Dilemmas
So this morning I had 2 dilemmas to process: 1. Should I go to Stitch and xitch here at the park and have some dedicated time to work on my cross stitch and 2. Should I sit outside and work on my blog or sit inside. So answer to #1 was that I decided to stay here instead and update my blog. While I was walking Max this morning I had so many words trying to get out of my head, I swear they were spilling out my ears. And I was walking I am sure neighbors were wondering whom I was talking to as I was thinking out loud what I had to update. I always told my kids that I like to talk to myself because at least then I know someone is listening. And my second, I decided to sit outside even though it is a little chilly in the shade right now, but the sun is moving so I am patient and can stand the chilliness right now….for now….LOL
WWAD
(What would Ashley Do) I have written before about my friend Ashley, from Memphis. She is really a down to earth southern lady, but taught me a phrase that is probably not considered lady like – “Bless Her Heart”. It is the southern woman’s phrase that is not nice, but sounds so nice, which I have described before. So last week we decided to go up to Jerome to try the restaurant that is in the Grand Hotel, called Asylum. Apparently it was a state hospital back in the 1926 era. As most of the buildings in Jerome, it is supposedly haunted and it actually considered the most haunted building in Arizona!
You can see that grand building from our driveway in this picture.
And these are some views from the restaurant windows.
So of course I have digressed from my original point of WWAD. 🙂 You would be disappointed if I didn’t digress at least once in a blog!! The food at the restaurant was very good and as you can see the views are amazing. The server, however, was completely different. I know being a server can be difficult at times, we all have our bad days, and I am usually very tolerant of bad service to the point where the majority at the table may agree that the server was horrible, but I still want to give them the benefit of the doubt. But in this case there was not even a inkling of room for that!! She was just plain horrible, which kind of put a damper on the likable level of the restaurant — kind of put a sour taste in our mouths! 🙂 So why the WWAD? Towards the end of our meal, and having put up with what I would say was not nice service I sat trying to think how could I politely say to her “Bless Your Heart” that would seem natural and to a non-Southern a wonderful compliment. I kept thinking, as my time to be able to utter this, how would Ashley handle this…how would she add it to a sentence that seemed natural. How would she add her great southern smile to make it even to another level of sarcastic that the server did not really comprehend. Well the end result was that I chickened out and could never muster up the nerve to say it — think I need more Southern training!!
Disaster Averted
Last night we had some friends over, LaVaun and Robert, for supper. We met them last year at Verde River RV Park and have kept in touch somewhat. LaVaun also said she had a little house warming present for me — she is a fantastic embroider and I love the colors in this!!
I was doing a fairly simple meal, with ribs in the crockpot and made from scratch Au Gratin cheesy potatoes. I got all of the ingredients in my small crock pot for the potatoes, actually using a grader to make the slices really thin, which was really slick! I went to do some other things around the house and about an hour later came back and realized I had not plugged the crock pot in!! Not to worry I still had plenty of time!! So I plugged it in and went on my way. Came back about an hour later to stir it and realized that sitting in the crockpot without cooking turned the potatoes BLACK!!
Now it was about 2:30 and our guests were scheduled to arrive about 4. But disaster was averted as our local Dollar General and box potatoes and it all turned out fine! Phew!! LOL The look on my face when I saw the potatoes were black was priceless I am sure!!
Sedona
On Monday we took Max to get groomed. It never grows old to look at the scenary as we enter Sedona.
After we dropped off Max, we went to breakfast at Mesa Grill which is at the Sedona airport so up at the top of one of the many hills. It was very good, a little pricey, but great sights up there and fun watching the planes take off and land.
If you look closely at the tail on that little plane parked, you will see it says UND!! I thought wow that is amazing that they came from North Dakota. The pilots walked from the plane to the restaurant so I decided to go and ask them about coming all the way from ND — you knew they were not natives since as soon as they got out of the plane they were taking pictures and videos like true tourists! Turns out UND has a satallite campus in Phoenix and that is where they had flown from. It was an instructor and a student working on their instrument training. He laughed when I asked if they could have flown from ND and he said not without probably 3-4 stops on the way to fuel.
Contrails
Once thing we have really noticed here in northern AZ is that there are so many contrails in the sky — usually in the early morning and early evening. I am sure there is some atmospheric explanation for it, but they really are very fascinated to see!
More On the Road Adventures
I will finish off this blog with a couple of more road adventures. When we left Minnesota and traveling through Iowa, we figured we were seeing the last of snow on the highway. Certainly we would see snow once we got to Flagstaff up on the Snowbowl, but we were quite surprised when we were outside of Albuqueque and there was suddenly a good amount of snow on the ground. It was actually dark outside and we were nearing the end of our 705 mile driving day, so we could not see what the terrian was like that we were driving through. I looked at the GPS and noticed we were up over 7000 feet, which then made complete sense!!
Couple more observations: when you get on the Kansas turnpike make sure you have ample gas in your vehicle and that you have made your pit stops as needed!! It can be a very long time between available gas stations. When we stopped in Oklahoma the clerk at the gas station said as we went out “Y’all come back now y’hear?” It just made me chuckle a little.
Live PD — but our most “interesting” adventure was on that Kansas Turnpike. It was 3 lanes and I was driving at the time. I had just got in the middle lane and all of a sudden a very fast car whizzed by me on my right side. I mean like shake the truck fast!! And I noticed that it was a Challenger, and also saw the words “State Patrol” with its reflective illumination. I thought oh boy someone is in trouble. It was hilly in this area, but I could see the patrol car in front of me by its distinctive tail lights — no lights or sirens just following a car in the left lane. All of a sudden I looked in my rear view mirror and another car was coming up behind me at full speed – no lights or siren – and whizzed around me seeming to miss our rear bumper by inches. Now let me digress a little….I am probably a mild reality show junkie! 🙂 And I do love Live PD especially when they are on a high speed chase! (By the way, if you want to see a “train wreck” and don’t want to go near any Amtrak tracks, just watch 90 Day Fiancee – that is always a train wreck waiting to happen!! Side track (LOL) here)
So now there are 2 and then 3 and 4 cop cars joining in on this pursuit and now they were full lights and sirens!! They were chasing a really nice red cadillac!! And just like on TV, they did a pit maneuver (only know that because I am Live PD certified…) and crashed that red caddie in the retaining wall. I could only imagine what happened next as the police pulled their guns on the driver, yelling at him to get down on the ground — at least that is what I imagined, but opened the driver side window a little late to hear the words. Needless to say, traffic was stopped for a while as this drama unfolded right in front of it. I actually saw a life police chase!!! 🙂 And it was kind of like you see on TV.
That is enough excitement for today. Hope you are all doing good. Heard Minnesota is potentially in for some big snow this weekend — shovels at the ready!!
TIFN
I don’t think I have any little boy pictures to share today…oh wait…yes I do! 🙂
Jaxen at Dave and Buster’s — wishing he were a little older to play the shoot big boy hopes!
Oh and did anyone else feel this way after the Vikings game? (Thanks, Jason for the graphic)
Dandy Ventures 