What happened to February?

Where in the world did February go??? I know it is the shortest month of the year, but for some reason, it has disappeared.  Is that called being too busy? OR absent minded?? Anyhow, since we supposedly have been busy, I am just going to talk about some of the highlights for this month.

The weather has been a big factor in what we do and don’t do. February’s weather was good and bad. We had some wonderfully warm days, but we also had a few very rainy/stormy days where areas around here were flooded.

In fact, last night we had thunder and lightning and now it's pouring down rain. It's only supposed to last through today, then get back to nice warm days.  That is IF you can trust the weather forecast.  Oh well, you can bet there are going to be some beautiful wildflowers blooming soon.  I already have seen Daisies and Poppies in bloom. 

Well, back to what we have been up to!!

Every Monday morning we have a park wide coffee social where the weeks activities are announced and discussed. Every Friday (weather permitting) we go 4 wheeling with The Axle Twisters and explore many back roads and old mine sites. Rest of week is filled with rock shop and other park wide activities (dinners, dances, potlucks, etc..).

Early this month our youngest granddaughter (Jessica) celebrated her 20th birthday.  It seems like yesterday she was a toddler running around getting into everything.  Today, she is a beautiful young lady with her own tiny toddler (Mila 1 1/2) who is running around getting into everything.  They can be quite the terror at that age, but Mila is very well behaved and a delight to be around.

Twice this month our resort had a craft show/sale. The first was community wide with crafters from the park and nearby towns who came to display their wares. Our activity hall was completely filled with tables full of gorgeous stuff. There were even tables outside!  Ken had three tables set up with his beautiful jewelry.

The second show was just for crafters from our resort who displayed the results of their hobby. We have a lot of very crafty people in this park and everything they do is beautiful. Ken displayed and sold many items that he created in the rock shop. We even had on display many different types of “rocks” that are found around here.  Both shows were very successful and Ken was pleased with how his jewelry was received. He sold a lot of pieces, and has orders to make more.

We did find some time this month to go geocaching. We also attended a couple of geocaching events and had fun meeting some very new “cachers” in our area. Right now we have over 5,800 finds and hope to find more time for caching in the coming months.

Of course it is hard to write a blog without mentioning how many times we go out to eat with friends and even by ourselves. Two special places we have been this month is San Tan Flats in Queen Creek and The Arizona Opry in Apache Junction. Both places are a treat and soooo much fun. There is way too much to talk about at each of these places, so just click on the links and check them out for yourselves. They each are a huge highlight of our outings.

Yesterday (Saturday), we drove over to Glendale (University of Phoenix Stadium) to attend the Sportsmans Show/Expo. After we saw all we could, we went next door to Cabelas. You can’t go to Glendale and not go to Cabelas!! Of course, at each place we had to leave a bit of money behind. Hmmmm funny how that always happens (grin).

Well, it is still hard for me to believe that today is the last day of February and that we have been here for three months.

Gosh how time flies when you are having fun!!

Busy January

When I last wrote, both Ken and I were in the middle stages of a bad upper respiratory illness. Thanks to his getting on prescription meds, he was over his in just over a week. I, on the other hand, took over the counter meds and had my cold for over three weeks. Happily, we are all better now!!!

We had some pretty rough weather thanks to a series of three storms in less than a week. The first storm came in on the night of the 18th. It just rained that night and was all gone when we woke to a beautiful sunny day on the 19th. However, the second storm hit that night (19). We had thunder, lightning, wind, and 1 1/4 inches of rain. Again it only lasted for the night and we had another gorgeous sunny day before the third and worst storm hit.

The third and worst storm came in around midnight on the 20th. It rained heavy and steady all the rest of the day on the 21st. The entire state was under storm alerts. Every county had some kind of severe weather warnings that were being televised every half hour all day long!! The high country was getting snow (up to 5 feet) and many highways were closed because of severe weather. We had flash flood warnings along with tornado warnings. Yes, Arizona does get a tornado every once in a while. One even touched down for a bit in the Scottsdale area.

We were'nt too concerned with the tornado warning because we are surrounded by mountains, but the flash floods were troublesome. In fact our little town of Queen Valley actually has been flooded before. Queen Creek which goes thru town always rises quickly with heavy rain. This time the bridge on one of the main roads in town was closed because of high water and the danger of the culvert eroding. There is a big wash on the back road out of town and it was closed because it was a raging river. Our site is in the upper part of the park, so we weren’t worried about flooding, but the winds can be vicious and they were getting stronger as the day went on. Early evening we pulled our slides in because strong wind gusts were hitting them broadside. By pulling the slides in, we saved the slide awning from being damaged. We also had a better night’s sleep that way. We heard the wind gusts were so strong in the Yuma area that 5 big rigs were blown over….incredible. Around the Phoenix area and points east (towards us) some power lines went down and many trees were toppled. Some homes lost their metal awning and many places along rivers were flooded. We in Queen Valley didn’t lose power and as far as I know, no one had any structural damage.  The first two pictures are of the flooded wash in our park.  The last two pics are of Queen Creek in Queen Valley.

Our weather was nice until the 27th when we had more showers. Thursday the 28th it just drizzled rain all day (not a nice day). Ken worked in the rock shop for part of that day, but it was too cold and he came back at Noon and both of us stayed in the rest of the day (me wrapped in my blanket on the couch and he asleep in his chair with a blanket).

On January 30, Ken had his first showing for his jewelry. We were set up at a monthly Farmer’s Market/Craft show for the day and he had a lot of interested browsers. This was a first for him and a preview of what is to come for his jewelry business.

Sunday was the last day of the month and the resort had a Wine Sip “n” Swap Event along with a classic car show. We tasted a lot of wine (at least I did) and had a great time.

Today is the beginning of February, and so far the weather doesn’t look like very promising. We have a few nice days forecast, but there is still a lot of rain showing up for a while. Oh well, we are in the desert of Arizona and it is always nice (even when it rains).