Apricity West 4

January 12, 2024 - Friday 

Had fun line dancing. I invited our single lady friends and Roger & Lu to join us at The Wild West Saloon (formerly The Depot) on Sunday for my birthday, so Rich and I went to have some wings/cocktails and make a reservation for 8 folks. The wings are THE BEST that I have ever had - I got parmesan garlic and Rich, the sweet chili. They are messy as all get out, but very meaty and delicious. 

 

I finally got out my BeDazzler that I bought a month ago and got busy. I blinged up two pair of jeans pockets and two dance line t-shirts. The whole time I worked on them, I thought of Melissa M. and Pat C. as they are seasoned BeDazzlers from way back. I am practicing for when we design my denim vest. 

January 13, 2024 - Saturday

Just up the street 4 miles is a General Dollar Store and it so happens that there is a hot dog cart in the parking lot on Saturdays. The vendor is Mike, who we got our line dance t-shirts from last year. He still has the equipment in his workshop and takes orders from his Sadie's Hot Dawg cart. He also made t-shirts for the ukulele group last year, so I ordered more for the newbies, me included.

Mike is also a drummer - he has played at our jam before and will come again. After all of that discussion, we had a hot dog (Costco brand) and bought a block of his horseradish cheese. It was delicious.

 

Finally made it through the cold snap here! The sun was ablaze with no wind - a perfect day for a walk, but we sat out for a while and before you knew it, three of our neighbors (Heather, Lu, and Cindy) stopped to chew the fat which we enjoyed thoroughly. 

Rich grilled steaks for us to celebrate my birthday at home. Such a good guy💕

January 14, 2024 - Sunday

Cindy teaches a Beginner line dance class on Sunday at 2-3pm for wannabes to learn the basic steps/dances. Lu and I have been helping her out. Dee and Glenette have started learning so it’s a fun time.  

 

Heather, our next door neighbor, stopped over to chat. Her hat says Death Wish Coffee Company which is supposed to be the strongest coffee in this country. She started drinking it when she was a trucker to keep herself alert. Rich ordered some to check it out, even though he recently switched from coffee to Asian tea. 😳 We’ll see what happens next... 

After that, we had a wonderful birthday celebration at the Wild West Saloon with a great group of people. I had bragged so much about the wings - they were out of them. So pizza was the primary order.

January 15, 2024 - Monday Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Did the usual line dance class today - Dick and Jackie had their daughter and 14-year-old granddaughter here visiting, so they came to dance.The granddaughter takes dance classes so she was hopping all over the place. So cute. Makes me miss mine more...

 

Got a haircut at Hacienda Hair Salon in Wickenburg and Rich came in to wait for me. Lo and behold, in comes Lois from North Ranch and they start chatting about the good old days when Rich managed the park. The customer ahead of me was sitting there processing and she spoke up to say she too is in a North Ranch home. Then Marilyn from North Ranch came in, who is a long time North Rancher - small world for sure.  

 

When we got home, it was nice enough to sit outside and Regina stopped over to sit and chat.  

Cindy, at the end of her bike ride, stopped and Liz, who was out walking Captain, stopped by. Then Heather (and Bella) and Liz (and Captain) went off to the dog park. 

Watched my granddaughter Leanna’s game on streaming TV. It makes me so happy that they broadcast the home games. They won and she had a good game!

January 16, 2024 - Tuesday

Since Rich has been practicing his new ukulele, I convinced him to come to the HUG ukulele group practice today. I was amazed at how well he did just knowing a little more than a handful of chords. Couldn’t wait to go practice with Dot and Harvey this afternoon and show him off! It turns out, his instrument of choice was the harmonica which he played really well. Dot was teaching him how to bend notes. See the video in the body of this email. 

 

January 17, 2024 - Wednesday

Line dancing and lunch at the Elks today. It's getting real - we are leaving this wonderful park for Tucson in 2 weeks. Thankfully, we are looking forward to a great time there with sister Terri and Jim.

 

January 18, 2024 - Thursday

 Did yoga today followed by laundry. The afternoon jam was really good today. Guess who played the harmonica even though Dot (his partner in crime) wasn’t there? Ramon started practicing a half hour early and kept yelling out to Rich the key he was in so he could play along. They played 4 songs together before the jam started, so he yelled out again every turn he had. It was a proud moment to see him joining in. He has blossomed so much in just one week.

 

A few neighbors stopped by after the jam for a cocktail. Couldn’t get Cindy in the picture.

I have been working on an afghan for a while now - this is the status now. 

We had to accessorize Shadow’s stick shift…