Saturday, November 18 to Wednesday, December 13, 2023: Beginning of the Holidays, Southern California, Cold Weather, and Daily Life

Saturday, we enjoyed some beautiful afternoon clouds.

Over the weekend, Meghan was in a wedding in Philadelphia.

My niece Lauren and her boyfriend Cody enjoyed a cabin in the woods outside of their home in Geoargia. Lauren is expecting a baby boy --- Colter Oakley --- in late January.

Monday morning, Kelsey and I went to Flagstaff. She had an acupuncture appointment with Dr. Sullivan.

Since we leave for Casa Grande before Christmas, I was fortunate to find a veterinarian in Casa Grande who does acupuncture. Kelsey needs to have this type of treatment every four weeks. Yes!

 

Mt. Humphreys had its first big snow over the weekend. I enjoyed taking a photo of her in her glory.

Donna and David are in Columbus, South Carolina visiting their long-time friend Sherri Garrett. On social media, Sherri posted a photo of their campsite there.

Tuesday morning, the insurance adjuster, Mike, came to take a look at the roof of my house and the RV barn. A claim has been filed with my insurance company for hail damage. We'll see what Main Street America has to say.

It is that time of year to begin my Christmas cards. I ordered the Shutterfly cards several weeks ago. The orange box arrived.

I really like the card with photos of Zion, Palm Creek, San Diego, and Pacheco Peak.

In the afternoon, I walked to town along the BNSF train tracks.

Wednesday morning, there was a beautiful sunrise. My neighbor, Jan Chumley, took this photo from her home.

Later in the morning, Tom's son Josh texted Tom. A Dalmatian named Pumpkin won the National Dog Show in the Non-Sport Category.

Jamie, Kelsey, and I walked to Cataract Lake.

The weather was cool enough to take them on longer walks.

In the afternoon, Tom joined me for some geocaching up Perkinsville Road and Coleman Lake. The first cache find was near Hobbit House Snack Shack. Tom found the cache.

I found the shack.

Tom and I entered the shack and saw some decorations left there over the years.

It was interesting, but kind of eerie. The next cache we found was called "Coleman Lake." I had to climb a hill and then scrambled halfway down a hill to find the container.

Arriving home from geocaching, a small herd of deer were passing through the neighborhood.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was fun sharing photos of the family. My niece Katelyn and my grandniece Lily was a the Kuwatas home in Sierra Madre.

The Sheltons were in San Gabriel.

 

 Carrie and Brent were in Bend, Oregon.

Tom and I celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at the Western View Steakhouse at the Best Western Plus.

Friday morning, we had a dusting of snow.

That morning, Kelsey laid down next to Jamie. Except for the trailer, I have never seen her do that.

Saturday, November 25, was my brother John's birthday. He would have been 61 years old. My brother Peter still has him on his birthday calendar.

My sister Carrie has been fighting a blotchy skin disorder on her chest and face.

She had a suspicious pre-cancer mole removed by her skin cancer dermatologist and the next day, VOILA! Yuk! Carrie was referred to another dermatologist and is being treated with steroids. Test performed indicated that is was not an autoimmune disorder reaction. Fortunately, she can cover the blotches up with make-up.

That evening, the city of Williams has a "Christmas Tree Lighting" parade. It was too cold an evening for me and Tom. But, many people went out the the festivities.

Monday, I had a pedicure and nail fill appointment with Alie Rico. She does such an awesome job!

Tuesday morning, I had a 9:00 a.m. appointment with the Grand Canyon Oral Surgeon. A skin tag in my mouth has reappeared.

A similar skin tag was removed last October by Dr. Sudheer Surpure. Unfortunately, I found out that this office is no longer accepting Medicare or Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance. So, no procedure is available here. Dr. Surpure suggested that I contact Flagstaff Surgical Associates or an oral surgeon in Casa Grande.

 

At 1:45p.m., I had a hair appointment with Shawna Ritter. 😊😊😊

That evening, there was a beautiful Arizona sunset.

Early Wednesday morning, I was able to photograph the Beaver Moon. Very nice!

Williams is decorated for Christmas. The Christmas tree lights are wonderful!

Thursday morning, I took the truck and headed to Southern California. I accepted an invitation to attend Bill Ukropina's 15th Holiday Lunch at the Rose Bowl. I wasn't going to attend this event, but Barbara Coad was going to the lunch. This was the only time that I was going to see her in 2023.

 

At this time of year, California is an hour behind Arizona. My brother Peter and his wife Terry were expecting me at 4:30 p.m. I arrived in Southern California early. So, I went to find a geocache in Monrovia. I found the cache container under a piece of concrete.

The "Side Tracked - Monrovia" cache makes find #245! I arrived at the Shelton home right at 4:30 p.m. It was a nice quiet evening with turkey soup for dinner.

The next morning, I showered, washed my hair, and leisurely got ready for the Pasadena Rose Bowl lunch. My nephew Jack spent the night at his parent's home. University of Washington --- his Alma mater --- was playing in Las Vegas tonight for the Pacific 12 championship against University of Oregon. Jack and my other nephew Micheal were driving up to Las Vegas for the game.

Peter, Terry, and I left their San Gabriel home at about 10:15 a.m.

We arrived at the Rose Bowl venue a little before 11:00 a.m. It was nice to have some time for photos. The first one was with host Bill Ukropina.

I took another photo with Peggy Schmidt. She went to San Marino High School with me --- only in a class behind me. Peggy knows one of my Glendale friends from UC Santa Barbara --- Salli Middleton. Peggy, Salli, and Button (from UC Santa Barbara too) spent summers on Balboa Island.

Barbara arrived about 11:30 a.m. So, we got our snapshot for 2023.

Their were approximately 300 attendees at the lunch in the Visiting Team Locker Room. The speaker program consisted of four medical doctors specializing in cancer. The topic was "What You Can Do" to have a healthy, active lifestyle to reduce the risk of cancer and its recurrence.

That evening, we watched the Pac 12 game on television. Terry bought chicken enchiladas for dinner at Trader Joe's. My sister Wendy, her husband Kai, and Terry's mother, Dudley, came over for dinner and the game.

It was an excellent game. University of Washington beat Oregon 34-31.

It was a fun game and a fun rendezvous with family.

Saturday morning, I headed back to Williams. When I drove out of Peter's driveway, my truck's indicator light signaled that one of my tires had low air. Fortunately, there was a tire store on my way to the 210 Freeway. All four tires were filled to 40 PSI. I made it home with no further incidents.

David Bernstein's aunt was celebrating her 100th birthday in New York City. David's father is the younger brother of Aunt Ruth. My granddaughter Meghan posted some fun photos of the celebration on Instagram.

The weather on Sunday was delightful. The golf course and Bill Williams Mountain were enjoying the day.

It was a perfect day to wash my truck.

Monday morning, I had an appointment at the North Country Health Clinic. I have had a hacking cough for three or four months. I finally decided to do something about it. My 9:00 a.m. appointment was with Dea Evans, a nurse practitioner. Dea met with me, listened to my lungs, and ordered a chest xray. She noticed that I was on Lisinopril for high blood pressure. Dea said that Lisinopril can cause a persistant cough. So, she changed this medicine to Losartan Potassium

 

I had a massage appointment with Mike Hippard that afternoon in Flagstaff. It was fun driving toward Mt. Humphreys with all that snow.

Tuesday, I had two appointments in Flagstaff. Kelsey has been limping --- favoring her front right leg. I decided to take her to Canyon Pet Hospital and have her checked out. Fortunately, our appointment was with Dr. Amstutz. 

She knows Kelsey and she has been providing her with acupuncture. Dr. Amstutz did a thorough evaluation. She said that there is a monthly shot procedure that might provide relief for Kelsey. But, since we will be in Casa Grande until April, it was decided to maintain the same routine for now.

My second appointment was with Dr. Rosales, a podiatrist. The right side pad of my right foot has been painful. The staff took feet x-rays and tested the blood circulation to both of my feet. Dr. Rosales said that I had a seed corn on the bottom of my foot. He had to dig into the callus to remove the seed. Yes! It gave me relief. 😃😃😃

Wednesday, Tom and I drove to Flagstaff. Tom had an appointment with his Ophthalmologist, Dr. Mahanti. Tom has regular visits to check the pressure in his eyes due to glaucoma.

The second appointment was with Audiologist Jen Lee. Tom had been trying out loaner hearing devices for several weeks. Tom needs hearing aids, but these Phonak devices were not working for him. It was agreed to return to Jen Lee in April. She thought that the Oticon brand of hearing aids might work better for Tom's situation.

 

The nurse practitioner at the Williams North Country Healthcare called me. The results of the x-ray was that I have bronchitis. Deaytrie Evans prescribed me with prednisone, an antibiotic, and an inhaler. Hopefully, it will do the trick!

I set aside Friday morning to get my tires rotated at Sandoval's Tires. Since I bought the tires there, the rotation service is free. J.P. was my technician. My odometer is over 67,000 miles. He suggested that I get the tires rotated again in 6,000-7,000 miles. J.P. looked at my brakes. He said that they are in excellent condition.

After dropping off my truck at Sandoval's, Tom and I went to Rulu's 66 Bar and Grill for breakfast. Tom had the biscuits and gravy and I had huevos rancheros.

Tom was not impressed with his breakfast entree. Most restaurants don't put enough pork in the gravy. My entree was good, but the restaurant was very cold in temperature and the radio was too loud. Darn!

That afternoon, I drive to Kaibab Lake and walked the perimeter. While there were some cars parked in the day use area, I did not see one live person in or around the lake. It was a beautiful afternoon.

That evening, we had an awesome Arizona sunset.

My nephew Blake and his wife Nicole are quite the international travelers. They recently were in Prague, Czech Republic.

My friend John West is a fantastic photographer. John was my first manager at the El Tovar Hotel's Front Desk. John was recently visiting the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. He took some awesome photos of Big Horn Sheep.

Saturday, I found a recipe for chicken piccata. One of my Facebook friends posted a photo of his dinner. It spoke to me. So, we had chicken piccata for dinner. Yummy!

On Sunday, I drove to Buckskinner Park. I parked the truck near the Park Service Headquarters and walked to the lake. There is a nice trail around Buckskinner. There were still some fall colors.

On Monday, I had a facial appointment with Amy Aranda. This was her first day back from being injured in a horse-riding accident. Lucky me!

Later in the afternoon, I walked Highland Meadows Drive around the golf course. Mt. Humphreys was peaking out in the distance.

 

I was even able to take a selfie by the Elephant Rocks Golf Course sign.

Tuesday, I had two appointments in Flagstaff. The first appointment was Kelsey's acupuncture treatment at Canyon Pet Hospital.

Kelsey became a movie star when the Veterinary technician gave her infrared therapy.

In the afternoon, I had a ninety minute massage with Karol at Northern Arizona Massage Therapy.

That evening, we had another gorgeous sunset.