Sunday, November 13 through Friday, December 2, 2022: Thanksgiving, Geocaching, and Colonoscopy

The weather is Williams has been clear and cool. I took a walk around Highland Meadows and the Elephant Rocks Golf Course. It was nice seeing Mt. Humphreys with snow.

Tuesday evening, several deer were grazing on the empty lot across from our home.

My girlfriend Stephanie Hap celebrated her 72nd birthday at the Hassayampa Inn in downtown Prescott. She and her husband Joe had a two-night stay there. On her actual birthday, they had dinner at  Papa's Italian Restaurant.

Tom and I dined there last December. It has great food and excellent wine!
 

The Highland Meadows Ladies Lunch Group are now meeting on Wednesdays. Two vehicles --- with nine of us --- drove to Seligman for lunch at Westside Lilo's Cafe. The food is always good. The restaurant specializes in desserts.

I brought home a huge piece of carrot cake. Tom and I ate it over several days.

This time of year, Samaritan's Purse sponsors Operation Christmas Child. The organization provides "shoe boxes" to be filled with unwrapped gifts for boys and girls at specified age groups - 2-4, 5-9, and 10-12. I participated this year and dropped off my box at the Calvary Church. Neighbors Rick and Ann Steppey were volunteering. I stayed an hour to help fill six or seven boxes.

Later in the afternoon, while walking Kelsey and Jamie, I saw six or seven deer grazing in front of Kay and Dave Hall's home.

On Saturday, my sister Carrie posted some photos on Instagram from Bend. My nephew Blake and his wife Nicole are spending a week in Bend with my sister and her husband Brent. Blake and Nicole live in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

My sister has two young English Lab dogs, Noah and Dutton. They enjoyed the walk with all the Carrolls.

That Saturday, I looked for several geocaches in Williams. I found one at the trailhead for Bill Williams Mountain.

Elephant Rocks Golf Course closed for the winter season on Saturday, November 19.

After church on Sunday, I drove to Kaibab Lake, parked, and walked the perimeter around the lake.

Later in the afternoon, more than 20 deer were grazing on the lot across from my home.

Monday morning, I invited Tom to go geocaching with me. He said yes! We started by going near Kaibab Lake. I saw that there were three up a closed road. We parked the car at the barricade and walked the 1/2 mile to the furthest cache called "Don't Shoot Me." It was near a cinder pit used years ago for gun target practice.

We walked several hundred feet for the second cache.

This second cache was named "Knot in the Log."

The third cache was another several hundred feet walk. It was named "Where in the woods is it?."

On Tuesday, I went to Flagstaff for a hair appointment with Shawna Ritter. I wanted to take a photo of Shawna, and she suggested a selfie with the two of us.

I'm glad Shawna knows how to take selfies! While I was in Flagstaff, James from Wizard's Hearth and Home came to the house to repair our gas fireplace. It started misbehaving several months ago --- and finally died last week. James was able to replace several parts and clean inside the fireplace. Yeah!

The wife of my nephew, Nicole, posted a photo of the Carrolls going wine tasting at Grand Peaks Winery in Sisiters --- about 1/2 hours west of Bend.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Tom and I had dinner reservations at the Best Western Plus Western View Steakhouse. When we arrived at 6:00 p.m., our table was not quite ready. So, we had adult beverages in the Kachina Lounge.

The restaurant has nice ambience for a special Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Family members in Bend (Kuwatas and Carrolls) enjoyed Thanksgiving Day with friends and family.

 

 

The entire Bernstein family was in Los Angeles with dogs Carl and Doug.

Friday, Tom and I set aside time to install our Starlink Satellite system for our travel trailer. We found out that Palm Creek RV Resort in Casa Grande --- where we are spending January and February --- does not have RV site internet. It was recommend that we purchase the Starlink system. There are too many trees on our property to test the system at home. So, we drove out to Jon's house. Jon was very helpful in guiding us through the set-up process and it worked! We were able to log into the Starlink internet system.

On our way back to our home in Williams, we stopped and found several caches. One was a cache that I could not find several weeks ago --- "Arrowhead Rock." Another cache was "The Woods, The Woods #1" and the last cache found that afternoon was "Unknown Grave."

That same day, the Carrolls went into the national forest near Bend to find a Christmas tree. They were successful!

On Saturday, Tom and I captured three more caches. One of the caches we tried to find in October. Yes, we found "Nameless Cache!" The cache was firmly lodged in a crack. Fortunately, Tom was successful getting it out.

We also found "Have all the cows left" and "A Dirt Road Adventure."

That evening, there was the Christmas light parade and annual tree lighting celebration. Our City of Williams certainly likes parades!

On Sunday, I began the project of preparing and sending out Christmas cards. The first cards mailed were to Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, France, and Japan.

On Monday, Kelsey had an appointment at Williams Veterinary Wellness Clinic. It was time to have her teeth cleaned. I dropped her off at 8:00 a.m. and picked her up at 2:30 p.m. Unfortunately, she had to have six teeth pulled. Yes, she still does have teeth in her mouth. 😝😝😝

Tuesday, I had to begin the prep work for my colonoscopy on Thursday. Over the next two days, I must consume only clear liquids and I have to drink four 16 ounce glasses of Suprep. Yummy.

On Thursday, Tom drove me to the Forest Canyon Endoscopy & Surgery Center in Flagstaff. I had to check-in at 8:45 a.m. My colonoscopy was scheduled for 9:45 a.m. I laid on a bed in the preparatory section until I was wheeled into the procedure room.

After the procedure, Dr. Angelo Trujillo came into recovery. He told me that he only took out one polyp, but that I would need another colonoscopy in three years. I'm not sure I want more colonoscopy procedures. Later that afternoon, Tom and I stopped by Obregon City Tacos and we picked up some delicious tacos for dinner that evening.