El Mirage, Arizona

The other night we were visiting our good friends Dean and Lil who are renting a house in Phoenix for a while.

While we were there, I used the restroom.

I almost whooped with delight because that was the first time I’ve used real toilet paper in months! It truly was ultra soft. 🙂

RV septic systems are fragile, so we use a special one ply paper that does the job but leaves a lot to be desired.

It could also be called John Wayne Toilet Paper:

John Wayne toilet paper – Military term used to describe the low grade toilet paper found in the MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) accessory packet. Called so because it’s rough, tough and don’t take no shit off of anybody.

El Mirage, Arizona

Played pickleball at our new resort yesterday morning at a round robin competition where we each played with different partners against different opponents for six matches.

It’s always intimidating to play with and against new people. There’s so much to figure out…

Do they have a soft game? How accepting are they of new players? How good are they?

And while all that was going through my head, I’m also trying to play my best and play my game.

I gave myself an A- for facing the intimidating situation and a B for my execution.

Next pickleball session, my goal is an A- for execution. I’d rather be happier with my play than happier with my courage…

El Mirage, Arizona

We moved yesterday from Gold Canyon to El Mirage. Basically we moved from east of Phoenix to west of Phoenix.

There’s a huge cold front throughout most of the USA, and we haven’t escaped it.

There was snow on the Superstition Mountains yesterday morning.

Rich talked with one neighbor who said he hadn’t seen snow that low in over 20 years. Beautiful!

I guess we’ve gotten used to the warmer temperatures because we’re freezing to death.

One of my favorite sayings is appropriate for this weather: “It’s colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra!”

And here’s where that saying came from:

In the age of sail, on the cannon deck of a warship, next to each cannon, cannonballs were piled up at the ready, in a pyramid, which the sailors called a witches tit.

It was built on a brass plate with holes cut in to hold the cannonballs from rolling off as the ship listed, rolled and pitched. The sailors called the plate a brass bra.

Because brass expands and contracts with temperature at a greater rate than iron, rare extreme cold on the cannon deck would cause the brass plate to shrink to the point that the cannonballs would be released from the pyramid and roll over the deck. “Colder than a witche’s tit in a brass bra” is a saying that evolved from that phenomenon.

And now you know should that question come up in your next game of Trivial Pursuit. 🙂

Gold Canyon, Arizona

Wishing you a __________* 2015.

*Fill in with the adjectives of your choice and let those be your new year’s affirmations!

Gold Canyon, Arizona

One of the great things about staying here at Gold Canyon Resort for two months is that we’ve developed friendships that have gone past the superficial level.

We’ve exchanged stories and eventually confided in one another.

The surprising thing is finding out that others, not all but most, are as unsure of what to do as we are.

Harry and Marlene are in their 80’s and they are trying to decide if it’s time to sell their 2500 square foot home that’s on the shores of Lake Almanor in northern California and move closer to their children.

Mike and Debbie are at odds. Debbie thinks it might be time to sell their home in Ohio while Mike wants to keep it. She’s ready to try RV living full time; he’s not so sure.

Wally and Lea are also trying to decide if they should sell one of their two homes. Maybe they will upgrade their Arizona park model to an actual home because they spend most of their time here and more space would be nice.

(Park models are about 400 square feet (14′ by 35′), and most have an ‘Arizona Room’ added on that is either additional living space or a covered patio. In Texas they are called ‘Texas Rooms’.)

The good news for us is that hearing everyone else’s dilemmas has helped us realize that we’re not alone.

We are struggling with deciding how and when to transition back to home ownership. We ping and pong ideas back and forth continuously.

Perhaps it’s time to buy an eight ball… 🙂