I have been enjoying visiting blogs and decided to start my own, even though I don't know what I am doing or if anyone will even be interested in reading what I have to say. I am a 50 year old management consultant who has been married to the the love of my life for 30 years and have two grown daughters and a son-in-law who we are very proud of. We are blessed to live in Scottsdale Arizona and are enjoying getting out and experiencing it in our RV! Thanks for stopping by our blog and please consider joining us, who knows where we will go...Kevin & Tracy.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Rain and Heatstroke...

Well we awoke to a nice cloudy 90 degree morning, so I decided it was time for some yard work, before the sun reappeared.

So once the mowing, trimming, blowing and raking were completed, the clouds were still providing a nice umbrella, so I decided to take advantage of the cooler morning to repair and repaint the wall next to our new gate that John installed.

As I patched the wall and prepared for painting, the clouds were still in place and the temps were low. As soon as I placed the roller to the wall, the clouds parted and it seemed like the temp jumped 10 degrees.

So I had a decision to make, do I go ahead and paint the wall or put everything away until October? I decided to go for it, which I quickly realized was a mistake.

Within about 20 minutes I started to get very hot and my head started to pound. I was drinking lots of Gatorade, so I thought I could get through it. Well I was wrong, the head pounding turned to dizziness and then the Gatorade was no more.

So the painting was over and I staggered into the house. I had heatstroke about 15 years ago and it wasn't much fun. Tracy quickly went on WebMD and got the cure for my ailment, she is always a great nurse.

Tracy said that according to WebMD,I needed to lay naked under a fan with ice packs between my legs. Then she said that she needed to determine my internal body temperature and taking my temperature with an oral thermometer just wouldn't do the job. I told Tracy not to believe everything she read on the Internet and decided to take a real cold shower instead.

After taking little sips of water throughout the afternoon and napping in between watching golf and the Olympics, I am feeling much better.

After dinner we had a wild storm with thunder, lightning, wind and lots of much needed rain. Below are some pictures of our storm. I hope you are having a healthy, cool and enjoyable weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Love of my Life...Really?

I have been enjoying reading the wisdom that Becky Shade has shared in her recent blog posts regarding living a happier and more fulfilled life as a result of our experiences versus our possessions.  According to her profile, Becky is a 28 year old who gave up the 9 to 5, sold everything and is full-timing in a 17 foot Casita.

Well, I wish I could have had Becky's wisdom when I was her age, but I didn't. Today I received an email with the following advertisement for Mercedes Benz with the tag line "Start a summer fling with the love of your life."

I have to say that as recently as five years ago, this type of ad would have gotten my heart racing and my persuasive juices flowing as I would have been trying to figure out how I too could start a summer fling with the love of my life. 

But things have changed, I don't know if it is the poor economy, the fact that I turned 50 this year and would like to someday retire or I have finally gotten a little wiser. 

No matter what the reason, I now realize that the love of my life is my Lord, my wife, my family and my country. Like Becky, I now know that a new Mercedes would be very exciting for a while...ok, maybe quite a while, but in the long fun, it is only a possession and certainly not the love of my life by any means.  

I only wished that I could have come to this great wisdom 22 years earlier, with thousands of dollars more in the bank.  Oh well, I will chalk it up to living and learning.  Thank goodness there are faster learners out there like Becky.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your experiences, those you love and all of the opportunities that you have been given and make the most out of your upcoming weekend!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Dog Days Of Summer!

Well I have to admit that not much has been going on here, so I haven't been good at keeping up with my blogging.  I am blaming the dog days of summer for my lack of ambition and my inactivity. 

To confirm the diagnosis of my problem, I did a search on Bing for the meaning of "the dog days of summer" and this is what it said...

Everyone knows that the “dog days of summer” occur during the hottest and muggiest part of the season. Webster defines “dog days” as... 
1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere.
2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity.


So that is it, a period of stagnation or inactivity is to blame...I feel so much better knowing that I am not just a lazy and unmotivated individual.

I hope that you all are more motivated and are not being negatively affected by the dog days of summer.  Enjoy the rest of your week and stay cool out there! Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

It's Just Never Easy!

Well many of you provided us with feedback regarding replacement of our dishwasher and today was the day for scheduled installation. There was an electronic message at home yesterday saying that our dishwasher would be installed tomorrow between 10 - 2 and that we would receive another message 30 minutes in advance of their arrival.

Well that call came through and about 45 minutes later we heard the truck outside.  The two installers were very polite and went right to work removing the old dishwasher.  Everything appeared to be going well and then the installer who was removing the old unit said, I don't want to scare you sir, but I don't think we are going to get the old unit out because it won't clear your new wood floor.

Out With The Old!
 

I was a little concerned about this because we had our parquet tile floor replaced with a floating wood laminate by our neighbor John about 18 months ago. The installers said that they would leave the dishwasher and come back another day once we had a chance to remove two rows of the wood flooring.  I called John to see if he might be able to help me remove the flooring while the installers were there and I got his voicemail.  As the installers were putting the new dishwasher in the garage John pulled up with his boat, just back from the lake.

Old Unit Heading Out!

John quickly helped me remove one row of flooring, which unfortunately resulted in damage to one of the floor planks, but at least there was room to remove the old and then install the new dishwasher.  Thanks John!

In With The New!
 

I always hate to run into these types of problems, which delay the installation and require more time and effort than should be necessary.  Thankfully the installers did not get away without finishing the job, although I could tell that they were not thrilled with being delayed, but did a good job none the less.

So the old is gone and the new is in place and it looks great and runs very quiet compared to our old unit.  Now I am actually excited to get it filled up with dirty dishes to give it a real test run.

Besides some yard work in the heat earlier, that is all of the excitement around here today.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the individuals and their families who were affected by the senseless attack at the movie theater in Aurora Colorado.  I just can't comprehend why these things happen and I can only hope and pray that they can be stopped in the future. Thanks for stopping by, be safe and have a great rest of the weekend!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

What A Great Time!

Wow, what a great week at the beach in Oxnard.  The weather was perfect, the food was awesome and our ride was the best.  Here are some pictures from our week...
My favorite Mexican food restaurant!
Lunch on the patio!

Andria's for some great fish n' chips!

Celebrated our 30 years as well!

Looks just like us...

Great sunsets!

Shopping in Ventura of course!

Our ride...I could get use to this!
Now we are back to reality with 107 degree temperatures, no Lupe's Mexican food, no ocean breeze and no BMW...wow, a day can really make a difference!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is great!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Another Beautiful Day!

Well I wasn't real clear on last night's post as to where we were, based on the comments received.

We are slightly down the road from Ventura California on the beach in Oxnard. Tracy's Aunt and Uncle have a beautiful home there that they have welcomed us to for many years.

Our girls grew up on this beach as we headed here as much as we could over the years to enjoy the weather and their awesome hospitality.

We are fortunate to have our Sarah traveling with us this week and we have many fun adventures ahead.

Tracy and I visited a Farmer's Market at the Marina this morning during our morning walk. Of course I got half way back to the house and realized that I didn't take a single picture to share with you this morning. Shame on me. I am going to have to get better at capturing these things for my blog.

Well we are headed to the beach,so I will draw this to a close for now and wish you all an enjoyable Sunday!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Enjoying The Cool Breeze!

We left Scottsdale this morning around 7:00am and headed to the coast and much cooler temperatures.

We heard that temps were 114 degrees this afternoon with Monsoon storms this evening.

We are sure enjoying the 72 degree temperatures here this afternoon and will soak in the cool air and hydration between now and Wednesday when we have to head home.

Hope you are having a great weekend!



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Enjoying Martinsville Indianna!

Headed out this morning to meet with clients in Martinsville. The plane was absolutely packed with young girls and their parents heading out for a cheerleading contest...needless to say, I was glad that I had my noise canceling headphones. :)

Will be heading home tomorrow, hope you are having a great week!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

We've Come A Long Way Baby!

Wow...30 years of marriage as of today.  It is hard to believe how far we have come and the wonderful life we have built together. These two kids met and fell in love so many years ago. Boy were we young!
Looks like the set from Fantasy Island!
The Lord has blessed us with two beautiful and intelligent daughters and a son-in-law, a wonderful and supportive family and many friends who we love and appreciate.  Our life is pretty darn good!


I think our hair looks better after 30 years!
So Tracy and I will celebrate tonight with a very nice dinner, but will head to Hawaii to really celebrate in August.  I can't wait for 30 more years together.  Happy Anniversary My Love!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Your Opinions Worked Against Me...Or Maybe Not!

Well thanks for all of your opinions and advice regarding our dishwasher replacement debate. I told Tracy that I made the post and she laughed and said I probably wouldn't get any responses, well boy was she wrong.

Within two minutes of posting, we had our first response from Barak Strickland of Brunch with Barak who said that he and his wife have always washed their dishes by hand, which he felt provided for some great conversation time. As much as I appreciated Barak's quick response and advice, I would much rather find other activities that Tracy and I could do to converse more that wouldn't result in dish pan hands.:-)

So at that point Tracy kept checking with me to find out if we had any more comments.  As they rolled in I would read them to her and they all seemed to be going her way, unfortunately for me.

Of the nine responses received, only two said replace the dishwasher now rather than wait until it dies.  Mike of Phannie and Mae said that we should ditch the house and hit the road fulltime...oh how I would love to do that, but we are at least 12 years out from that unfortunately.

A few of you said to avoid the Maytag dishwasher and go with the LG, which was Tracy's choice because of the adjustable racks and the ability to wash Tupperware on both the top and bottom racks.  Of course that unit was $200 more than the Maytag, Tracy always has good taste when she spends money.

Tracy and I started the day early with a walk around the neighborhood before going to church.  I told her about the four comments that had come in overnight and it appeared that we were going to be waiting until our current dishwasher died.

Then after church, Tracy asked if I had seen the LG Dishwasher anywhere cheaper than Home Depot.  So I quickly did a web search and HD had the best price of all.  During my search, I found an online coupon from LG for a $40 Visa Card to offset the install cost.  Well HD was already discounting the install price by $50, so that meant that with the $40 Visa Card from LG, that the install would only be $9.  That offer was only good through the end of the month.

So this was the point where things started to shift my way...Tracy said that was a pretty good offer at a $240 savings overall.  Now the Maytag was no longer even in the mix and it was LG all the way.

We met Sarah and her boyfriend Jake at Dilly's Deli for soup and sandwiches, which were delicious, and then a drive by of the house we will be renting for her in August when the new semester at ASU begins.

On the way home we swung by HD and did the deal on the LG Dishwasher as this was the last day of the sale.  The install will be July 21st, so I can only hope that our current GE unit dies on July 20th.
The Winner!



Tracy and I want to thank all of you who responded and provided us with your sage advice. Even though it looked like I was going to lose the debate, I think we both won, with Tracy getting the LG Dishwasher with the features she wanted and me not having to wait and saving $240.  That has been the kind of give and take that has helped to make our marriage work over the last 30 years and hopefully that won't change anytime soon.

I want to welcome Susan of Travel Bug  as our latest follower. Check out her most recent post of her trip to San Antonio Texas, one of my favorite places to visit.  Welcome aboard Susan and thanks for joining us!

I hope you are all having a great weekend and I hope your upcoming week is even better.  Take care and thanks for the visit.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Your Opinion Please...

Tracy and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage on Tuesday.  For those of you who have followed our blog, we don't always agree on things, especially when it involves money.

So here is where we need your input...we have lived in our home for over 19 years and when we purchased the home, the dishwasher was original and was over 10 years old with a chain to hold the door from falling off.  We split the cost with the original owner to replace the dishwasher.

The replacement lasted 10 years and died, the latest one has lasted 7 years and sounds like a jet taking off every time we use it.

We went out to our favorite Chinese restaurant last evening with friends and stopped by Home Depot on our way home to check prices on replacement dishwashers.  HD has a July 4th sale going on and had two that we really liked, a Maytag and an LG, both were stainless steel, which would match the rest of our new appliances. The sale was $200 off each unit with $49 installation and haul away, which is a $50 savings.

LG Unit at $678, this is the one Tracy likes...





Maytag at $498 - This is the one I like...
As I have admitted in prior posts, I am the spender and Tracy is the saver and that has not changed in 30 years.  My vote is to take advantage of the sale price on the dishwasher and installation cost and replace the dishwasher now before it completely dies or the motor shoots up through the counter top and lands in the dinning room some evening.  Tracy votes to wait for the dishwasher to die and replace it then.

So, I know that the many people who follow our blog are very intelligent and knowledgeable in these types of decisions and can help us to make the right decision.  My position is why wait and take a chance that the units we like will not be on sale and that installation will be at full price.  Tracy's position is why spend the money now when our current dishwasher may last for a while yet. So what do you think?  Your input could ensure that we have another 30 happy years together. Thanks in advance for your advice and enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

A Very Happy Independence Day!


Wow, what a beautiful day here in Scottsdale Arizona.  We woke to cloudy sky's and 80 degrees.  Tracy and I headed out to a nice long walk first thing and enjoyed seeing the many American Flags on display throughout the neighborhood, very nice indeed.

Later in the morning we had a nice light rain for about two hours, which helped to wash everything off very nicely, including our citrus trees, which were full of dust.

We had my In-laws and Sarah and her boyfriend over for a nice BBQ of hamburgers and hot dogs, even put some corn-on-the-cob on the grill as well.  Followed it all up with some apple pie a la mode...yum!

We had a very nice view of some fireworks from the Salt River Fields last evening, which we enjoyed watching from our backyard with a nice breeze keeping us cool.

Tonight, I heard the fireworks and could see the flashes but could not see over the trees, so I decided to climb up on the motor home, which gave me a birds eye view of four great displays.  I tried to coax Tracy up, but she was not going for it.  Next year I am already planning to place some chairs up there in hopes that we will be able to have as great of a view.

I want to thank all those past and present who have made our freedom possible, your sacrifices are greatly appreciated and will not be forgotten!

I hope you all had a great Independence Day with friends and family.  Take care, enjoy the rest of your week and thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 2, 2012

A Heavenly Weekend!

Wow what nice weather in San Diego! Although I was born and raised there, I took the weather for granted until living through the last eighteen summers here in the desert Southwest.

We visited family, had a wonderful memorial for Granny Great and ate lots of wonderful food...actually way too much wonderful food.

We attended a car show which occurs every Thursday night down La Mesa Blvd. which was very enjoyable.  Here are a couple of the cars on display.

Fun Car Show!
Would love one of these

Sarah wants to trade for her Hyundai!

Very Nice

What size trailer could this one pull?
Had a great walk along the San Diego Harbor followed by dinner at Tom Ham's Lighthouse with a wonderful view of the bay and city of San Diego. 

Beautiful ladies and a beautiful view!

How about a cruise?
 
We were fired upon from the sea!

Just when I thought that I could get use to living in San Diego again, it was time to head home to the 110 degree temps.  So sad to have to go, but always nice to get home again.

A warm welcome to Helga Vater who is our latest follower...welcome aboard.  I know in reading the blogs of many of our Canadian friends that Canada Day was a great success with lots of fun. Wishing all of my American friends an equally safe and enjoyable 4th of July Holiday and thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Saw some awesome fireworks