Monday, January 27, 2020

Superior Home Show

It's the end of January and that must mean it is time for the Superior Home Show. On Saturday neighbors, Terry & Jane, joined us for a geocaching adventure in Globe in the morning followed by the Superior Home Tour in the afternoon.

The tour showcased 8 homes. We toured 7 of them as one was a new custom build. I'd rather see the historic homes. The first one we saw was my favorite.

The Adobe House records say it was built in 1924, but the family believes it may be older.


The house was originally built as a duplex of two rooms each with the outhouses in the back yard.(You can see the divider wall to the right of the current entrance.) The current owner's grandparents moved into one duplex and rented the other two rooms. Maybe because they raised six children, they opened the wall between the two and used all four rooms. The current owner, their grandson, along with help from friends and family has restored this nearly 100 year old home adding the conveniences needed today, but keeping the history of his family.


why use only 1 when 5 unique hanging lamps
make it so much more interesting
notice the ceiling
The room to the left of this original room, was added in the 1950s and is the laundry, utility and bathroom. The room to the left of this living room is the bedroom, and an original room of the other duplex.


notice the corrugated metal sheeting used as wainscoting
in the kitchen, the second original room of the first duplex
many family heirlooms were displayed


reuse, repurpose


patio fireplace from a large diesel fuel tank


A tree growing next to the old chicken coop, is now incorporated into the deck of what will be a guest house. Notice the lights in the tree. The current owners moved into the home in April 2019. The backyard is not done, but you can see their vision.


a little greenhouse in the backyard
of what I think was called the GreenHouse home


a bed of rocks the owner has collected
from AJ to Globe


loved the bed frame used as flowerbed decor


some brilliant yellow flowers in the backyard


front yard water feature at another home


and her lovely pink roses, also in the front yard


this three bedroom home has been completely
renovated to a 2 bedroom, 2 bath for $240K
originally 3 bedrooms, small rooms, all closed off
now open, modern, large bedrooms and large bathrooms

This last featured home is not a home, but a Peddler's Wagon, built from the ground up using repurposed items from all over the US. Although the owners have a home in Globe, John uses the wagon for sleeping quarters when he travels to art shows.

no bathroom, but many comforts of home
beautiful woodwork of 4 kinds of wood
mostly repurposed items
(stained glass windows from Holland)
king-size bed in the loft
complete kitchen with sink and cupboards


brightly painted to attract attention to his displayed art work


More from the Superior Home Tour in another post












Thursday, January 23, 2020

The First Half of January

January 1st started with a geocaching event we hosted at 9 in the morning serving donuts and orange juice to about 40 area geocachers who stopped by to start the new year. The event was held at Flatiron Community Park in Apache Junction.


four paneled wall mural near the picnic ramada


the reason geocachers will come out on a chilly morning


Our new wheels arrived on January 2nd. We have decided to rent a golf cart this winter rather than buy new bikes we'd rarely use. Many social events are in the newer part of the resort. A golf cart will make it easier to attend those events...and more fun!


rather spiffy for two old farts


Hubby started another 7 weeks of External Enhanced Counter Pulsation therapy sessions on January 2nd. We both feel EECP in 2018 made a difference in his circulation. Maybe there will be more improvement after these 35 one-hour sessions.


A highly creative and much loved local geocacher created and hid a geocache honoring and thanking the two us for our contributions to the AJ geocaching community . It was released on New Years Day and he, JFOW, thought we would rush right out after our morning event to get the newly placed cache. He doesn't know Hubby very well, does he? New Years Day is college football and has been for many, many years. Even the enticement of a cache in our honor and the opportunity to have a first to find honor did not sway Hubby. College football won out.

But on Saturday, we did head out to find that cache and several others along the way.


luckily, we did not have to look at EVERY shell casing 
to find the one with the log sheet


the remaining snow on Four Peaks one week later


Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to cache we go...
Terry, Jane, & Hubby


looking for minions in palo verde trees


cute little cache containers


 a golf ball hiding a log sheet


now there's a cameo geocache container!
rubber snake glued to a round tin container


we don't find them all
4 sets of eyes, 30 minutes of looking
and I looked later for another 15 minutes


FINALLY!!!
See & Sea or C 'n C - You Decide
found the ammo can and signed the log
thanks JFOW!



After all the geocaching excursions, I needed a change of pace. I and 129 other residents from the resort attended this play at the Hale Theater in Gilbert. A little culture.




I remember seeing the movie with Robert Redford and
Jane Fonda back in the late '60s


I laughed so hard during the play
reminded me of another 20 year-old bride


Writing Your Life Story classes have also started this month. I have 5 new writers in the first session and about 10 who are continuing to add to their life story in the second session on Monday afternoons. 

After a 5 year hiatus, I have also decided to join other Red Hat ladies in the resort for some social activities. We had lunch and saw the movie Bombshell

The resort bookclub discussed Where the Crawdads Sing in January. Twenty-seven women came to the discussion, the largest one to date. Such a good book to read and to discuss.

And on January 15th...


my January Meet & Greet geocaching event


the guys in blue are from Winnipeg & Grand Forks
about 50 cachers attended the January event
a group of 4 came from the Tucson area
 Sherry (waving) and Jon are from Globe


the sunset at the close of the January 15th event


Monday, January 20, 2020

The Rest of December

The last few days of December were focused on geocaching. There were a couple of events on different days and two nearby caching excursions on different days.


First was the Ugly Christmas Sweater event. Happy to wear the sweatshirt one more time before putting it away until next Christmas. The young kid on the far right won. He made it himself using an idea on Pinterest and materials from the dollar store. (click on the photo to see his sweater) The guy in red next to him works for geocaching.com and was in the area geocaching and came to the event.


the sunset as we left the event in Gilbert


This vehicle was in the next lane while at a stop light. This hay lift tractor/truck has two steering wheels. The operator is sitting behind the wheel on the left side of the cab, driving it down the road. The steering wheel on the right side of the cab operates the fork lift for bales. 


The snowstorm that hit the Midwest first came to AZ, covering Four Peaks and neighboring higher elevations in a blanket of white.


scaring a covey of quail while geocaching


new grass often grows in unusual patterns in the desert soil
I don't know why, but it often catches my eye


half dead-half live tree hiding a geocache


stump of a palm tree
no rings and it looks like many single fibers
also unusal & interesting


snow is disappearing on Four Peaks just one day 
after the above photo

Saturday, January 18, 2020

December Wrap-up

I apologize for the lack of updates. I've had a few projects on my plate that have been completed. I finally went through all the photos of the last 30 days, categorizing, organizing, backing-up, etc. etc.

So this is a summary beginning December 14th through December 27th, when we left AZ to spend Christmas back in SD until we left SD to enjoy winter in AZ.


DECEMBER 14th
early morning flight from Mesa


g'kids helped decorate the house for Christmas


and did a great job


they spent the night as parents had a work Christmas party


 DECEMBER 15th
Miss W's 'solo' for the church Christmas program





The first few days of the week were spent on appointments, book club, lunch with friends, and some geocaching in downtown Sioux Falls.





doing some leg work for a geocache project





newest Sioux Falls sculpture


 DECEMBER 20th
trying a new dessert for Christmas
certainly not what I expected at this unfinished point
and NOT how the recipe photo looked


G'kids making Christmas cards after 
helping with some baking projects on Friday night


DECEMBER 21st
family bowling tradition on Saturday
before Christmas dinner & gifts & games


helping prep the table for Christmas dinner





using the Christmas china


our bartender prepared adult beverages
Thanksgiving Mules
vodka, ginger beer, orange juice, cranberry juice, etc.


the finished dessert
Peppermint Chocolate Roll


tasted better than it looked
WAY too much filling
I might try it again with changes


ending the evening with some games of Farkle
after opening the gifts
and the g'kids scavenger hunt


After our family Christmas weekend, we drove to see my Mom before Christmas then removed all signs of Christmas, completed the geocaching project, attended a geocaching event and


DECEMBER 27th
left SD early evening on Friday
and returned to our winter home
just ahead of a major weekend snowstorm


**I think I have it right this time. If you click on the photos, they will become larger.**