February 2011

February opened with our return from Prescott after seeing Wyatt Earp perform at the Palace Saloon.  The next day I had a dentist appointment to take an impression and insert a temporary crown.  Molly had one of her regular cleanings.

Molly got her first lesson on her new serger and eventually learned how to thread it.  Her next lesson was two weeks later.  But during that lesson, she had trouble with one of the doors.  When she asked for help, the instructor came over and said that shouldn't be that way and commenced to pry on it until it broke.  Obviously, it was still under warranty and they sent it off to be fixed.  So no serger for the rest of the month.

Events at the park this month included (1) a Super Bowl Soup Supper, where the activity committee volunteers made three different soups out of the left-over meat from the welcome back party from last month, (2) a Talent Show, where residents performed in all kinds of ways from singing to playing instruments to comedy, (3) a five piece band called the Igor's Jazz Cowboys, including the lead bass fiddle player that used to be with the New Cristie Minstrels, they were very good and and funny.

The big trip this month included a World Span Bus Tour to Laughlin, Nevada for three days to see the Oak Ridge Boys at the Riverside Casino.  That is the first time we ever saw them in concert and they put on a great show.  And of course we bought one of their greatest hits CD's.  We met some nice people on the trip and especially at the concert.  Friends Bud and Lisa Root were in their RV just down river at Needles so when we told them we were going to be in Laughlin at the Edgewater, they decided to come up and spend the night too.  We went out to dinner at the Prime Rib Room at the Riverside and had breakfast the next morning.  We had a great reunion and caught up on recent activities.

Other concerts or shows this month included (1) The Sound of Music at the Broadway Palms Theater, (2) Menopause, the Musical at the Mesa Art Center, and (3) The Texas Tenors at the Mesa Regal RV Park. 



Menopause actors

I knew Molly wanted to see "Menopause, the Musical" so I went on-line and got "best available" tickets.  Little did I know that I was going to be one of only a half dozen males in the entire theater, and that the best available tickets were front row seats.  I knew I was going be a target for the evening when all the women started looking in my direction and smiling, some even saying how brave I was coming to this show.  During the show the performers were always looking down at me and during a solo, one of the actors (the ex-showgirl, the other characters are a business women, house-wife, and a hippy) came over to the edge of the stage in front of me and started to sing just to me.  Now keep in mind the comedy aspect of this show is to put new lyrics (menopause, change of life, women oriented lyrics) to some great old sixties and seventies songs.  Well, the song she was singing to me was "We're going to have a heat wave".......but she had changed it to "I'm having a hot flash".  She came over to me, sat on my lap, stroked my beard, felt my forehead and finished by saying, she wasn't the only one having a hot flash!  She also finished by motioning to me, finger to ear and mouth, and mouthing the words "Call Me!".  I grabbed the program and pretended I was writing her phone number down.  The audience burst out laughing even more than they were.  On the way out after the show, I heard and saw a lot of the women pointing and saying "There he goes!"  Needless to say, I had a great time!!!



SNJ 25 Fold-Wing

B-17 Sentimental Journey

After five years living here in the Apache Wells RV Park, we finally decided to go across the street and visit the Commemorative Air Force Aviation Museum at Falcon Field.  Our new neighbor, who had never been here before, went last week and it was just too embarrassing to let this unique attraction slip any further past us.  It was a very good museum with actively flying World War II planes that you can ride in if that is a priority $$$.  We toured the hangers and watched one of the SNJ fold-wing fighters take off.  We climbed through the B-17 Flying Fortress Sentimental Journey, and had a nice conversation with one of the ex-military volunteers.  We were made aware of two pieces of trivia.  One was about the special pin-up of Betty Grable that was so popular during the war and that graces Sentimental Journey.  It turns out that the reason she had her back to the camera, looking over her shoulder, was that she was pregnant at the time, beginning to show, and didn't want it on camera.....who knew!  The other piece of local trivia, for us anyway, was the upper gun turret on the Sentimental Journey was off of the plane at The Bomber service station in Milwaukie, Oregon.  The museum had made a special deal, since that was the only one they could find, that they would swap the turret for some volunteer work on other parts of The Bomber.  I visited The Bomber on a field trip in the second grade (1951), and it is a well know landmark in Milwaukie.

We also decided we needed to get the RV out for a run this month.  We saw an advertisement for a short train ride in Globe, AZ, so we decided to take the RV up to the Apache Gold Casino in Globe the day before, take the train ride the next day, and come back the following day.  Because of friends Pat and Susan Canniff were coming by to visit for a few days and a fund-raiser for a good friend here in the park, we decided to make it just an over-night trip.  As we pulled out of the station and got about a 1/4 mile down the track, they lost power.  They got it started again, but decided to return to the station while it was still running.  Drinks, therefore, were on the house (train), and we could either get our money back or reschedule to another date.  We will return in a couple weeks to finish the trip.