A day off

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:03 am

It was cold when we got up this morning. It's been a strange fall to say the least. It was warmer than normal and I can say that we haven't had frost. At least none that I have seen and we haven't had to scrape the truck windows any morning. We hadn't had any rain since August. It was a very dry year here. It started raining here Thursday night and rained until Saturday night. The timing wasn't the greatest because a couple of Christmas parades had to be postponed or canceled. But it was a nice steady rain for the most part and there were no gully washers that ran off into the washes. We must have had a couple of inches going by what I dumped out of containers in the yard. There was a bit of wind up the hill yesterday but it didn't do too much major damage. A few signs or fences down.
But with the wind and rain it felt colder than normal. We just aren't used to it yet. It was 30 degs. That was enough for that extra large mulberry tree in the front yard to start dumping it's leaves. They must be a foot or more deep in places. I'll have to go clean them off of the walkways tomorrow. We had some tea and a bagel while we were deciding what to do with this day off. Friday when I had a day off I didn't feel great so we didn't do anything. It was rainy and dreary that day. Today, the sun was shining and it promised to get warmer. We decided not to wait for it to get warmer here. We got into the truck and headed down the hill to Phoenix to enjoy their warmth. It wasn't going to be hot there but it was going to be warmer than here.
The traffic wasn't bad but I'm not fond of freeway driving so I turned off onto New River Road forgetting the washes that flood during rains. There wasn't much traffic on that road so I worried about it after I saw a sign that said, "road flooded." But, the water had gone down and the road was just wet, not flooded. I made a wrong turn and we ended up back at the freeway, just closer to Phoenix. I'm good at making wrong turns because I made another one off the 101 freeway. But, this one took us just where we wanted to be without all the hassle of trying to make a left turn off of Bell Road. Major streets in Phoenix are usually six lanes wide with turn lanes at stop lights. We stopped at Trader Joe's for a few things. We like to buy their frozen fish and Chance likes their peanut butter biscuits. There was a small discount store next to it so we went and bought a few things there. Since Trader Joes's is on the outer circle of Arrowhead Mall we decided to go there for lunch at the Mile Hi-Deli. That was a very wrong decision. This is one giant mall and there were NO parking spaces. We'd have been better off staying in the parking lot at Trader Joe's and walking the two or three blocks to the stores. We left and went back out onto Bell Road and went a couple of miles east and stopped at a Lonestar Steak House for lunch. It was very good. We haven't been to a steak house in a long time. After we left there we went on across town and stopped at the Sunflower Organic store. I like to shop there and I bought some bulk fructose and some golden raisins and a lot of fresh vegetables. They have really good kale, swiss chard and I bought some more leeks. Maybe I will get my leek and potato pie made. After we left there we ran into some traffic and it was getting on toward evening and we decided to start for home so we could get up the hill before dark. It's about 3,500 ft higher in altitude. I'm not fond of that twisty ride up the hill. But, for once, we came right up. There was very little traffic and we only passed two large trucks and they were in the right lane where they are supposed to drive. At the very top a few cars going very fast pushed past us but for the most part drivers were mostly courteous today. We got home shortly after 5:30. After a cup of tea and a rest I made salmon and rice for supper. Chance enjoyed her share. dr made a fire and warmed the house. He's playing with Chance now or trying to. She is trying to ignore us because we disappeared for the day. She likes us to stay home where she can keep an eye on us.
Our neighbor's put up Christmas lights today so maybe tomorrow I will drag out ours. We really do have to do our today's chores tomorrow. This includes packing up some things and moving bears so we can fit in a little bear tree and our regular size tree. It isn't essential that we have a little bear tree but we've always had one for the last 25 years so it wouldn't feel like Christmas without it. As for Christmas shopping we have several things in mind for Dan and company and the others who live a great distance will get gift cards to the book store. They seem to like them. I ask if they were tired of them and they said, "books are good." Andy said the boys get too many toys anyway. Of course, Fintin isn't old enough for books yet but maybe they could buy them and save them for when he is older.
I had an email from Wannabe. She's thinking of coming out for a couple of months this winter instead of a couple of weeks. I think that would be great. I will save all my leave hours to take some time off then. Tom says he probably won't be able to come over for the 24 hour race this year because they had a lottery to limit the number of runners and his number wasn't drawn. He is on a waiting list but he isn't too hopeful of getting called.
We had a "good" day off and did something we wanted to do instead of something we had to do. Sometimes you have to use your day off for a "day off."

dooley

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glendann wrote on Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:42 am:

I'm glad ya'll enjoyed your day off.I know you two had so much fun out.I'm sorry Chance gets upset as Oreo does too.

wannabe wrote on Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:27 pm:

Gee, Dooley, do you think the calendar would miss a few pages and it would be March 1st instead of Jan. 1st? You really made a lot of stops while you were in Phoenix but you need a GPS to help you get around in town. Of course I probably couldn't work one of those either. Wannabe