Life is good

This is my second attempt at blogging using my iPad!  My laptop is not cooperating and I just turned it off before I got too frustrated. Then I was on a real roll and ended up losing everything I entered using the iPad. Oh well, I have nothing but time and life is good.

I do not have a conventional keyboard for the iPad but it is going better than I thought it would. The new auto correct is awesome.  

I am not complaining. Really, how lucky are we?  We take a month long holiday in a warm place, go to the pool every day, buy tickets to NHL and NFL games because we want to, drink expensive liquor because it is cheap, do nothing all day long because we can and check the bank account once in a while to make sure the pension cheque and holiday pay are both going in the bank! I could get used to this except for the fact that we still have a home to maintain.  Anybody wanna buy a house?  Just kidding. 

We were shocked with the recent events in Ottawa and before that in Quebec earlier this week.  When I first heard about the shooting in Ottawa I found the CNN channel and we watched all day long, horrified that such an act had taken place. 

The interesting part about watching the news unfold down here was the fear that these "radicalized" Canadians would cross the border into the U.S.  The border between Mexico and the States is not as big an area to cover as the Canada/U.S. Border, yet the former is defended and protected by more Border Patrol personnel. 

Well I have a fear about the "radicalization " of people in general. I am not going to try to understand their weaknesses nor am I going to try and blame their parents or their upbringing. I am just afraid of the end result. Evil people indoctrinate weak and impressionable minds with violence and we end up with terrorism.  

One of the things that truly puzzles me is why the government revoked the passport of the latest miscreant.  Why not let him leave the country and if he tried to return do not let him back in.  Nothing was done to warn the public about him anyway so where was the advantage in not letting him have a passport?  Maybe I am missing something here.  If the reason was because he wanted to go somewhere to go to terrorist school then they should have let him go. 

That's all I have to say on that. We have to be on the look out for our safety all the time and we cannot stop craziness from happening.  I will never accept violence, I will never make an excuse for it but I also know there are people who are capable of it for reasons I will never understand. 

We have less than a week to enjoy our holiday before we head for home. I love Canada. 

A beautiful day in the neighbourhood

Like the title says, it is a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.  The temperatures remain around 32 or 33 degrees during the day and do not fall much below 26 at night.  We had........rain.......last week for a couple of days, but it was short lived.  I thought we had rain in the middle of the night another time but it was the automatic sprinkler system watering the plants on the patio!  It is actually quite nice, green and lush and it feels cool sitting out here. 

Last week must have been mid-month outdoor maintenance day because there was a lot of activity with the weed whackers, lawn mowers and roof sweepers.  Yes, roof sweepers.  Some outfit shows up and starts sweeping dead leaves, etc. off of the roof - right down on top of me.  I moved inside for the duration!  Bernie just commented on the work ethic and the shabby equipment (brooms) that they had and wondered what the minimum wage was in Arizona.  As it turned out, it was on the news later on and apparently it went up and is now $8.05.  Wow. 

We went to a hockey game last Wednesday evening.  First we loaded the dogs in the car and drove to Gilbert to drop them off at Doggie Daycare.  On the way there we had to slow down for some road construction and a water issue.


Not a good use of the natural resources!

 



When we went back later on that night the issue seemed to be resolved!  Well at least their fire hydrants aren't covered in plastic bags and duct tape like some of them were in Coronation the last time I looked.

 

We dropped the dogs off and they seemed quite happy to stay there; well too bad if they weren't happy because I don't know what else we would do with them.  We programmed Betty and away we went.

 

Bernie wanted to shop for some new shoes so we went to a Sports Authority store at a mall we visited previously - Pavilions.  They had what he wanted but in the wrong colour.  I was excited that Boot Camp is going to start up again in Coronation so I shopped for some boot camp clothes!  I was happy with my purchases but he wanted to go to another Sports Authority to find his shoes in black.  So off we went to the Desert Ridge Shopping Mall or Plaza or whatever they called it.  It took quite a while to get there but we had lots of time.  He found his shoes in the right colour and he was good to go. 

 

By this time we thought we had better head out to the arena so off we went.  We had to take a right turn out of the shopping mall because no left turn was allowed.  Then we were supposed to do a U-Turn to head back the way we came and get on the freeway.  Well.......we decided that any U-Turn would do and we get behind a Penske truck who looked like he was doing the same thing.  Not.  There were two trucks ahead of them and one was stalled and the other was attaching a tow rope to it......So.....the Penske truck drives up and over the boulevard!  I wish I had the camera out for that one!  he toppled left and he toppled right and then he was upright - we thought he was going to tip over.  I'm glad he didn't since we would have missed the hockey game!  We had to get back into traffic, drive around the disabled truck, turn left into an empty lot, turn around and get back into traffic heading for the freeway.  We made it.

 

20 bucks later, for parking, we were walking around looking for a place to eat.  We settled on Johnny Rockets.  On Monday Nicholas and Pam brought us hamburgers from In and Out and on Wednesday we're eating hamburgers again!  They were fine - in fact Bernie had a chicken salad instead of hamburger.  I would have to say that the In and Out burgers reminded me of my teenage years when we would go to the Drive In at Fort Qu'Appelle, Sask. and stop at Brinkworth's for a burger after the show.  I can still taste that relish. 

 

Oh yeah, the hockey game.  There were only 11 thousand people there, but it was noisy.  The 50/50 was 12 thousand dollars - we didn't win.  I wore my Oilers jersey and we sat beside some Alberta boys.  We had fifth row seats and they weren't all that expensive.  The Trailer Park Boys were sitting in the row in front of us.  I'm not kidding.  Oh my god.  However, I do not have a picture of that either.  The game?  Well, the Oilers did not come to play that's for sure and they made the Coyotes look pretty good! 

 

 



 

 

 

I have been to more exciting games that's a fact. 

 

 

We left immediately following the game and it didn't take too long to get out of the parking lot and on our way.  Then it was on to Gilbert to get the dogs.  We got there about a quarter to eleven.  It was almost midnight before we got home.

 

I was completely tired out the next day.  Ever since we got here I have been getting up around 7 a.m. and by 7 p.m. I am ready for bed! 

 

On Friday we took a drive out to Fountain Hills and took the dogs to a dog park.  It was cloudy in the morning so nice for being outside. 

 

Duke and Bernie





 

They wouldn't go anywhere unless we walked around!
 

We stayed for about an hour and then headed out.  There is a huge fountain there that we were going to go and see but we missed the turn so we kept on going.  Fountain Hills - looks like a lovely and expensive place to live!


While we were out and about we decided to go to the football stadium and get tickets for an NFL game.  Well, we drove and drove and drove.  Betty took us on a looooong journey.  I honestly thought we were going to end up in L.A.  Finally we got there.  I waited in the car with the dogs and the air conditioning while Bernie went to the ticket office.

Once we got home we just stayed put until later on in the evening.  As usual it was a blistering hot day and the dogs just can't walk around in those temperatures. 

So now we have tickets to see an NFL game.  They are waaaaaay up in the nose bleed section somewhere and cost a hundred bucks each.  There is a new policy in the NFL this year that bans purses, backpacks, tote bags, .... well just about anything you would like to carry with you to a game.

 

 

 

 

Well you can see what I mean.  So now I guess I have to hunt for one of the approved bags! 

 

We are used to having the scans and the bag searches since it is a way of life when you go to any event anymore.  However, I think this is absolutely ridiculous and I doubt it will take less time to get through the lines.  The border security is less stringent than this.

 

Having said all this, there was a bank robbery in the shopping mall where we went on Wednesday.  One of the robbers was shot dead by a jewellery store employee whose business was next door to the bank.  OK.  I bet they didn't have clear plastic bags concealing their weapons.  Just saying.