Arizona Delay

We were planning on heading for Arizona today, Saturday the 29th, but due to unplanned circumstances, we won’t leave until Monday (New Year's Eve). Golly gee, it is so hard to believe 2008 is here already!

We hope you all had a peaceful and blessed Christmas like we did. On the 24th, we joined other family members at Don & Carol’s (Ken’s brother) for an early evening of sharing wonderful stories of past Christmases, great food, and good drinks. One of those drinks was some very special wine that Ken’s dad made over 35 years ago. We couldn't believe the wine was still good after all these years, but it was....just matured more (grin).

Later Christmas Eve, we were at our daughter’s home watching our 3 great-grand-children open presents (now that was a WILD time…lol). The little ones are ages 4, 2, & 1. Needless-to-say, they were very “exuberant” in seeing what Santa’s Elves left them. The “real Santa” was not due until sometime before dawn with their “special” stockings full of goodies.

Around 11 pm, Ken & I headed for Church and Midnight Mass. Before Mass, the congregation joined the choir in singing Christmas Carols. The sound was wonderful! After the Carols, we had a beautiful Mass celebrating the birth of Christ. It was a long, busy day, and we were very tired when we got home (1:30 am) but it all was worth it.

On Christmas Day, we picked up Naoma (Nomi) and took her to our daughter’s (LeighAnn) for our traditional “family dinner.” Nomi doesn’t eat much these days, but she happily ate snacks and most of her Ham dinner. We all were thankful when Tim’s, (our son-in-law) mom (Ann) arrived from California safe and sound. Even with all the snow in the mountains, Ann had fairly clear roads all the way from Redding. After dinner we set around and visited until it was time to take Nomi back to the Assisted Living Facility. She was tired, but glowing from the fun day. We are so thankful knowing Nomi is safe and well cared for in the facility. I don’t think we would be leaving Salem if she weren’t.

On the 26th, Ken went about taking down his many Christmas decorations. He did pretty well and had the majority of them cleaned and put away by late Friday the 28th. As I said earlier, we were planning on heading south this morning, but during Christmas we heard some funny noises in the Jeep’s engine. The noises turned out to be the power steering pump which was leaking. Ken kept it going over the holiday, but knew he would have to replace it before heading south. He found a new pump and replaced it, but the new pump continued to make strange noises. After talking with the pump supplier, Ken found out the bearings in the pump needed to be used a bit before quieting down….and yes, it has. However, should it again start making loud noises, it is under warranty, and any auto supplier will replace it. I guess we will put it to the test once we get on the road.

The main reason we won’t be leaving until Monday is on Christmas day, we received the very sad news that a close friend’s dad died. She and her husband had to fly to Texas for the funeral, and won’t be back until Sunday evening. We said we would watch their “baby.” The “baby” is a beautiful 6 year old chocolate Cocker Spaniel. We truly love having her and couldn’t see them placing her in a kennel. Our hearts and prayers are with Nancy and Wayne during this very sad time. We love you guys!!!

We are hearing (and seeing) that many highway passes are covered in snow, but hopefully, we will find a route on Monday where the snow isn’t too bad. Our thoughts are to travel east through Reno and Las Vegas then on to Laughlin and finally Queen Valley. However, until we start out and see what the roads are like, we won’t know the exact route. My cell phone is “Windows Mobile” ready (smart phone) and I can check the road cams as we travel south to see which highways are the clearest. I also can read and send emails from my phone. Isn’t technology great!! Of course, it is a cell phone and IF there is no cell service in the area, it won’t work.

There will be more news once we begin our trip south.

Until then, here’s wishing you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!