Still Having Problems Posting

I can't believe I've been unable to post from Open Live Writer to Blogger for the past several days. So here goes another frustrating effort to copy and paste into Blogger to publish directly.

December 30 -
Our day started off a little slow because Don had a nosebleed during the night and didn’t get much sleep. Due to naps and other activities, he and Dennis kept missing each other during the day. We finally got everyone together for happy hour and Mexican dinner at our place. Ed & Sandy Kruty are here now, so we had multiple conversations going almost non-stop during the evening. Unlike the previous day, nobody got out the Fireball, so we only had beer and other relatively tame drinks.





The idea for this meal started with Sandy posting on Facebook a couple of weeks ago that she was making tamales. When I commented, she said she was bringing them with her to Tucson! She suggested we have a Mexican dinner and I said I’d make chicken enchilada casserole. Carol brought refried beans and Spanish rice, and we had a feast!

Gigi became good friends with both Sandy and Carol, then wound up in my lap. There’s never enough attention for her!







Dennis got ahold of the camera and took some that I can’t publish, but this one of Don turned out pretty good!



Don and I recently replaced a Kidde smoke detector in our bedroom with a 2-in-1 smoke & fire alarm from Universal Security Instruments, Inc. Imagine not only a battery that lasts for 10 years, but a detector that can tell the difference in cooking and real fire! It claims to “virtually eliminate nuisance alarms” in the kitchen. This will be a boon to Gigi as her ears really hurt whenever the alarm goes off. It’s happened a few times lately due to us forgetting to turn on a vent/fan when cooking, and she always jumps in my lap and cries! Poor baby! When the old detector started throwing false alarms with no smoke or cooking going on, we decided it was time for a replacement. We found this one at the base exchange, and I’m sure they’re available from other stores.

(Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate this pic.)



So now we have two of these detectors, one in the bedroom and one above the driver’s seat. So far, so good – no alarms from cooking.

We’re looking forward to a nice evening with our group, plus Susie & Denny Orr are arriving today. We’ll likely ring in the New Year early because none of us like to stay awake until midnight. Wherever you are, we wish you a sane, safe and happy New Year!



January 2 Update -
We continued to enjoy the company of Dennis & Carol, Ed & Sandy, Denny & Susie and rang in the New Year. They all departed this morning - sad to say goodbye but we look forward to getting together again in Quartzsite later this month. For more pictures and reports, go to Dennis' blog at http://rvdrivingschool.blogspot.com/

Another Blogging Problem

I've been trying all day to publish a new post. I'm getting "Google.api.exception."

This is frustrating!

Enjoying Company

Despite the storms they ran into, Dennis & Carol Hill drove from Livingston, TX to Tucson, AZ, a little over 1100 miles, in 3 days, arriving yesterday and snagging one of the last sites in the Davis-Monthan AFB FamCamp. To see more about their travel challenges, go to Dennis’ blog and read the last few days’ entries. If I had seen some of the accidents they saw, I think I would have gotten off the road fast. Here’s just one of them!

We have enjoyed visiting and getting caught up with them. Our conversations have been so interesting and dinners out so much fun, I haven’t taken many pictures. But here are a few with Gigi (of course!).

Gigi took to Carol right away, but I didn’t think to get the camera ready until she had moved over to Dennis’ lap. Just granting equal time to both her new friends.

Today Gigi and I visited Carol and Rainbow, and Gigi took the opportunity to get to know Carol better. She was also very interested in what was in her breakfast bowl. Rainbow didn’t quite know what to think, and she and Gigi met nose-to-nose on the floor a couple of times. They just might become buddies before too long.

Notice Carol’s boot? She’s still recovering from a break and sprain (gotta be careful of those wet leaves on wooden steps) and walking very well for short distances, but it’s best to keep her foot elevated as much as possible. No line dancing for awhile yet.

Last night we went to Poco & Mom’s Cantina, which is quickly becoming a favorite Mexican restaurant for us, and tonight we returned to U-Like, a favorite Chinese buffet.

Tomorrow we’ll be joined by Ed & Sandy Kruty and we’ll all enjoy celebrating New Year’s together. We’re sorry that Denny & Susie won’t be able to come as planned, due to some knee complications that Susie has encountered. But we’ll look forward to seeing them in Quartzsite next month.

I skipped over reporting about our Christmas, which Don and I spent just with each other. He outdid his previous excellent record on cooking a prime rib, which turned out perfect and wonderfully flavored with lots of garlic and herbs.

The garlic extended to mashed redskin potatoes, plus we had steamed asparagus and au jus, with straight (hot) horseradish for me and we cut his with a little blue cheese dressing. A super feast!

I’ll try to keep a camera handy and take more pictures during the next few days. In the meantime, we wish all our friends and family a safe and sane New Year’s celebration. Please take extra care if you’re in the path of the winter storms and stay off the roads if it’s stormy where you are.