Saturday, August 9, 2025

Friday, August 1 through Friday, August 29, 2025: Dalmatian Preston, Life and Home in Williams, Sunsets, Sunflowers, and Bearizona

Preston is a remarkable Dalmatian. He is adjusting quickly to our life in Williams. Tom and I took Preston to the east end of Cataract Lake and we walked along the dam.
 
I bought a sturdy extra large bolster bed for Preston from K9 Ballistic. When it came, Preston wanted nothing to do with it.
 
I could not return the bed in the box it came in. The K9 Ballistic bed had been compressed (all of the air sucked out) before it was packaged. When I phoned the company in California, they said that I could donate the bed and get a 75% refund. I did just that! High Country Humane was the beneficiary.

Preston demonstrated that he likes our bed. It has been some time that a Dalmatian I owned was able to jump up on a bed!
 
I had a phone appointment with my primary care physician, Dr. Trasi Crumrin. She went over the lab blood work I had done a few days earlier. Fortunately, most of my my liver numbers were within the normal range. There was one category that was on the high side --- but Dr. Crumrim was okay with it. She does want me to be tested again in ninety days.

Tuesday, four of us played pickleball at 10:00 a.m. It was me, Ray, Julie, and Suzanne. Julie is from Lake Havasu City. She and her husband Ron are parking their 5th wheel on Suzanne's property for the month of August.
At noon, Tom and I drove to Flagstaff. Tom had an appointment at Northern Arizona University Audiology. Dr. Michael Skelton felt that Tom was an excellent candidate for hearing devices. Tom met with Dr. Skelton's graduate student, Amanda. Dr. Skelton also dropped by to approve of Tom's decision.
Wednesday morning, I went to lunch at the Grand Canyon Brewing Company with ten ladies from my Highland Meadows housing community.
 
That evening, there was another beautiful sunset. I took one photo from the backyard.
 
My neighbor Pam Hill also captured a great sunset photo.
 
The skies are getting ready for a full moon on Saturday.
On Friday, Alfonso Cortez came to trim many of my trees. He has a tree trimming business that is reasonably priced.
 
 
 
 
 
Sunday  afternoon, Tom and I went to Flagstaff to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" musical at the Theatrikos Theatre. The theatre is small and intimate --- with only five rows. This is an Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice musical. Very nice!
 
 

Later in the day, a mule deer doe visited Preston. It came right up to our fence. Preston barked at it and together, they pranced along the fence. Surprisingly, this doe has come back to visit Preston two more times.

 
 
Monday morning, I took Preston to Dry Holden Lake. I parked the truck along Forest Road #124 and we walked for about an hour.
 
Preston has found the bed in our first bedroom. It is soft and comfy. Sometimes, he spend the night there.
 
 
 
On Tuesday morning, eight of us played pickleball. We took over the two courts. I used my "round robin" chart to set up each game. It was a lot of fun --- and nicely organized.
 
The Bravo Dragon fire on the North Rim is still burning --- now for a month. It is still not contained. Darn!
 
Wednesday evening, we had a beautiful sunset with mesmerizing clouds.
 
Thursday morning, there was no pickleball play. So, I took Preston for a nice walk in town. He posed with Smokey the Bear. 

He also posed with Betty Boop.
 
That evening, the skies created another magnificent sunset.
 
The Highland Meadows Ladies Lunch group had brunch at the Red Raven Restaurant. The food was excellent, but it took almost an hour to get served!
 
Preston found a deer antler by the backyard water feature. He is the first Dalmatian of mine to enjoy any antler!
 
Later in the day, there were some lovely cloud formations.
 
My neighbor, Jan Chumley, leads a one hour Saturday morning Circuit Training class at the Recreation Center. It is nice to exercise with a "Simon Says" leader.

My grandniece, Lily, had a birthday party on Saturday. Her mother, Katelyn, was kind enough to send me some of the pictures.
 
 
 
Six of us played pickleball on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. It was wonderful having Kim Kelley playing with us!
 
The pet company, Chewy.com, sent me a package. To my delight, the package contained two painted rocks --- one with Kelsey's name and one with Jamie's name. There was also a very nice sympathy card.
 
Tuesday afternoon, Tom and I drove to Flagstaff. Tom had an appointment with ophthalmologist, Dr. David Felsted. Dr. Felsted is monitoring Tom's glaucoma.
 
That evening, the skies were beaming with color.
 
This time of the year, the wild sunflowers are ripe with blooms. It is a delight walking around town and in the neighborhood.
 
My Pandigital picture frame is not longer working properly. Rather than buy a Pandigital replacement, I decided to purchase a digital frame that Peter and Terry had --- called Aura. It arrived in the mail and I set it up with my 2024 photos.
 
Later that day, I was able to capture more sunflowers and more sunset clouds.
 
 
 
Thursday, five of us played pickleball. Julie and Ron --- from Lake Havasu City --- were in town for some good play. Julie had a cute sleeveless tee shirt "I'm a TRUMP girl, Get Over It!" I knew that I needed one too --- but long sleeve for me.
 
I ordered a new front license plate for my Dodge Ram truck. It came in the mail from eBay. I like it!
 
 
 
I took Preston for a short walk in town. Next year will be the 100th anniversary of Route 66. I took a photo of Preston in front of a reminder sign.
 
On Saturday, I went to Jan's Circuit Training class.
 
I had a 10:45 a.m. facial appointment with Kacia Maddox. Kacia is a very petit woman. I gave her a dress I bought late last year that would never fit me properly. Yes!
 
The grand re-opening of Rod's Steakhouse was later that afternoon. 49 years ago --- on this date of August 23 --- was when this steakhouse first opened.
 
Tom and I went to the opening ceremony with ribbon cutting, champagne, and hors d'eourvres.
 
The General Manager of the restaurant is our friend, Shane. Shane used to be the bartender manager at Canyonlands Restaurant in Bearizona.
 
That evening, I took Preston for a last walk. The sunset did not disappoint!
 
My Italian son, Francesco, was enjoying a vacation in Spain. It was fun seeing him in a photo along the seashore there.

Monday, August 25, the Phoenix and Casa Grande areas had a severe dust storm. They call these dust storms Haboobs. The Haboob even approached our Palm Creek Resort --- where we spend four months in the winter.
 
Tuesday afternoon, Tom had a haircut appointment with Alie Rico. I stopped by to change an appointment I had with Alie next month. Alie does my nails and pedicures.
 
Oh, yes, someone posted this beautiful sunset on Facebook. Bill Williams Mountain is in the background.
 
Wednesday, I had a blood donation appointment with Vitalant. The venue was in Ash Fork --- at the school gymnasium.
 
Once again, the clouds this time of year are outstanding.
 
Thursday, I had a 90 minute massage with Julie Donbrosky. She is excellent! And Julie's salon is in Williams.
 
Friday morning, I took Preston to town. I parked the truck at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. Preston provided an excellent pose in front of a caboose.
 
My "I'm a TRUMP Girl, Get Over It" long sleeve tee shirt arrived. I'm loving it!
 
It was time for me to renew my Bearizona annual pass. Fortunately, my pass price is grandfathered in at $200.00, plus tax. 

Since I was already at Bearizona, I decided to drive through the park. There were the mountain goats,
 
the reindeer, 
 
the wolves, 
 
the buffalo, 
 
the bears, 
 
and the longhorn sheep.

Friday, August 1 through Friday, August 29, 2025: Dalmatian Preston, Life and Home in Williams, Sunsets, Sunflowers, and Bearizona

Preston is a remarkable Dalmatian. He is adjusting quickly to our life in Williams. Tom and I took Preston to the east end of Cataract Lake ...