Busy First Month Back In Arizona

We have been keeping busy in our first month back here in Arizona. We have settled into our site and the first thing we did was put up a hummingbird feeder. We had a lot of birds come in for a day or so and then a Costa's Hummingbird we named "Bully" moved in and would not let any other Hummingbirds come and feed. The Verdin ignored him so Bully would sit on a nearby tree and sulk while the Verdin feed. We also have seen three coyotes so far this year with the one in the picture below walking right up our street. 

We have had more rain this year than last and everyone says it is because of the strong El Nino current at the equator. We still get nice warm days and beautiful sunsets. Our friends Bj and Karin were able to get us seats in the Charles Schwab Suite for the finals of the Charles Schwab Cup over in Scottsdale. We were treated to a catered lunch and snacks not to mention an open bar. A good time was had by all. One evening we attended the chili cook-off here at the resort and had a fun time sampling the chilis. Josie is again playing Mah Jongg and Mexican Train a few days a week and will soon start water aerobics. We both have been doing Tai Chi Gong once a week to stay limber. 

I have been able to play golf at least two or three times a week with the Bybee's. The courses in the valley are in great shape after over seeding.

 My brother Tom came into town for three weeks and we went to many Arizona Fall League baseball games. We also attended an Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers hockey game. The main reason for his visit was for us to attend Sprint Car races in Perris California and Tucson Arizona on two consecutive weekends. On our drive over to Perris we drove through Joshua Tree National Park. Pinks Hot Dogs, a Hollywood institution had a food truck at the races and we both got a chili, cheese, bacon dog. GOOD EATS!
On our way down to Tucson we drove through Saguaro National Park since Tom had never been there before. While in Tucson for the races we visited the Pima Air Museum and toured the "Boneyard" where the military stores all of its out of date planes. The dry non-humid climate of the Tucson area is an ideal place to store them so they will not rust or corrode. They had many A6 Intruders that I had worked on while in the Navy. The Air Museum is very large with over 200 planes of all types on display. The races were excellent all three nights even though it felt quite cold at 55 degrees with the wind blowing. Hated to see Tom head back to KC we had such a great time. 

​We will now start getting ready for the holidays.