Wordless Wednesdays

Memorial Day In Tucson

For Memorial Day, we went to Tucson to visit Nana & Papa. Papa just got a new dog: Mollie. She's a yellow lab, about a year old. She's a total goof ball! She and Lily got along okay although Lily didn't think much of her.

Mollie the dog.


And, Alvin got to help Papa install a new water purifier. Lily helped. Aren't you glad that isn't YOU under the sink with the whole world "helping"?

Black Friday - Thanksgiving 08 in Tucson

Ah! The 5th wheel. Do you see how Papa's truck has rolled back and is TOUCHING the trailer? Yeah, that's where the propane bottles live. The propane bottles we needed to turn on to turn on the oven in the 5th wheel to cook part of Thanksgiving dinner.

We all pushed (Helped once the truck was in NEUTRAL instead of REVERSE) but nope. Couldn't move it. Ended up microwaving the potatoes.

This is actually the day AFTER Thanksgiving, but I didn't take any photos of Turkey Day itself. This is me and Alvin (very over-exposed)

Front to back, left to right: Dad, Maurice, Papa Charlie, Nana (you can just see her purple sweatshirt and hand), Tia Vicki, Alvin.


In this photo you can see Nana. She's kinda hidden behind Vicki.

Mom, standing up.

And I just LOVE this photo with Tia peeking out at me.

Kyle and his girlfriend WERE there but they didn't eat with us. Kyle was complaining that he just COULDN'T eat any turkey leftovers and his girlfriend went out to eat.

The soup was super spicy!





After dinner, we played penny poker. I HATE poker but play because Nana likes us to all do something together and SHE likes poker.

Tucson Flood - Thanksgiving 08 in Tucson

It rained today in Tucson. See that driveway next to the brown car? Yeah, that's NEW. My grandfather's neighbor poured it and then sloped it so the water runs towards my grandpa's house.


Like this. It's about 6 inches deep. Needless to say, it really worries him and stresses the foundation of his house; his 55+ year old house! He's called the City of Tucson but they're dragging their feet. They did give him a sump pump (under the white "board" in the photo) but that doesn't really FIX the problem.

I'm figuring out how to get Pre-Paid Legal involved since Papa & Nana ARE members. I figure they'll write a letter and help them out. I don't know if it's to the neighbor or city or both.

Chili Relenos - Thanksgiving 08 in Tucson

Remember all those MILLIONS of chilis I grew in my garden this year? I shipped them all to Nana so she could roast them. Well, some of them, she roasted and stuffed with cheese for chili relenos! Here she is showing us how she dips them into batter.

A close up shot. I THINK it's just whipped egg and a bit of flour but I wasn't there for it.


And into the skillet. We all had some as a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody had 2. Except for me.





I had 4.





One was sweet and 3 were melt-your-face off. Guess I'll never learn.

4th of July -- Tucson

I know Tucson is HOT in July, but this is a bit nutsy! Nana & Papa only have a swamp cooler and the monsoons have started. Did I mention that swamp coolers don't work in the damp? I feel like I'm melting

But, it is worth it since I'm getting to visit my two favorite people on Earth. We celebrated Nana's 81st birthday with ribs (hello! DON'T turn on the oven when it's this hot!) and an ice cream cake.

Today, we escaped the heat a bit and went to the Tucson Mall. It's very strange wandering the food court and not seeing anybody I know. When I was at the U of A, I always ran into people I knew or at least recognized. Now, nothing. Even if it wasn't summer I don't know how many of my friends are even still here.

I found great sales at JC Penny and Dillards. Yeah for finding school clothes that fit and are flattering. I was especially excited to escape the damp at Nana's house for a while. After, Dad & I went to Bookman's and I picked up $40 worth of Latin books. I'm especially excited about my two teacher's manuals that I got for $10 each when I can get them used online for $25 (plus S+H) and $50 retail. I LOVE Bookmans!

While my folks and Nana watched the D-Backs ballgame, I worked on Latin. Proud of me? I'm having a tough time deciding if I'm parsing everything correctly. It's not in my teacher's edition since the course material doesn't really care about parsing. I can see where it'll be nice to know but it'll be a bit hard to grade if I'm not 100% sure of the parsing. Hopefully, when I get back, I'll have my graded lesson returned to me.

Speaking of getting back, I think we're leaving Sunday. That's fine by me: gives me three days to work on PPL leads before we leave for the weekend for California. I think that before we go, I might put my photo editing software on my laptop and bring my memory card reader. It's frustrating not being able to add photos to posts-on-the-go.