I always enjoy clever ideas. Besides

We have been back close to a month now and getting back into the groove.  One night at cribbage we celebrated little Bea's 95th birthday!  She is so sharp and fun to play cards with along with the others I might add.  Most folks are still gone for the summer months but we were glad to be back for this little event.   Earl's leg is slowly improving.  It is still a bit red and swells up a little during the day but it will take a while before all the meds perform their miracles if they ever do.  So far though the reports are good and getting better so that is a big Plus!   We did have a bit of a monsoon one day where they registered over 5" of rain within a matter of hours and a very positive note on this that although some places in our town were hit hard by the blast of rain, our little area did just fine.  We were built back when they took those sort of things into consideration and planned ahead.  Not so sure the builders all do that now however I think the deser

Driving from Colorado to Arizona is quite a feat when you are just driving to get somewhere and not taking time out to enjoy the sites along the way... not our usual mode of travel!  However, we did pretty well trading off and stuck to main hwy to make better time.  Arrived in Arizona for one last night at RV park before making it to home - wanted to empty tanks and all that fun stuff.  So, Early finds this cute little place along Hwy 40 just east of the town of Holbrook.  Not much here but some petrified wood and good electricity etc... so we parked it and here was our view 

While we were staying overnight up at Sun Valley, AZ we took a little ride through the Petrified Forest.  Couldn't do much since Earl had to stay in car pretty much but stopped at a few overlooks and did have the wonderful site of an antelope come running across the road from seemingly no where to run right in front of us and back into the wilderness.  We have seen antelope before but usually in small herds and of course we did not have camera on at time of event! oh well.. it was a thrill for us just the same.

What a crazy week this has been.  It began with our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park that I enjoyed as best I could with Early left in the car with the shakes and wrapped in a wool blanket.  After a few days he noted his leg hurt and was afraid he had a blood clot.  After looking at his leg that had turned bright red and terribly swollen we drove into town to call the nurse on the hot line.  She suggested we go straight to ER but he felt ok and leg didn't itch - just red and swollen?  What is going on - so that evening (our last night in area) we had dinner with nephew Jim and his little family.  He and son Cole (who will be 1 this month) greeted us and when wife Theresa (doctor in family) came home from work she went straight to looking at Earl.  She freaked out and immediately called ER and insisted on coming with us to see the doctors there.  What a long evening as you can imagine if you have ever been in an ER!  Theresa's being a doctor helped to speed things up some b

Watching the weather for this area closely due to what would seemingly be an expected thundershower each day.  Packed a lunch and off we went to try once again to see this wonder of nature.  Our 1st trip here in 2001 was too early in the year and the park was all snowed in.. did see some mangy looking elk and big horned sheep but wanted to really see the park.  So on our way all of a sudden Earl says he has the shakes and needs me to drive.  He has a coat on and gets the wool blanket out from the trunk of the car (I was in shorts and cooking already early in the day) - so I took over the driving and he assured me he was ok although he was having the chills!  He assured me he was ok for me to continue.  I stopped at two visitor centers and drove the road thru the park up to the highest point just above 12,000 ft and was thrilled beyond words!  It was a gorgeous day and the views were spectacular!  I did worry about Early all day though so after 2nd stop turned the car around and headed

After leaving the Grand Tetons we planned to stay overnight at a casino near Lander, WY.  Just so happens Sacajawea was buried in town of Fort Washakie next to Lander.  So took a little drive up to pay our respects to this very courageous woman.  When I think of how important she was to the exploration of Lewis and Clark and all she had to go thru it is mind boggling.  She was tremendous and to top it off she had bum of a husband (ha!)  Anyway, it was very cool to see she has a nice monument in her honor.  She is buried between both of her sons.  As we walked through the cemetery we noticed the names repeated many times .. a good indication there were many descendants.  

After about a week in Yellowstone we traversed south to the beautiful Grand Tetons.  Driving in I felt the tears well up these mountains are so rugged and majestic!  It was a fairly nice day and after setting up camp at the Colter Campground we took a little walk around the area to get our bearings.  The walk to the lake front thru the woods was easy and nice (even found a doe munching a patch of grass).  The waterfront was bustling with all sorts of people in and out of the water.  The picnic area was full of people so we continued on to the marina and general store.  They had nice facilities; a restaurant and cafeteria as well as cabins and big laundramat with showers ($4.25 each).  Nice campground divided into sections for electric hookups or not or tents etc.  This park allows all downed wood burnable - never noticed that at a National Park before but that was great.  Although one day took the ride to the top of Signal Mountain and saw where they are getting ready for a perscribed

After our wonderful time in Idaho with the family we continued on to West Yellowstone where son Alex and his wife Katy and daughter Jordan met up with us and son Roy along with granddaughter J and friend Natalie joined us ... we had one day to drive through the park to see as much as possible.  Alex's family left early the next day.  We spent the next few days visiting other parts of this wonderful National Park.  One day we drove up to the Lamar Valley to find river otters. Didn't find any otters but did find a bison sitting under a tree not wanting to be disturbed.  Another day was spent at Canyon and still another just shopping in West Yellowstone.  A lot to see in a short amount of time but we did pretty good.  Earl took them back to airport in Bozeman on Thursday.   We did take one day and go out to see Quake lake.  This lake was formed by an earthquake in 1959 - a funny coincidence by grandmother along with Aunt and Uncle had stayed there at the campground just the d

What a week this has been in Idaho!  Everyone managed to get to this wonderful beautiful little piece of paradise from as far away as Hawaii and Minnesota and even Texas.  It's been amazing with our wonderful hosts Tom and Sandra and all their special children and grand children and all the cousins too!  Goodness!  Our last day and it was our turn to cook and after eating so much wonderful food all week it will be time to do some fasting now! ha!  Such a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other a little better and the cousins to mix and play too.  The dog in front belongs to the neighbor.  Cooper seems like part of the family and you really couldn't ask for a nicer pet!  He is so friendly and sweet and playful too with so much activity he fit right in.  Thanks again Tom and Sandra!  It was the best!!

Kicking off the family reunion here in McCall, Idaho with Earl's sister Sandra and hubby Tom.  They have a lovely mountain home and we always enjoy our time with them.  This is a "Munday" reunion so looking forward to this branch of the Munday's all getting together.  It's beautiful country up here at 5044'.  Not overly hot and although there is some smoke from surrounding states and their wildfires, it's not too bad here in this community.  I might add they do have a smoke jumpers unit based right here in McCall though.  Lovely place right near Lake Payette.  So thankful we could make it!!!

After a wonderful few weeks in the Seattle area and visiting with friends and family we hit the road heading east.  1st stop Othello, Washington and although the ride there went well and we did have some cross winds it was nice.  However, this is view we awoke to in the morning.  Smoke coming in to envelope us there!  Time to continue east.  We heard of all the terrible wildfires and even daughter Mary said Hwy 2 was closed from Leavenworth back to Seattle so they had to go around to I-90.  A bit out of the way for them.  Anyway, we managed to stay pretty much out of the way until the high winds brought the smoke to us.  Just terrible and all we can do at this point is pray for some rain to clear the skies and give the firemen a break! Where is all that rain when you really need it? ha!

Took a ride over the Narrows bridge to Bremerton to visit with good friends Dean and Laurie Singer and see the progress of their new house being built!  Wow!  Very nice and what a day we chose!  Doesn't get much prettier in the Pacific Northwest.  After a delightful day and visit we chose to ride the ferry from Kingston back to Edmonds and look at the view!  Seattle seems like a big city until you put it up against Mt Rainier!  One of my fondest memories of working here for so many years was driving south into Seattle from Edmonds and looking to the right and seeing Mt Rainier - Seattle straight ahead - the Olympics on the far west and in rear view mirror Mt Baker!  I was in awe and still am when I see this view!  Mighty pretty!  

Another year and another year for grandson Micah.  His cousin Isaiah is right behind him!  It was fun sharing ice cream treats with them at DQ!  Glad we were able to share this time with the family.  All too soon it is time to head em up and move em out! ha!

Earl is so good at picking the perfect day for an outing... ha.  Chose to head over to Friday Harbor for the day and friend Joyce with her little pooch Coop joined us for the day.  Perfect weather and fun.  Relaxing trip over on the ferry and although we woke up to pea soup fog, it was cleared by the time we boarded the ferry in Anacortes.  Then on to Friday Harbor for some window shopping in the little shops and galleries and a picnic lunch down on the park at the marina overlooking the water.  There is a little deli that makes wonderful sandwiches (don't know it's name) but this is the 2nd time we have been there and they make the best sandwiches!  After landing back in Anacortes we took a little ride thru Washington Park.  Beautiful spot overlooking Burrows bay.  Lovely and the weather stayed nice all day.  Nice to have Joycie along too and Coop was on his best behavior too!

Each year daughter Mary's church puts on a "Freedom Celebration" to celebrate our country's birthday.  Years ago it was just a picnic but not any longer.  Now it is a community activity and they have an untold amount of people come to the celebration.  This year Mary asked these youngsters to portray someone great in our history starting with grandson Micah as Abe Lincoln - he memorized the Gettysburg address and never faltered in front of hundreds of people!  Big wow!  He is home schooled with this sister and none of these children faltered in their portrayals.  Amazing to me.  We worked the cake walk afterwards and good grief; hundreds of folks all trying their luck on that one.  Too much!!  

Working our way north we stayed a few nights near St Mary's just above Mays Lake with a wonderful view of Mt St Helens in the distance.  Of course she is hard to see because her top is missing.  She blew her top back in May of 1980 (a day I well remember)!  Lovely view our 1st day here and from then on someone let the word out we had returned to Washington and the flood gates were opened.  We never did have another opportunity to see this view... the clouds moved in that very evening and STAYED!  So funny and typical but yes, this is Washington and this is typical June weather.  We know this but somehow after spending a delightful winter in the sunshine and clear blue skies we somehow dimmed the memory of the grey, wet days. ha!  While in this area we did venture out one day to visit the Mossyrock dam and the Mays Dam on the cowlitz river.  One note, our son-in-law caught a wonderful 10lb king salmon on this very river just a few days before we arrived!  It is a favorite fishing h

One of our favorite places in the whole country is Yosemite National Park.  We have been here numerous times and usually in early spring.  This year we were late enough for Toulumne Meadows to be open and Glacier Point.  Spent about a week and a half and hiked the meadows to the top of Sentinel Point and out to Happy Isles and Mirror Lake and across the valley to the falls.  Wonderful, wonderful as Lawrence would say.. ha!  Did not get much of a signal for wifi or phone although we were able to get something for phone in the "valley".  Also hiked out to Wapama Falls at hetch hetchy dam one day and oh my goodness the damage from the "Rim" Fire last fall.  Over 400 square miles of forest fire and into the National Park boundry as well.  It will take years and years of time to recover and we see that a lot of those wonderful trees are being sold as lumber so yes, there is some lucky contractor who is coming in and clearing out a lot of the trees.  Many of the ponderos

Off to a rocky start but we're off!!  Although Earl checked things out on Monday, by Thursday we had near dead batteries in RV and blown fuse! Oh joy!  Although we had been plugged into house to keep batteries charged something went awry.  After recharging batteries through help of generator we took off.  1st stop for fuel in town!!  Gotta get cheaper fuel while you can ($3.65 a gal - in CA it is $4.65 a gal)..  Then stopped at Camping world for new fuse.  Instead of stopping in Quartzsite as originally planned, only stopped for fuel fill up before crossing the border then pushed on to Palm Desert.  Had thought/hoped the batteries would charge while driving and guess they did but over night drained enough to keep us from starting up the next day.  After messing around and using generator again to charge batteries (car didn't have enough umph) - we bit the bullet and went to a TA (travel america) and got hit with a $500.00 bill for two new batteries.  Ok, that is enough - onwa

This has been a wonderful winter season getting to know so many folks and becoming a part of our little community here in Mesa.  Had a few folks over for happy hour and ended with cake and all sorts of goodies from so many folks!  A fun time was had by all!  Missed our two neighbors who were off cruising but then they had a sub from Pennsylvania so we enjoyed having Linda join us too.  We are both now another year older - this is last of this decade for Early and next year I get to finally start collecting some retirement! It's been a long time in coming....  

Enjoyed our outing this month with son Roy and granddaughter Jaylee at the Mesa Natural history museum.  It's great they open this up once a month to all at no charge on the 1st Sunday of the month.  Jay seemed to really enjoy running around and it is quite informative.  She is a little young for much learning but good exposure.  Afterwards we went bowling which was very interesting.  Bowling has changed quite a bit from the olden days when I used to bowl.  Thinking of joining league in the fall but have to think about getting my own ball!  Goodness it was hard to find a ball to fit my hand!  And the things they have for little people so they can play.  A bit pricey too but for an afternoon of fun guess it's worth it!

Our neighbor Gigi pushing Earl down the street after a "friendly neighborhood" happy hour!  Silly but fun as usual.  Gigi lives next door and we had all decided to go down to one of our other neighbors who is already "back home" but they have such a pretty back yard we all decided to enjoy our little visiting time with their pretty flowers. ha!  Too silly but always good to see the neighbors.  We have made great strides this winter getting to know most of the folks on our street.

This year the fashion show / tea was a huge success and quite lovely even with some zaney hats!    There were prizes for prettiest hat and worst looking hat etc.  The Earl was a singing waiter along with 10 other guys all dressed in dark pants and white shirts (very handsome - darn no pics) and I was one of the models so had to hang out most of the time in the back room. ha!  A good time was had by all though and it was a lot of fun.  Kudos to the ladies who took over running the show this year.  They did a great job and think we all had a good time.  I had never modeled before and had to rely on others to get pictures - oh well - will have to work on that one for next year!

Just came home with this cute little thing today!  And yes, he is very happy.  Something new to tinker with out in the carport!

Just received this picture from the prom!  We had such a fun time and think they did ok with the pictures considering the subject matter. ha!  Yes, I did have a corsage!  Who says you can't have fun when you get older!

Our very good friends flew out from Georgia to spend some time with us camping up in Cottonwood and for a little sight seeing jog around the beautiful town of Sedona!  We had such a great visit and so busy sightseeing at Tuzigoot, Jerome, Montezuma Castle and of course the lovely views of all that colorful red rock in Sedona!  Peggy and I have been friends since Jr High school so we go back a long way!  Amazing how we have always been able to stay in touch through all our ups and downs etc etc...  So thankful they were able to come and join us out here.

Our new toy was turned on today and oh my goodness - look at the "green" power we are generating!  Works like a charm (as it should) and we are thrilled.  Yes, we have both been out to the carport to visit it many times already in one day.  It's hilarious but you know it is very cool!  Yes, we will keep track and so will this machine and Early even has it programmed to his new smart phone so we can keep track.  Too much!!  To say we are happy is an understatement and how long the excitement will last there is no telling but we do know one of our neighbors is still raving about her's and she has been up and running for several months now. 

Our new toy was turned on today and oh my goodness - look at the "green" power we are generating!  Works like a charm (as it should) and we are thrilled.  Yes, we have both been out to the carport to visit it many times already in one day.  It's hilarious but you know it is very cool!  Yes, we will keep track and so will this machine and Early even has it programmed to his new smart phone so we can keep track.  Too much!!  To say we are happy is an understatement and how long the excitement will last there is no telling but we do know one of our neighbors is still raving about her's and she has been up and running for several months now. 

That is right folks, we recently went to the "Senior Prom" here in our little community along with some other great folks.  Neither Earl or myself had ever attended a high school prom so this was an adventure for us... making up for lost time?  The guys who sponsored this event did a wonderful job.  The decorations were fun and the music was fantastic!  Kudos to them!  We all had a great time and just about everyone made it out to the dance floor for the "chicken" dance.  What a hoot!  Guess you are never too old.. Meet the King (Frank) and Queen (Ginny) - they made a wonderful couple out there on the dance floor (even though Frank says he doesn't dance).  A good time was had by all!

Our panels are up and now the wait begins until they are "approved" and the switch gets turned on!  They did turn them on for a little while to test them and oh my gosh... we were really generating the power!  It is a very exciting time for us.  We have been waiting a long time to have a home with solar panels.  We have like 4 meters total to keep track of how much power we are generating and how much we use and how much goes back into the grid and how much carbon dioxide we save from being generated.  Since we are on a lease program they will be watching as well so if something should go amiss they will come out to fix... very nice deal over all!

The roof is now ready for rails and panels - you may wonder is that an orange bucket and loose wires poking up there - answer oh yeah!  Bucket has supplies and wires are coming up from our inverter to connect to panels once installed - These guys certainly know their stuff or seem to when it comes to dismantling an existing electric panel and replacing with another Meet our new inverter in carport!  He's a monster and quite impressive Here is our new completed panel with lots of meters to tell us when and how much electricity is being used AND how much is going back into grid!  That is best part of course.  Very exciting times here...