Windy Sunday and that's not an April Fool's Joke!

We just thought we were going to leave this am ..... the wind decided we needed to stay another day to let it pass through...... We have been busy the past few days getting the rig back in order and in "traveling mode"....we are both anxious to head out.

The past few weeks have been a blur of activity around our house and the park.... we have attended at least 1 pot luck every week this month and other activities at the park also. It is always hard to leave our friends this time of year but we know we will see them in the fall....

Our last day of working was on Thursday...it felt just like the end of school... cleaning the office and putting things back in order to open next fall!

Friday, March 23rd we had our carpets cleaned and then immediately left to go to the Phoenix International Raceway for the Good Sam International Rally held there. We met Charlotte and Andy and spent the day with them. It was wonderful to see them again.

Monday, March 26th, they came here from the rally and spent 3 days with us here at the park.. along with their friends from Colorado Springs. They left Thursday to go across Phoenix to Mesa to spend some time with Wanda. Monday evening though we had a great fish fry with them and also Darrin joined us... It was a wonderful evening!

Friday of this past week the park or the Management hosted a End of Season Hoe-Down meal and dance. Bill and I volunteered to work and I worked from 9-about 9:30 that night...... they served salad, baked potato, and a 7 oz. steak for $3.00 per person! We served over 600 people in 1 hour!!! It was a gorgeous night and we had very few complaints! What a great way to end our season! The western decorations were so cute and everyone had a great time!

Yesterday we spent the day around here and had a great visit from Darrin picking up the golf cart he lends us each year.... that is such a lifesaver for us....we really appreciate that Darrin!

After deciding yesterday that the wind may be too much we have spent the day finishing up putting the rig back in order and getting things ready to head out . We had a great dinner with Bob, Steve and Betty and Denny and Mary K. We are really going to miss them this summer but the great thing is we will be working again with Steve and Betty. Bob is traveling with us back to Topeka. He decided this am to go ahead and leave and drive to Flagstaff and spend the night...so we will hook up with him Monday am and then head together to Albuerqueque.

So that is where we are in our little world of Schmitzdom! We have had a great winter and are now ready to head home to the kids..... can't wait to get my hugs from my 3 little ones and the 4 big ones! Looking forward to being all together again....

Stay tuned and see what happens next time!

BJ

Its been a long time since Joyce has wrote on her blog, so I will see what I can do with it.

This winter has been a busy 6 months. It is winding down to having just 3 weeks to go until we hit the road.

We will head back to Kansas, can't wait to see the kids and their families.

We will be there for around 6 weeks, then head back up to the Black Hills, for the summer. We really like that area. We also like working at Crazy Horse. If you are ever in the area make sure you stop by Crazy Horse. It is very impressive.

Joyce has been through a time going to the Dr's. She had her heart taken out and examined very good. LOL. By the way she does have a heart. Now she get to work and pay for all of the bills. LOL

Good morning! As usual I get to finish what Bill starts! :)

We have had a very busy past few months and it seemed we were constantly on the go.....

friends from Kansas were here and we did a lot of on the go stuff!

But mid February came along and I woke up early one morning with back aches, throwing up and feeling very dizzy and sweating a lot! So an ambulance ride I took to the hospital..... thinking it was a heart attack.... all tests came back normal and so after spending the night in the hospital I was finally released to go home.... with appt.'s for dr. and a stress test to be taken. So a week ago I took the stress test and went back last Wed. for the test results. Dr. Petein, who we both really liked and felt very comfortable with, told us that I had a possible blockage and he wanted to do a heart cath. We had yesterday open and so did he..... so here are the happy results ...I have a heart and it is functioning wonderful! They found out that the main LAD-don't ask me what that stands for--I don't remember--- on the right is supposed to be large and mine was small...the left one is supposed to be small and mine is large...something I was born with and is not causing any problems so not to worry about..... I guess after this episode I have found out that I am getting older and my little aches and pains that I used to rationalize away I need to be careful..... but I am doing great and ready to finish enjoying this wonderful weather and our friends here at Pueblo El Mirage!

We did not get to the Grand Canyon or Lake Havasu or Williams or Tuscon this year but with the price of fuel we are trying to conserve all the spending we can to get home! And now the medical bills are flowing in fast! At least for the rest of the year I am free and clear to go to a dr.haha!!

We had some sad excitement across the street from us on Thursday am.... we both were working but the motorhome across the street caught fire and burned! They both and their little dog were out of the MH at the time so that was the only good thing.... "stuff" can be replaced..... with the quick thinking of him and another retired firefighter no propane blew to cause unmentionable damage around..... So sad.... they do have a home in Washington and are not like us -fulltiming-.... We are just glad they were not hurt.....

Our time here is really winding down fast and our plans are to leave on April 1st and head to Kansas..... we can not wait to see the kids ....

So that about catches us up for now..... stay tuned..

Until next time!

BJ

Lazy days and Monday

Good morning!

We have had a few lazy days the past few days..... haven't done much of anything except sit in our chairs and watch tv...mainly football.....

The wind has been blowing some so it isn't as nice to sit outside as is was last week..... the weather has been gorgeous here with temp's in the 70's all week...

We are back to another week for us.... Bill is working today and I am heading to the sewing room for the day..... I have some placemats to work on and I got some other UFO's --unfinished objects--- to work on.... that is my goal this year to finish some things I have started even back in 2005!

So have a great day and we will too!

Until next time!
BJ

Happy New Year !!!

Well, the new year has begun and I will try to ....ok.... my ONE and ONLY resolution for the new year..... try to do more daily posts!

We are in El Mirage, Az. for the winter and working at Pueblo El Mirage where we have worked the past 3 of 4 winters. We really love this park and the friends we have met and became close to..... the weather has been great.... who can complain about 80 degree weather in December and January?

Anyway to go back abit...... we finished our contract at Crazy Horse in South Dakota mid-September and headed home to Kansas....we stayed in Topeka a month ....going to dr's. and getting our appt's all accommplished. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the grandson's football games and following them around as much as we could and also watching them when we were called. Our time with the kids is special and sometimes very short so we spend as much time with them as we can.
But Mid-October came quickly and so we left to go to a Newmar camping rally in Carthage, Missouri. Carthage is about 7 miles from Joplin and we were able to go see the horrible horrible devastation from the May tornado that went through Joplin. Many building's not finished and debris still hanging and they are so busy trying to get rebuilt. We have never seen anything like that before in our lives not even the tornado that came through Stockton in June 2005.... wow....

We left with our friends, Bob and Jackie, on Sunday am and headed west to our winter home! We arrived Tuesday afternoon but not without having to spend an afternoon and night in Albuerqueque due to the high winds..... they were crazy and we got off the road around noon, Monday. We made it into Phoenix the next afternoon with gorgeous weather and just in time as a storm came through here the next day.....


Our washing machine and microwave were on the blink a month ago and our extended warranty stepped in and checked the microwave out and said it was ok..... I have an options button on my microwave that allows me to turn off the "temp." kickdown I guess for whatever that might be.... instead of cooking food at 350 when I set the temp it would cook it at a microwave temp of 325.... no wonder our food wasn't cooking correctly! So I turned that off and it seems to be doing much better...like a normal oven.... the washer had a transmission go out and they brought us a new washer which is sooo quiet we can hardly hear running compared to the other one which sounded like a jet taking off.....

I am working 2 days a week on Tuesday and Thursday's in the activity office selling tickets to events in the park and taking care of other things that come up. Bill is working 4 days a week and enjoying spending time working..... our work is not hard and we love it!

We were glad to see Megan and Jeff who flew Dec. 23rd to Las Vegas. They and Jeff's folks then came down to Phoenix on Saturday, Dec. 24th..... Jeff's mom has an aunt and uncle that live here so they stayed with them and Megan and Jeff stayed with us for 2 nights....it was a wonderful time and we loved having them here for a short time. They (the 4 of them ) left early Monday am to go back to Vegas. Megan and Jeff flew home Wed.

We will be here until the end of March then travel North to Topeka for a month or so as we will be going back to working at Crazy Horse for the summer at our same jobs we had last summer.

We are planning a trip to Mexico soon so we can get our prescriptions filled for the year and also maybe see about new glasses.... it is about a 3 hr. one way trip there and I am not looking forward to that trip so it will be a long day....

I didn't send a Christmas email or a cards out this year..... I am getting lazy about that...... so maybe this will jumpstart a new year and new adventures of writing again for 2012!

So guess I had lots to catch you up on and my day is slipping away...it is Monday and that is sewing day! I'm off to the sewing room for the day!....lots of fun.... laughter and friendship happening there!

So have a great Monday and a super 2012!
Until next time!
B & J

The calm after Sturgis rally

Good morning!

It was a very busy week last week at Crazy Horse and the surrounding area with lots and lots of motorcycle bikers in the area. Business at Crazy Horse was very busy ....we served an all you can eat Native American Taco Bar all week last week..... saw lots of bikers and not many families as usual. Then Saturday like a light switch...the bikers trickled down to a few and more families showed up!

Everyone had told us about seeing all kinds of people and "things" during Sturgis week.... well, somehow one gal got through the gates with only a pr. of wild jeans on and a topless but bodypainted top! We still couldn't understand how she even got to be seated in the restaurant..... they decided to seat her and not make a huge fuss to create more of a distraction. We were filled with bikers besides. She had a full body paint in front and on the right shoulder. How do I know this? I was out cleaning the taco bar and looked up and there she was ..... across the bar from me!
Someone told us that she had had that painted Sunday and that was Wednesday....now you do the calculation..... no bath for 4 days! Yuck!!!! She was posing for lots of pictures outside as she made her way out to the parking lot I'm told......
That morning, Bill had asked me to bring the camera up to him and he would get it on his break which was later than this all happened...of course I had the camera in my purse and he didn't get a picture! haha!!!!

Yesterday our day was very slow and not many at Crazy Horse at all.... but we have been told lots of tour buses this time of year so that will pick our business.

Our grandson's begin school tomorrow which seems pretty early for us...... their hectic summer schedule will slow down some now but fall sports will keep them busy and they have also purchased a new to them camper so we are looking forward to spending time with them camping sometime while we are "home"......
They are so excited about it.

So that about does it for now....
Until next time!
BJ

We are still alive and well in South Dakota!

Good morning!

We are still alive and well and working fast and furious here at Crazy Horse....our days seem to slip by...... I know it has been along time since I have written as usual that is my only excuse!

We had a busy July with Megan and Jeff coming over the 4th of July weekend...she had an epidural due to a herniated disc on Friday am before they left. They (the dr.) punctured the spinal column and fluid leaked...to make a longer story short she was sick and didn't feel good the whole weekend they were here. We felt so bad for her as she couldn't do anything but lay on the couch and drink caffenated drinks to help the headaches. They left on Monday am very early, instead of Tuesday as planned, and arrived home late Monday evening. She had what is called a "blood patch" on Tuesday and had felt great since. A blood patch is a vial of her own blood was injected in the puncture site and it sealed the puncture hole. Needless to say she will not be having these shots again. Maybe next year they will be able to come up and we can do the sightseeing thing then.

The week of July 12th to July 17th our grandson had the opportunity to play in the Little League World Series AA in Omaha....we had planned on going to watch him play the last few days but there were only 5 teams that showed up. So our plans were changed and we did not go but cheered them on from Custer! They got second in the tourneyment but were dissappointed that there were only 5 teams to play.

The following week we had 5 couples from our Newmar Kansas club join us! We had a great time with them when we could spend time with them. We were able to see them almost daily at some point or another and was able to tell them places to go and see.... of course the days passed by quickly and the first part of August they headed back to Kansas in the heat again!

Last Friday, Betty and Steve and Bill and I went to Hill City to ride the 1880 train from Hill City to Keystone, SD. It was a beautiful day and a nice relaxing ride. When we arrived in Keystone we walked around town....the whole block of it! and saw a huge number of motorcycles and bikers! This week is Sturgis week and they have arrived! We sat on a bench for over and hour at Keystone and people/biked watched! All sizes, colors and kinds of bikes and people to match!

As a said,....this week is Sturgis week in this area and we are very very busy at the Crazy Horse with visiting bikers and others. They have marked off the 2 parking areas for bikes and they are full.... also this week they have taken down the regular salad bar and replaced it daily with a all you can eat taco bar. It is a change but we are constantly replacing and filling the taco bar.

So that in a nutshell is what is happening in our life..... next week my sister and brother-in-law will be arriving on Friday for a week so we look forward to that!

The temp's have been great....warming up nicely in the day and cool at night..... the past couple of days we have had showers or small thunderstorms and cool cool nights....last night I even ran the furnace! It was 49 when I got up this am! Is fall in the air? It is to warm up later this week.... just a teaser I guess!

Well, time for work...... I am starting late shift again this week!

Until next time!
BJ

Sunny day in the Black Hills

Good morning!

The sun is shining and it is to be warm today. We both work late today ....I begin at 11 and Bill starts at noon. We both will be getting off around 9 tonite. I begin my shift for the next week at 11AM to closing or around 9PM. Long days and I can't for the life of me seem to sleep past 6:45 in the morning! Rats!

We have had late afternoon thunderstorms the past couple of days. The skies sure get dark looking around here when the storms move through the mountains.
The night before last I am told we had a double rainbow...we saw part of one but not the double. Last night I saw one leg of a rainbow also..... they were so bright and clear.

Not much going on and we have been busy working and not doing much else.... maybe on Friday life will be more exciting for us! haha!!! We are both off work for 2 days!

Until next time!
BJ