Rainy Day in Phoenix

It's a rainy day in Phoenix. I love rain! That white spot on the picture is a rain drop on my lens.

I hope it rains all day.

I go out to check the plants in my new planters every morning. We put two tomato plants in some buckets. There's a little tomato already!

And there is a little tomato on this plant too. See it? I might be able to make ONE salad by summer time - woohoo :)

Pool Day 2

They brought in a big truck. It was back in the alley. It took two truck load to empty all the plaster from my pool. They put the plaster in wheelbarrows - then up the ramp - and into the truck

They shoveled all the plaster into buckets. Then they lifted up the buckets to the edge of the pool. Someone then put the plaster from the buckets in the wheelbarrows. Golly, if their backs didn't hurt when they got to my house, I'm sure they hurt now.

This guy jackhammered for 4 1/2 hours.

This guy chipped off all the tile. There were 6 of them working on my pool today. The pool contractor told me it would take at least 6 hours. These guys had it done - cleaned up - and gone in 5 hours. Woohoo!

Just Stimulating

I scanned the picture out of the book of the new pool tile. It's the 6 inch Marble Series in Indigo Blue (top left).
These are the nasty looking tile that the pool cleaner sucked off the side.
Yesterday the pool contractor came out and did an inventory of our existing pool. He told me that the pool skimmer was cracked. He said it would cost $900 to fix that. Ahhhh no!
I told my husband that - you don't want to hear the words he used!
Today the pool is being drained. It is draining really fast. *** might be because it's had recent experience - shhhh!
Thursday, the crew comes to chip out the plaster. I know it has to be done but..... I am really not looking forward to the noise and mess. We'll I gotta go do some more "stimulating" around Phoenix. Be good :)

San Francisco, California

Thank you for all your requests and/or ideas. This will be my official 300th post! I am posting about my favorite house to live in - requested by Mildred of Nalley Valley
I have no pictures of my childhood :( I had to look this house up on Google Street Maps. Isn't it amazing that we can walk down memory lane on the computer! I typed in 267 Miramar Ave. San Francisco, California and there it is!
I was 4 and 5 (and maybe 6?) when we lived in this house. My Dad owned a grocery store at the end of this block on Ocean Ave. We use to ride our tricycles with Mom down the street to visit Dad and do our grocery shopping. At the opposite end of Miramar was the elementary school I started kindergarten.
I remember one night my parent woke us up in the middle of the night. They wanted to show us what earthquake damage looked like. The ceiling had fallen in on the first floor. In the backyard we had a "mud" garden to play in. I made many mud pies. Yum! We had a boat. My Dad use to take us out in the bay to go fishing. He use to tell us NOT to put our hands in the water - that fish might think it's bait. ummmmm
See the front steps? My grandmother on my Dad's side lived in Palo Alto, California. She use to give us her old clothes, furs and jewerly to play with. My sisters and I use to have many fashion shows on those steps with Grandmother's "goodies". See the room off from the garage? We had a piano in that room. I took lessons..... I can't play a thing now.
This house has wonderful memories - so it is my favorite.

"the bf"

One day when my husband was coming home from work, he saw this young man walking a rottweiler. He stopped and talked to the young man and found out he and his rottweiler live two blocks from our house. My husband told him our address and said to stop by sometime so Bandit could "meet" his rotty. John (the young man) did one day. We had him take Adonus (his rotty) in the backyard. Adonus went straight for the pool. John told us that Adonus practically lives in his pool. Bandit (being a puppy) wanted to play but NOT in the pool. Bandit and Adonus seemed to make good playmates.
John came over yesterday with his mother who was visiting from Las Vegas. He told her that she needed to meet Bandit (Adonus's new bff).
Adonus was running and playing in our sprinklers. By the time I rememered to get the camera :( they were ready to leave. Adonus is 3 years old and weighs 130 pounds.
I think Bandit has a boyfriend!

Peaceful Sunday

I got a surprise in the backyard. One little daisy growing out by the "barn." It is truly amazing that it is there considering.......
The little daisy is out there with Bandit (my now 80 pound, 7 month old Rottweiler). As you know from other posts, Bandit is the dog from ****. She has destroyed - one antique pillowcase, four blankets, 6 throw rugs, 1 dining room chair, all her toys, the bathroom wall.... I guess you get the idea.

This is Bandit's frisbee. My little daisy is still there for right now :)

End of Day Two

It is the end of day two ::: wiping brow::: The pavers are down - the planter stones are in - sprinkler system is working - cleaned up driveway! When my husband gets another day off, he'll get a truck load of dirt. Then we'll take a visit to the nursery. My neighbor (who has his whole yard in roses) walked down the street to see what we were doing this time. I was thinking roses in these planters but..... the neighbor said it was too late. I need to have roses planted by October. We'll see what the nursery has.

All In A Day :)

My husband bought this gadget to do the other side of the driveway. By the time he finally got it (very slow shipping) the other driveway addition was done. He tried using it for this project and found out you can't see the "line" in hot Arizona sun. Oh well!
I was the "gopher" today. I picked up a load of sand at Home Depot.

While waiting for the forklift driver to load my truck, I saw the Cookies From Home" van. I've posted about them before. I've shipped cookies from them many times. Look at their back bumper.... Cute!

Then I had to go up to very North Scottsdale. They had some planter stone on sale. :::shaking head::: Boy, was that a waste of time. The stone they had on sale were marked down because they were either broken or mismatched :( I left!

One of the unusual plants/tree at that nursery in Scottsdale. When I got back home, my husband had used all the sand and needed me to go get more......

He bet me that he could have this project done today (one day). I said: No way! I think I'm going to win this one!

Pool starts today

My husband and I went to the pool company this morning. In this picture (kinda) shows some of the upgrades we could pick - silver or/and gold nuggets or/and blue pebbles in the pebble tec. Also the picture shows the lights (also an upgrade). We could pick one upgrade at no additional cost :) My husband picked the light - that was fine with me!
These are the choices of colors - some colors were upgrades (of course).

Another view of the colors - there were only three or four of the colors I didn't like out of the 24 choices. So I picked four that I liked - my husband narrowed it down to one of my choices.

This is the color we chose. We narrowed the choice of tile down the same way. I picked three that I could "live" with - he narrowed it down to the "one." I forgot to take a picture of it. The tile is the same shade of blue in the tile in above picture. You'll see it as I take pictures of the pool remodel process.

This afternoon, my husband is picking up the pavers for the driveway addition on the other side. I know you're thinking..... don't they ever quit.

I bought this house 3 1/2 years ago. I bought it because I didn't think we would have to do that much to it. Also, this house was big enough for: game room, 12X24 workshop addition and big diving pool. Those were the things my husband had as his priorities - my priority was basic: the neighborhood. This house had it plus more. Soooo.... my husband said if I was out with the realtor and found the perfect house - buy it. "I" (me, in my name) bought this house. I guess that's a story for another post.

Today only!

Do you see it? Look real close.... just below the "Shell" I had to go back home and get my camera - then drive really slow (try doing that in Phoenix traffic... chuckle, chuckle) - and then snap a picture.
Gas today at the Shell for only 89 cent a gallon in Phoenix, Arizona!

Lake Dumbar is gone

Thanks for all the comments! My husband will be home in 1/2 hour. It took 13 hours to fill the pool back up. The lake is gone (my property value just went back down - not lake side property anymore ;). He doesn't know a thing! And none of my wonderful blogger friend are going to tell on me - thank you.
I interviewed another pool company today. This one might be "the one." My husband has Thursday off. I made an appointment for us to go see the pool company showroom. We've got his relatives coming late April. We also throw a big pool party at our house every Memorial Day. I'd really like to have every thing done before that.
By the way, those ceramic pool "critters" are so expensive that we might not put them in. If we do, it might be the little crabs in three different colors. One for each of the grandkids that live here in Arizona. My husband informed me that he wants a new pool light - one that shines different colors. I'll have to see the price first.
Sigh

Shhh... don't tell ;)

Yesterday morning I noticed that Bandit dug a BIG hole in the grass by the pool deck. I went out and found that the sewer system had backed up. The sewer system was going out the "drain out" into the grass. Oh no! I had the washer going - the dishwasher going and my husband was taking a shower. I told my husband. We agreed that if it had happened again we would go out and buy a sewer drain cleaner.
I went to Harbor Freight. They have them for $259.99. When I got there I found out that they don't carry them in the store anymore. I would have to order one online :( So I went to Ace Hardware. They only rent them there. So off to Lowes I go. They have them but for $379.99. So on to Home Depot.... Yes, they have them too..... for $499.99. Oh no!
I called my husband. No answer. I tried 12 times. No answer. I was upset (to put it mildly). Since he is a mailman, I went to find him on his route. (many really bad words had been said by me during this time) I found him! He had a supervisor riding with him on his route. (hanging head for all the bad words I said) I told him about the prices. He said - we'll just have to rent one again this time. He would work on the sewer line when he got off work.
He called me at 6pm and said to go down and rent it now. I would have it there by the time he got home (and I'd only have to pay the 4 hour charge). I picked it up - brought it home - and in the dark he fixed the sewer line. He told me I should flush the line with backwash from the pool.
Stay with me... I'm getting there!
Soooo... I spread out the hose to the pool pump -turned it to backwash - and turned it on. The hose kinked on the end when I turned it on. So the water busted through one of the tiny holes in the hose. That tiny hole turned into a huge hole. Water was spraying so high it hit the side of the house. I ran to the timer and turned the pool pump off.
My husband laughed. He figured what else could go wrong today :::shaking head:::!
I was going to put the hose back by the pool pump but my husband said.... no, just leave it there. You can deal with it in the morning. hehehehe (little did I know then)
Last night I couldn't sleep. I slept in the guest room. I wanted my husband to be able to have a good night of sleep (considering the day). I heard Bandit bark a couple times through the night. Trixie did not. Trixie is my little barker. Finally at 4am I GOT UP!
I looked out in the backyard. There was Bandit - no Trixie. I looked at the grass area. I could see reflections of the solar lights. ummmmm
I looked out at the pool. Oh Good Golly! I remembered that I turned the pool pump off at the "timer." At midnight every night, the timer turns on the pool cleaner. I still had the pump on backwash. WATER WAS SPRAYING EVERYWHERE! For 4 hours!
Needless to say... I ran (Bandit ran with me thinking we were playing - Trixie was hiding) and turned the pump off.
My husband being really tired last night didn't hear anything. If I had been sleeping back there, I would have heard the water. Our bedroom and bathroom are in the back and opens to the pool.
My husband got up - got ready for work - and left. He didn't go in the backyard this morning. Shhhhhh.... he doesn't know we have a "lake" in the backyard. Don't tell!

Snoozer

Mom, did you get a new bike basket for me?
I fit perfect in this one!

Gimme some wind..... woof, woof

more driveway

Today, as we were sitting around discussing the bids I got on remodeling the pool, my husband says..... "You know dear, (oh oh) we should put those pavers by the driveway." What??? - I'm thinking. He said, "You know how you're always complaining (oh oh) about the drop off on the driveway." Oh..... he changed topics! The grass was lower than the driveway in one section. He put some dirt and grass seed in there. The birds keeps eating all the grass seed :(

He said, "Why don't we (there goes my back again) put the same pavers we put on the other side." He takes me outside - he's pointing and telling me all about this great idea he has. I'm saying, "ok dear, if that is what YOU (he didn't catch the YOU) want to do."

I guess you'll start seeing more driveway and planter (oops, that's right I forgot to mention the planter) pictures.

The pool, well, (:::shaking head:::) it will get done. I found out there are a lot of dishonest pool salesmen! Not necessarily, big name pool companies are more reputable than the others :(

The Money Pit

I don't know if you remember.... two weeks ago we got another new pool cleaner. Our other pool cleaner lasted two years (of course, it lasted until the warranty just ran out). The new pool cleaner works so good (?) it has been sucking off the tile around the edge of the pool :(
The last four days I've been getting quotes to have the pool refinished and retiled. You wouldn't believe how many choices there are! You can plaster, quartz plaster, regular pebble-tec or mini pebble-tec. Then some companies offer different types of pebble-tec like: sheen or baja, etc. Then they have a multitude of colors of pebble-tec. There are also almost a million choices of tiles. One of the things I'd really like to do is put a turtle or fish or something to define the area where it is 4 to 5 feet (so the grandkids know where the deep part starts). These "things" you can add to your pool range from $100 to $300 for the small to $800 and up to the larger "things." (The things I scanned and posted above.) Oh my! There is a diving board and the pool is 10 feet deep. There is also a slide and the pool is 8 feet deep there. I call our pool "The Money Pit." Remember that movie?

Trains & Things

This is a picture (I bought at an auction) of Oatman, Arizona. It's from the early 1910's. I have this with all my "train things" in the living room.
This is another picture I bought at an auction. It's of Roosevelt Lake here in Arizona. This picture was dated on back 1925. It is also in the living room.

One of my many train pictures bought at auction. Unfortunately, I sealed the back of the picture when I framed it and didn't write down the year and place taken :(


Another train picture bought at an auction and unfortunately I sealed this one, too.



Narrow-Guage Locomotive D&RG #94 Baldwin 4-4-0 Old West Hotel, Del Norte, Colorado
:) I didn't have the back of this one sealed.

This is of the train depot in Loveland, Colorado. When I was in Loveland two years ago, this train depot is now a restaurant :( I have more old train things. Want to see more?
I got hooked on trains when I took my first train ride in Germany. I had to go to Denmark to pick up my car. Oh Golly was that an experience. It was mid January.... Silly me! Dressed like typical California girl in the middle of winter in Denmark! :( It's really cold there - I had on a sweater and flip flop shoes. I had to stand out on the pier for an hour. Oh - the lessons we learn sometimes!

Proverbs 3:5

AOL welcome screen has daily news worthy (and sometimes not so news worthy) items to read about. Yesterday one of the items was: hidden religious messages on your product or packaging. I checked it out and found that IN-N-Out Burger was listed as one of the companies that does this. I just happened to eat at IN-N-Out that day. Soooo..... I checked my "packaging" to see if I could find any secret messages.
Yep, there it was on the bottom of my milkshake cup!
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. (Prov. 3:5-6)
Amen!
Note: *** I vote that they print this "secret message" in big letters on the sacks!

When Grandkids call and ask for....

When one of your grandchildren calls you and ask if you happen to have a wheelchair at your house they could borrow, it can't be good news.
My eleven year old grand daughter called and told me that..... well, I better back up and start from the beginning.
Saturday I called the grandkids and asked them to come over. We'll BBQ and swim in the pool. Then they could spend the night and we'll do it again the next day. The oldest said she'd have to ask Mom ( Mom was in the shower - she'd call me back ). Dad (my Son ) called me back and told me they bought a dirt bike. They were taking it out with friends with quads and doing some riding. "Oh, Ok have fun," I said.
OOPS.... I should have added "and be careful." Monday afternoon, I got the call. We have a lot of stuff out in the "barn" (as I call it:) but not a wheelchair. My husband found one on craigslist for free. I rushed out and picked it up and took to her.
Oh my! Poor baby - she fractured her leg and sprained her ankle. At the emergency room she said she got to choose the color of her cast. She picked purple. I signed it.
Not once did I say.... maybe you should have come to Grandma's house and gone swimming.

It's gone to the dogs!

This is another one of those Bad Dog Bandit posts. We have a couple guest rooms in this house. One of them has this antique chenille bedspread, pink satin sheets and antique embroidered pillow cases on the bed. The doors to the bedrooms are always kept shut (because of Bandit).

Yesterday, I noticed the door was open. I'm not sure if I forgot to shut the door or not but...

On the floor was this pillow with the pillow case ripped.

:::(counting to ten before I continue to type)::::

The dogs slept outside in the wilds :) of the backyard last night - the whole night - and will continue to spent every night and most of the day OUTSIDE! Now we can say that someone does lounge around our pool. It's gone to the dogs!

Yard Sale finds

I was out killing a little time hunting for yard sales this morning. My Sister had to take my Mom on some "important" errands before I went to pick her up for her flight home. I found a few yard sales but no great finds. I did find these great looking plants at this one house along the way, though. Isn't this cactus amazing?
They had this amazing firestick plant in their front yard too!

We have alleys in the back of our houses. While driving looking for yard sales I across this alley. It has a bike path. AND it is clean! My alley doesn't look like this :(

My Sister went back home today. She and her husband will be back the end of June for their son's college graduation. Wow - 10 or 12 years of college (I lost track)! Do we have a Doctor in the house?

I am a....

My Sister called me and said Mom HAD to go shopping at Brightons! She said, "Where is one here in Phoenix?" I said (not knowing that I was falling into a trap) "Oh, there's one at the Scottsdale Mall and one in the Chandler Mall."
To make a long story short...... she talked me into going to the Chandler Mall yesterday. Some people have vises. You know, drinking, smoking, mine is shopping at the Scottsdale or Chandler Mall! I have faithfully stayed away from both malls for a year now, really!
Until yesterday :(
We went to Brightons http://www.brightoncollectibles.com/ AND I bought a purse.
Weakness #1. Purses #2. Watches #3. Perfume...... and this store has all three plus more. I was the only one out us three to spend money at the mall.
My name is Dee Dee and I am (no not a smoker, no not a drinker) (hanging head down) A SHOPPER. But not just a shopper.... a shopper at the Chandler and Scottsdale Mall.
After they had me spend tons of money, we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Ohhhhh! We were all so stuffed. The food was soooooo good. And of course, dessert was excellent!
We went back to my house for awhile. When they left, I took a nap. All that shopping and eating wore me out.
Just thought I'd let you know, I'm having fun.