Our Work Here is Done

Our hosts at Wesley Community Center had provided us with an initial list of projects they wanted done while we were here.  As things were completed, more were added.  At the end of three weeks the “completed” list was longer than they had expected.  Josh and Betty, from Wesley Center, provided an end-of-project dinner for us last Wednesday at a local Mexican restaurant, and we had our own little “going away” dinner on Thursday.  We met two new-to-us couples on this project and had a great time with everyone! 

 

Friday morning we moved back to Paula and Tom’s place in Glendale.  Since Paige’s mother and sister, Pam, are both in town it is like Benson-Central here for the next week.  Tomie also came home for the weekend to see her Grandma.  We went out last night to celebrate an early birthday for Paula.  Good to see everyone! 

 

The coming week, we will be busy with having our slideout repaired, meeting with a number of other friends, and preparing for our “winter vacation”.  We missed Christmas with our sons and their families, so we will fly to Minnesota for a belated Holiday in mid-February.  We are all looking forward to that.

Time to Get Back to Work

Again, we have moved.  This time was not far either; still in the Phoenix area.  We are parked at Wesley Community Center, right between the 2 main runways of Phoenix’ Sky Harbor Airport, and about 2 miles to the west of the end of the runways.  We moved yesterday morning and got setup before the rest of our team arrived.  Saturday was the nicest day in about a week, since the rain finally quit.  The temperatures were warm enough to sit outside but the airplanes’ noise made it hard to chat.

We will have a little work here, but most of our time will be at Golden Gate Community Center, about 7 miles away.  The two facilities have come together only recently.  For an interesting history see: http://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/news/flourishing-in-the-desert.   We came for an introduction last week and sat in on a staff meeting.  Since they have had Nomads many times previously (maybe about 20!), they are really looking forward to our help over the next 3 weeks.  Hope we live up to their expectations!

Our motorhome is a little smaller than normal, since one of the slide-outs tried to self-destruct.  It’s the one on the passenger side in the living room area – so one of the 2 bigger slides.  Replacement parts are on order, and the dealer has us scheduled for replacement in a little over 3 weeks.  We can live with it until then.  Thank goodness for an extended warranty.

Our team for this period is made up of 4 other couples, 3 of whom are new-to-us, and we’ve worked with the 4^th couple just once – last month.  Our family of Nomads friends just keeps getting larger.

Happy New Year

It was a little out of character for us, but we attended a New Years Eve party last night.  It wasn’t raucous, but it did get a little loud when the host started his player piano and we all sang “Roll Out the Barrel”.  The neighbors might have heard us.  Ten Nomads couples met at the home of a retired pastor who lives nearby in Surprise, maybe ½ hour away.  Like many Nomads gatherings, we met some people we have worked with in the past, and some we have never met before.  Since we are all retired Seniors, this was a New York New Years: the celebration peaked at midnight Eastern Time, or 10 PM here in Arizona.  By 1015 we were out the door, and home before 11:00.  Traffic was great because the drinkers were not on the streets yet. 

Pam and Ron were here for Christmas so the 3 Benson sisters were able to celebrate together on Christmas Day.  That was nice for us as we miss being with our kids.  We were able to talk to all the kids instead.  We got a very unique Cribbage board from Paula and Tom:

 Click on the photo to see a closeup - it is an etching of the Whiteface Reservoir, where the cabin is located.

Most of us had the chance to go to dinner; here is our group at a Japanese place:

 

The weather has been colder than normal here but, given what we’re hearing about the rest of the country with floods and problems, this isn’t too bad. 

We have a motor out on our front passenger-side slide.  This requires Bob to push one end while Paige works the In/Out buttons.  We are working on getting this repaired at a local Winnebago dealership soon. 

Looking forward to starting another project in a little over one week.  It will be nice to keep busy!