Concert

Last night we went to see The Lettermen. This group from the '60s performed with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Our seats are in the 2nd row so we were up close and personal. We both shook hands with The Lettermen's founder, Tony Butala.

Scenic Ride

On MLK day we along with my friend Artie took a 2 hour plane ride out of Buckeye (just west of Phoenix). We flew over the Phoenix area, saw the University of Phoenix' Stadium (home of our AZ Cardinals), and then up through the Mogollon Rim and over Meteor Crater. You may recall we went to the Crater back in December -- too windy to even go out and see anything. So flying over it was AWESOME!!! You really get the idea of how large the "hole" is and its impact. Afterwards we flew towards Flagstaff, Mormon Lake, and then over to my favorite place in Arizona, Sedona. It was so wonderful to see the Red Rocks and their unique shapes from the air. Tim surprised me as he made arrangements for us to land in Sedona and we had lunch at the airport. (Dangerous thing as I might get used to being spoiled with this lifestyle.) After lunch we then we went south over Lake Pleasant and then back to Buckeye.

Our plane was a Cessna Skywagon 185, a 4 passenger plane. Our runway out of Buckeye was the pilot's gravel driveway. Landing on the asphalt field on the Sedona's mesa can be a challenge since there are often wind gusts. The takeoffs/landings were very smooth.

Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was Tim's birthday and he wanted to celebrate "his day" with a dinner party. There were 13 people for dinner; cozy dinning room environment. My friend, Artie, made the cake. Does the cake look familiar?

Weather

I understand that many of you are suffering bitterly cold weather. Thanks Walt for the temp reading in North Dakota.

I guess I should not complain any longer about our 30 degree evenings. Today's high was almost a record -- 74 degrees. Our evenings are getting "cooler" with it in the 30s. The sun sure is warming us up quickly during the day. For the rest of our friends in the Midwest, remember we have frequent flights from ND to Phoenix. So when you are ready to "thaw out" we have an extra room! Not to "rub it in" but I thought you might like to see how our temperature really is. I took this picture just this evening of our weather station.

This weekend is the Fort Lowell Shootout (http://www.fortlowellshootout.com). For those who have visited us, you may recall that the Fort Lowell Park is just a few blocks from us. This year there are almost 300 socceer teams.

We're having a dinner party to celebrate Tim's birthday on Saturday. On Monday we are taking a 2 hour airplane ride out of the Phoenix area to northern Arizona (it's a ride that we won in the University of Arizona's College of Agriculture event). We should have something to write about these events later in the week.

Welcome 2009

This entry is really dedicated to my sister. We were thinking of you today as we took down all the Christmas decorations that she (and I) put up after Thanksgiving. I don't mind putting up the decorations; not a big fan of having to take them down. I guess we shouldn't complain too much since it was 70 degrees today. We also took the opportunity to do trim the brushes in the front yard and then a couple of brushes in the back yard. (We had a couple of nights of hard freeze.)