Car Show

Pre Birthday Dinner- Spaghetti Factory Rancho Mirage, CA with Danny & Lexi

Mike's Birthday Dinner at home!

November 2015

NOV..Aunt Marge had quite a scare as she was told that she had cancer – believed to be in the blood. She had several tests while we were there. She later found out the the cancer was contained to the polyp in her colon that was removed during the colonoscopy. We went to Church with Marge on the 1^st and then had a great dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. We had a wonderful time visiting with Aunt Marge.

On the 3^rd Dad got a call advising him that a apartment had opened up in the Timber Creek Village Assisted living place in Havre. I called them the next day and verified the particulars. Dad decided he didn't really want to come to Yuma and wanted to move in there. The decision had to be made pretty quickly and he spent his first night the just one week later – Nov 10^th. Doug/Fran & Denita/Steve got him all moved with furniture from his house in Great Falls and our place. It is a very nice place and he seems to be settling in ok. At lest he is getting his medication and meals!!!

The 3^rd was also move day. We headed the 61 miles to Desert Pools RV park in Desert Hot Springs. The park was pretty empty. They have improved the pool area so we used the mineral spa a few times. We stayed for a week. While there we met with Danny a couple of times. Once with Lexi and him at the 'Spaghetti Factory for an early Birthday dinner for Mike – (9^th). On the 8^th we went to the mega Southwest Church in Indian Wells. We have been wanted to go there for several years. It didn't disappoint – the service and message was wonderful. There was a car show going on there as well. From there we went to the College of the Desert Street Fair.

On the 10^th we drove to Yuma to our home for the winter. We rented a RV lot 5 lots down from Doug & Frans new place. It's a nice lot with a small building that has a washer/dryer & bathroom/shower. It is so nice to have the laundry right there! Happy Birthday to Mike – we celebrated again with a home cooked Cornish Hen dinner. We did a little shopping on the 11^th and even ran into some Canadian friends – George & Gail that we know from Lake Havasu City.

The 14^th we wondered around the Arizona Marketplace, an outdoor market.

On the 15^th we left around 730a to drive the car to Mesa. We went to pick up Fran's Mom, Camilla. We stopped in Maricopa on the return for a late lunch.

We had been having problems with the kitchen faucet and we discovered that it had been leaking underneath the sink, causing the wood to be warped. We found that the faucet was warrantied for 10 yrs so they sent us a new one. We installed that on the 16^th.

Doug & Fran arrived late on the 17^th. The next several days were spent doing general stuff! Of most importance – building a fence for Cali.....

The 22^nd we went to Southwest Church. The music and message was great!

We spent a very nice Thanksgiving at John & Angie Hebblemen's. They had 6 of their neighbors there as well. We had a fun afternoon playing a card game. Danny came on the day before and stayed until the following Sunday, the 29^nd. We received the sad news that Dixie's Uncle Harold passed away on Thanksgiving On the 29^nd we drove with the motorcycle group to Calexico for lunch. We stopped in El Centro on the return for a Costco stop.  

Charlie Russell Chew Chew Train Ride

Tyler's Senior Night & Last Football Game

October 2015

OCT...The 1^st Dad had a Caradid Artery Ultra Sound and then we headed back to Turner.

The 2^nd Dixie had her hair highlighted and cut at Denise's

The morning of the 3^rd we rode with Doug/Fran to Lewistown. We met Bill and Jan Perrin there and we all went on the Charlie Russell Chew Chew Train. It rained some but it was 3.5 hours of alot of fun. We had a wonderful Prime Rib dinner. There was even a western hold up! After the train we had a drink at the Eagles and went back to the historic Calvert hotel. The next day we had breakfast with Perrin's and then drove to Great Falls. We loaded up furniture at Doug/Fran's condo and some at Dad's to take to Yuma. We decided to stay overnight and go back on Monday. We had drinks and dinner at 'The Pit Stop'. We had shrimp and broasted chicken that was very good!

The 5^th we drove back home....it had rained quite a bit so it was muddy.

The 7^th Dixie took Dad to the foot clinic appointment in Harlem and the 8^th we went to another of Tyler's football games. We also started motorhome packing.

9^th – Mike helped Doug & Steve put up plywood sheets for a ceiling in Doug's garage. Dixie worked inside. Lunch at Denita's. Phone call from Kat re Bailey's email. We went to another football game in Harlem.

The 11^th was our church dinner. Dixie cooked a 24 pound turkey and made dressing to serve 40. She also worked at the dinner. It was very good!

The 13th someone came from the Blaine County Appraiser's office to appraise out property for taxes. We did more packing through out the week and Dixie worked at Fran's and checked on Camilla. Doug/Fran went left with a load to Yuma on the 12th

19^th – Dixie helped the Hogeland Lutheran ladies make Lefse.

22^nd – We drove to Havre to Dad's VA doctor appointment (flu shot, pneumonia booster, med review) and do some errands. We stopped at Rad's Deli in Chinook for an early dinner pizza.

23^rd - Finished up our motorhome packing and getting the house/yard ready for our departure. Went to Tyler's Senior night at the football game in Harlem. It was a bit cold and we left at halftime.

24^th – Loaded the frig/freezer as well as last minute items in the mh. In the afternoon we took Dad to his camper in Hogeland and got him situated. He will stay there for the next 3 weeks until he fly's to Phoenix. Went to Doug's where Mike helped him finish up his garage ceiling. Dixie and Fran did some work. We had a steak/shrimp dinner with them. Dixie made a 'green tomato' pie with some of our many tomatoes. We had to pick them all (a bunch) and pull up the plants before leaving. We are talking many with us!!!!!

25^th – We got on the road at 1030am. Drove to Great Falls and did a few errands and overnighted at Dads. We did some cleaning and furniture rearranging at Dad's.

26^th – Dixie had an appt with Dr. Cameron at 740am to get a cortisone injection on her sore thumb (started hurting and triggering several weeks ago). Dr. said if it starts hurting next spring again she should have the trigger release surgery. He doesn't recommend more injections as it can rupture the tendon. Keeping my fingers crossed that it holds this time. We hit the road at 9am. We stopped in Butte for fuel and made a sandwhich. We drove 405 miles today and landed at the Pocatello Walmart around 5pm.

27^th – Todays journey took us the 510 miles to Mesquite. We overnighted in the Casablanca Casino parking lot. It was full but we were able to squeeze in.

28^th – We started the day with breakfast in the Casino and then headed to Las Vegas. It was only an 85 mile drive so we arrived around 1130. We met up with our friends Glenn and Henrietta at 'The Orleans' Casino. They had a room in the hotel and we had our happy hour there. After that we went had dinner at the TJI Friday's happy hour. We had a great time visiting and catching up.

29^th – We drove 232 miles to Riverside's Rancho Yurupa County Park. After we got set up we went to Aunt Marge's for dinner.

30^th – 31^st. We spent time with Aunt Marge! We went to the movie, 'War Room” which was very good! On the 31^st we went visit Buster & Sandy and went out to dinner with them.

September 2015

SEPT...This month started with Tyler's 18^th Birthday on the 1^st. We went to Doug & Fran's to celebrate with dinner. We had a quite Labor Day Weekend. Denita and family went to see Levi and Doug & Fran went to Great Falls. This month we painted the basement walls and floor as well as the inside cabinets in the upstairs bathroom/dressing room. Still using up old paint. We also laid some carpet remnants on the floor in the basement. I also decided it was time to work on making some jewelry to replenish stock for the two Beauty Salons – Custom Cutter in Inverness and Image-n-That in Turner.

The 11^th we all went to Harlem to watch Tyler play his first home football game. They didn't do so well but it was fun to watch him play.

The 12^th was a big day!!!!! It was the Suicide Prevention Walk in memory of Tristan Billmayer. We road the bus to Hogeland about noon and the 12 mile walk started in Hogeland at 106pm. We started off at the front but Mike left me in the dust about a ½ mile into it. He has longer legs! The had one mile makers along the way with water stations ever 4 miles. I had to get on a golf cart at mile 7 and road for just over a mile (at the same speed as the walkers). I started walking at the last water station and walked the remaining 4 miles with Denita and Darcy. By that time we were pretty sore – low back and toenails (ya the toes push up against the shoes) I talked to Mike and he was almost finished. Those last 4-5 miles were tough It was 85 degrees when we arrived at the Turner Park at 445p. Mike completed the walk in 3 hrs 20 min and I did it in 3hr 40 min. We had sloppy joes in the park and then went home for a rest before the program at 7pm. By the time we walked to the school at 7p we could hardly walk. My calves had tightened up and both of our toe's really hurt (not to self – before walking that far trim toenails as short as possible). It took several days for the body to recover and we are still not sure if Mike will loose his left big toenail. All in all it was a great accomplishment for a very worthy cause. I do believe Mike was the oldest person that completed the full 12 miles.

I took Dad to his camper on the 15^th to stay while we go to an RV Rally. We left the morning of the 16^th in the Motorhome for Great Falls in the rain! We overnighted there.

The 17^th we drove to Devil's Elbow on Hauser Lake, just out of Helena. Our last FMCA rally for the year look place the 17^th – 20^th. It was a great location and we were parked with a view of the lake. We went into Helena a couple of time for some shopping and with the group to the Grub Steak for dinner. a we drove back to Great Falls and overnighted. On Monday the 21^st we took the motorhome into Kustom City Fiberglass to have the crack near the back slide repaired. We left it with them. Dixie had bloodwork and then we both had a chiropractor appt.

On the 25^th we went to Tyler's football game in Harlem.

The 26^th we spent the day in Chinook for the Sugarbeet Festival. Dixie had a booth to sell her jewelry and Mike did the 3 mile run, coming in 2^nd or 3^rd. It was a fun day and profitable. We left a bit early so we could get back to Shay's performance in the Missoula Children's Theater program.

The 28^th we drove to Great Falls. We both had our annual Doctor appointment with Dr. Legan. We went to visit Harold afterwards. He had been in the hospital due to his defibrillator. He isn't doing real good as the dr. told him that it is no longer functioning and the next incident his heart will give out. We went to dinner at Applebees with Dad.

The 29^th, Mike had his bloodwork and Dixie had a mammogram. Later Dixie took Dad to his Stress Test Appointment. Both went well. Dixie spent some time going through stuff at Dad's and made a couple of trips to the Salvation Army to give items away. The 30^th was more cleaning at Dad's.

August 2015

AUG... I missed putting our day trip to Fort Peck in the July Blog. On July 26^th Mike,Dad and I drove to Ft Peck to attend the Theater...we met Doug and Fran there and saw the play “Best Little Whore House in Texas” It was very well done. We went to dinner with Doug/Fran and then left for home at 830p. Doug/Fran stayed over in the historic hotel as they were celebrating Fran's birthday which was the next day. It rained most of the way home so it was not a pleasant drive.

We started by celebrating Shay's 11^th Birthday on the 2^nd with Taco's at their house. Harvest started and stopped due to weather or ripeness. We went to Great Falls on the 9^th & 10^th specifically to get new cell phones and a new account. Mike graduated to his first 'smart phone' and we now have unlimited texting. It is not so much fun to get new phones due to the learning curve. We opted for the Motorola Droid Turbo due to it's great battery. So far that has worked out well. My old Samsung phone wouldn't hold a charge until noon! With the Droid we can go all day! Of course we had to do all our other errand while in Great Falls.

We made another trip back to Great Falls on the 19^th for Dad's doctor appt. It was with Dr. Williams who did his carotid surgery....Well we found out he should have been seeing a cardiologist instead. Luckily Dr. Williams was able to get him into see one that day at the GTF Clinic – Dr. Castriz. He is to come back in Sept for a Stress Test and a Carotid Ultrasound. Dad enjoyed his overnight in Great Falls – looking through his clothes and bringing some back. He also checked out the garage. We went to Borries to eat dinner and drove home the next day.

I refinished the TV stand. It was left in the house when we bought it. It turned out well – looks like an new piece of furniture. I also helped Fran us 'Green Apple' on her books shelves. Fran went to Oregon to pick up her Mom and was gone for a week. During that time I cooked a few times for while the guys were harvesting. We took dinner to the field twice. We did more outside projects.

I went to Havre with Denita on the 28^th.