Our first snow (in AZ)

Around 10 AM Saturday morning Jonathan, myself and Jackson loaded into the truck and headed North to the Mogollon Rim. Departing Phoenix the sky was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the 60s. An excellent day for a road trip. As we drove Jackson napped, the temperature dipped and the cloud coverage increased. No worries, it would still be a lovely trip. Turning off in Camp Verde we continued our climb in elevation and starting driving through thickening fog patches.   Not too long after we started noticing sparse patches of snow, our first snow sighting in AZ!

 

The closer we got to the Rim turn off, the thicker the fog coverage and the higher the snow level. Perhaps this wasn't going to turn out as we hopped. We had already traveled a good hour and a half, so there was no use turning back now. Upon reaching the foggy, snow covered, off-road turn off to the rim we decided enough was enough. As we got out of the car to touch the snow like first time tourists I noticed that it was starting to sleet. The combo of semi slushy snow, sleet, thickening fog, and a relatively light truck encouraged me to keep our stop relatively short.

Jackson didn't quite know what to make of the cold substance below his feet, but put up with our mandatory photos quite well. In one picture he is looking particularly pathetic, but you'll noticed he isn't as dramatic in the others.

What is this???

Look Ma, snow!

Back on the paved road we headed South and noticed that areas that hadn't been foggy on our drive North were now considerably so. After about an hour the temperature increased a good 20+ degrees and Phoenix greeted us with high 60s and plenty of sunshine. Home sweet home. We'll surely be back to the Mogollon Rim but perhaps we'll wait till the spring or late summer.


 



A little highway Chirstmas spirit.



Another wild weekend

This past weekend started off with a bang on Friday at 3:30 thanks to some complementary libations courtesy of work. Not having won any prizes and missing out on dessert, I scampered out of the work party as soon as the last prize raffle was finished.  Thanks for the free drinks and snacks employer, but maybe next year I'll simply take the early departure.

A dashing shot of Mr. Jackson post park.

Saturday morning, post insurance house inspection, we took Jackson for an exciting trip to the dog park then made our best effort to get in some holiday shopping.  Out of 6 intended purchases we made one, ok well I made one and one was a gift.  Time is ticking.

  



A Mini face off outside the REI parking lot.  Other Mini is clearly over the line!



The highlight of our weekend was certainly Saturday evening. Jonathan, myself and some friends made it to Lets Roll bowling alley for a rollicking good time. I fared far better than I expected rolling with my left arm, my highest score being 139, and Jonathan was sure to impress all with his ball spin maneuvers and multi lane bowling.  During the always necessary cosmic bowling our DJ was the one and only ex Suns player turned Suns announcer, Cedric Ceballos.  Being Phx/Suns newbies Jonathan and I hadn't a clue who he was but one of our bowling compadres was quite impressed and entertainingly chummy with the DJ.

 Sunday we returned to the dog park where Jackson met what appeared to be a "Jackson 1.5", the slightly
larger model. This other little dog, seen below, is Jackson but a little taller, a little longer and a little hairier.


Jackson 1.5 (real name unknown)

 

The real Jackson is on the right, but if you look close they are in the exact same stride. 

 

When we got home we decided to mix it up a little and rearrange the living room.  To be honest our previous arrangement was always very cold and, I felt, pretty unwelcoming.  First we moved Frank to another room.  Love our trusty little turtle but he just wasn't the living room decor I was hoping for. The TV/cabinet moved to a different wall which now creates a more distinct living room area instead of an expansive room with a TV at one end and a couch at the other. Since we are lacking a formal dinning room the table was moved to Frank's previous location, and thanks to its collapsability (new word) it looks just fine sitting in the corner. We still have plenty of work to do to finish the room (remove massive window air conditioning unit, replace glass, finish floor, and buy a rug and a new coffee table) but as with most of our projects I'm sure it will come together sooner or later. 

Oh, and did I mention the temperature was around 78 on both days, hate to rub it in, but sometimes I just love living in the desert.



So much for enjoying the great outdoors.

  

The kittys visit Tim.

Time is money

Insurance statements continue to roll in from my shoulder dislocation, and as of today I learned that 4.5 hours spent in the ER costs $5,927.00.  I wish I had those kinds of pay rates.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year Jonathan and I hosted our first official Thanksgiving in our house. We started off the holiday weekend by welcoming my parents to our little casa the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. As I pulled into the cell-phone-waiting parking lot I spied an absolutely beautiful Rolls Royce. No one was bold enough to park by this gem so I took it upon myself and pulled into the stall to its right. I thought about sneaking in some photos from my car but realized it was silly, this was a car you wanted people to notice. The driver was more than happy to oblige my photos and gave me a brief run down of the car. Built in the 50s, previous and only past owner was Bing Crosby, all original interior and wood work. The new owner said that the carpet was a little worn when purchased but when they went to replace it, upon removal they found that the "real" original interior carpeting was still sealed in plastic and had only been covered by the other carpet. Pretty cool stuff.

Parents and luggage smooshed into the Mini we headed home where my parents would be the first official guests to stay in our newly completed guest room. It took quite a few weekends/week nights to get the guest room finished for their visit, but it turned out great! (More on this to follow, with pictures of course.) Mr. Jackson let out some home defending barks but quickly warmed up to my parents and was happy to show off his cuteness/playing skills almost every moment of their visit.

We spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday running errands and preparing Turkey day dishes. After a coffee pot purchase we headed to the Ranch Market for roasted hatch chillies as well as a little lunch. I'll have to admit lunch was a little lack luster, and I was disappointed that they were clear out of hatch chilies, but the tour about the market was entertaining as always. My favorite sight of the trip was a food turtle. Clever use of a fish head indeed. 

Thanksgiving day's high temperature was darn near record breaking low, matching a temp set in 1924 (or somewhere around there). 50 degree weather was certainly not the Valley of the Sun I was hoping my parents would enjoy, but at least it was sunny. We were joined by Hares and Caetanos and enjoyed quite a tasty feast, accompanied was a glorious assortment of desserts that Jonathan and I are still working on.

On black Friday we avoided malls and made our way to Home Depot and Moon Valley Nursery to pick up some Queen Palms, which are the first of many additions for our back yard. Jonathan being youthful and able to work with both arms did most of the work while my mom, dad, and I, and Jackson at times, aided via supervision. Sure we held a measuring stick here or there, and verified that the trees were straight but Jonathan did most of the digging. Post tree planting and over the weekend that followed we watched many a zombie movie, and toured about Phoenix. We visited some local artist boutiques, checked out Mercado Mexico, and enjoyed some tasty tacos at the much raved about "La Condesa Gourmet Taco Shop" on 16th St. I can't say the carne asada was anything worth repeating, but the fish taco, shrimp taco and pork taco were delicious.

On Monday afternoon we drove over to a rather unique looking church on 7th Ave, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Jonathan and I have dubbed it the Klingon Church as it looks like something straight out of Star Trek which, upon first sight, my parents readily agreed with. The building is impressive when you see it from the road, but even more impressive seen up close. The attention to detail, pattern and flow of the structure and its surrounding landscaping is quite beautiful and exceptionally well done. Not being church goers the only reason we wanted to enter the massive building was the view the intricate stained glass that lines a spire jutting out from the center of the roof, but alas all doors were locked, and we weren't daring enough to attend a church tour.

Just as the weather was making a steady crawl back into the 60s and 70s I took my parents to the airport for their trip back to California. We enjoyed their visit very much and look forward to their next, hopefully warmer, visit to the valley. Jackson was uncharacteristically mopey on Tuesday evening, as he surely missed his new friends and entertainers, but is steadily perking back up. We are thankful to have been able to host our first Thanksgiving with family and look forward to many more!  (See slide show on right for more pics)