Consequences

Here is a man who was passing through Tortilla Flats, but told the sheriff he wasn't going to cheer for the SeaHawks in the Super Bowl this week-end!

Hotel Witt

Here's a picture of Connie & Bill and their home, our current accommodations, in Sun City West. There's no grass, just lots of cactus, palms and rocks for landscape.

Catching Up

This vacation business is hard work and I haven't had much of an opportunity to post pictures or comments. We're keeping busy, of course. We just returned from the week-end in Apache Junction, about 75 miles southeast of Phoenix. We stayed with Carl & DiAnn (at left), who are our good friends from Wenatchee, and renting a place down there.

Sunday we took a driving tour of the area, with our first stop being the old ghost town of Goldfield, Arizona. We took a leisurely tour through the rugged countryside of the Superstition Mountain wilderness area, stopping for picture opportunities and for an ice cream cone at Tortilla Flat. Tortilla Flat is very small, claiming 6 full time residents, 2 of which may be rattle snakes! It is an old time stage coach stop and tied to the legend of the elusive goldmine of the Lost Dutchman.

Cactus Cactus Everywhere!

Today Connie and Bill took us for a drive through the 4,000 foot high "White Tank Mountain Regional Park". Unfortunately, I did not realize we were taking this sight seeing tour, so I left my digital camera at the house. We took some pictures on Connie's camera, but I'm having trouble uploading them. It could be the slow dial-up connection I'm using here. I'll load some pictures when I can.

The White Tank Mountains got the name from depressions formed in the mountains from flood waters pouring down chutes and dropping off ledges, causing a series of depressions, or "tanks", in the white granite. These tanks, then, were used to store water... and there is evidence of agricultural activites that went on in early days by using the seasonal runoff and rain water. There are eleven archeological sites within the 29,000 acre park. Evidence indicates these were occupied sites from the time period of A.D. 500-1100.

Arizona is currently undergoing drought conditions, with no rain since October. This, of course, is totally opposite of the Pacific Northwest which is experiencing some record setting periods of rain! Anyway, as we were in the White Tank Mountain Park, it appeared even the cactus were dying due to the stress of the long period without water.

Driving through the park was like driving through a forest of cactus, as compared to a forest of trees. There were several varieties that I could take pictures of and I am anxious to post them when I can.

Tomorrow we will drive to Apache Junction to visit our friends, Carl & DiAnn Heath, from Wenatchee. We will probably come back to Phoenix on Sunday, and I will check back in with more fodder from our adventures when I can.

Cactus Country

We arrived in Sun City West, Arizona this afternoon, after a total of five days on the road. I took this picture of the purple cactus while traveling the Sun Valley Highway, which runs from the western end of the Phoenix area between I-10 and Sun City West. These cactuses were plentiful within the median between the lanes… and came in all sizes.

The southern California and Arizona sunshine is wonderful, but coming through the traffic reaffirmed that I never want to live here, or any other densely populated place. I couldn’t help but be struck by the high volume of truck traffic along the I-5 and I-10 corridors. As we traveled into Arizona, the volume of large motor home traffic was astounding. I’m talking about 35-40 foot motor homes, that probably get about 5-8 miles to the gallon. It’s no wonder there’s an oil crisis! These motor homes (literally homes on wheels) are very expensive and, I suppose, the people who own them aren’t stopped from traveling because of fuel prices. I don’t suppose they like it, but they’re not going to quit traveling in their retirement because of it.

Well, it's been a long trip down... so will sign off, but try to write more tomorrow or the next day.

Palm Springs

Been too tired to post to the blog so far. This all day driving is hard work! We are in Palm Springs tonight, but just passing through. Will leave for Phoenix tomorrow... and back here on the 1st of February.

It's so nice to be in the sun, which has been scarce in Wenatchee this winter. It's not particularly warm here, but it is sunny and certainly warmer than at home.

Max & I went out to the Black Angus tonight for dinner. We had way too much food! Ordered the "Dinner or Two" which included a steak and two sides PLUS an appetizer sampler plate and a huge piece of chocolate forest cake dessert. They made a mistake and brought us two sampler plates. We have tons of leftover food PLUS all of the desert. We'll have lots of munchies for our trip to Phoenix tomorrow.

Well... it's early, but I'm getting ready for bed. More later in the week.
Carol

Time To Start Packing

Max & I plan to leave Friday, seeking warmer climates. It's been snowing here most of the day so it's only solidified our resolve. We have a condo reserved in Palm Springs for the month of February. I'll be doing laundry over the next couple of days and getting things packed up.

Our first major destination will be Sun City West where Max's sister, Connie, and her husband Bill live. We will take about four days getting there, with stops in Corbett to visit Clair & Beverly and then to Eugene to visit my dear Aunt Dottie and her daughter, cousin Shirley St. Clair.

The rest of our schedule will depend on the weather. There has been so much rain in the Northwest (and snow in the mountains) that we won't knowingly drive into a bad storm. Although our new car has all-wheel drive, we don't particularly want to give it a traction test in the Siskiyou Mountains.

I will be posting pictures and commentary regularly so stay tuned...

Nice To Be Appreciated

I don't post a lot on this blog about my work, although much of my life is devoted to it. I received such a nice e-mail from a client yesterday that I couldn't help sharing. Admittedly, my head is a little swollen right now... so, in my euphoria, I can't resist. I met Debbie about three years ago when she first moved to Wenatchee and, over time, we've become friends.

In November 2005, she found out she would be transferred by the U.S. Forest Service from Wenatchee to Portland, Oregon. So, I quickly got her home at Fancher Heights sold and now she is in the process of trying to buy a home in the Portland area. Here are her thoughts on that experience:

"Oh how I wish you were my Realtor over here! Though they are trying hard,
they just don't compare and now I realize how good you are!
I miss my house. I miss you!"
--Debbie Perry (January 2006)

New Year Cheer!

Happy New Year to everyone! We were invited to spend the evening with a group of people at the Dorner's but (since Max likes to take periodic evening naps) we had a quiet evening at home alone. After watching the Seattle Sonics basketball team lose to the Memphis Grizzlies, I watched the midnight celebrations (on TV) from New York and New Orleans... but finally gave up the ghost of the old year at about 11:30.

As the new year sets in my thoughts turn to goal setting for the coming year. I've posted a short goal setting article and some links on my investment blog, if anyone cares to venture over there.

Wishing you a happy and prosperous 2006,
Carol

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
www.TopPropertiesWenatchee.com

A Quiet Christmas

With no kids here, it was a quiet Christmas with no fanfare this year. We went to June & Roger Dorner's house on Christmas Eve day to have dinner with them (and their kids and grandkids). Yummy.

Yesterday, on the actual Christmas Day, they met us at the Royal Fork Buffet since their kids had to go back home (to Moscow, Idaho) early Sunday.

What did Santa bring? He delivered the car early, and reserved us a place in Palm Springs (see pictures above) for the month of February. We've been very good this year.

This complex is called Canyon Shores and we've stayed there several times. Click on the link to see more pictures and get more info. We love the convenient, central, location in Cathedral City, which is on the east edge of Palm Springs and west of Palm Desert. Our friends, Bud & Dorothy McIntire, live across the street at Cathedral Canyon Country Club where they have 27 very interesting, difficult, water laden holes of golf. I've played very good to very bad rounds of golf there. :-)

We'd love to hear about your Christmas and what's in store for the new year. You may e-mail us at: CarolWilliams@charter.net

Holiday Cheer!
Max & Carol Williams

The Golf Bags

Here is a picture of (most of) the golfing gang I hang out with. I call them the "Golf Bags". This is the group I play golf with on Tuesdays (if I'm not too busy working)... and we are all members of the Three Lakes Golf Course, so we play on our regular ladies day which is Thursday during the golf season. I didn't actually play much golf this year, but they let me hang out with them whenever I have the time.

During the winter we take turns hosting, and get together on Tuesday to play Farkel, which is a dice game also known as 10,000. Every year at Christmastime we get together at one of our homes and have a salad and dessert potluck. We don't make assignments, just bring what you want... and it's always amazing at the balance and variety. We've never yet had ALL desserts or ALL salads but it's always ALL good. We take an annual Christmas photo and this one was taken yesterday, December 20th. Unfortunately, there were about four of our regulars missing for various reasons.

Grandma's Fudge Recipe

My friend, Amy, who recently moved here from Nevada gave Max and me a wonderful box of Christmas goodies. In the box were two mugs with hot chocolate mix, a candy cane and a tin of fudge made from her Grandma Betty Huxford's fudge recipe. Amy was very close to her Grandma and she died this year, so this batch of fudge was made from the heart in remembrance of her Grandma. This is the story of Amy's efforts to get the fudge just the way Grandma used to make it:

Dear Carol and Max,
Here is some FUDGE I made from the heart. I was thinking about my Grandma and some of her Christmas cooking. I remember her making holiday cookies, popcorn balls, and fudge. A few years back I helped her make fudge for the family. So…..in my infinite wisdom, I thought it would be a good idea to make fudge and put it in small tins as a part of gift baskets for both sides of the family and close friends. It was a well thought out plan with good intentions.

So here is the FUDGE STORY:
(I am now convinced that FUDGE is a very bad word)

I dug through many boxes to hunt down Grandma’s recipe book. Found the fudge recipe and scurried down to the store and bought all the ingredients. Everything was going as planned until the actual fudge making process began.

The instructions said to boil until it forms a soft ball and folds. So I kept boiling and boiling until the crap started to crystallize! I took it off the burner and as it started to cool it turned into one massive concrete ball! I ended up with this rock hard blob that adhered itself to the bottom of the pot. It was stuck in there so bad I literally had to throw the pot away. Somehow I missed the “soft” ball stage!

Round Two:
I dug up an older pot to cook with just in case round one was repeated. This time I cooked the liquid until it started to fold and then I took it off the heat and stirred it for awhile until I realized it was getting very hard in a hurry. This batch did make it to the cooling pyrex but after it was completely cool it was hard enough to break every tooth in my mouth. I think we could use this batch as additional blocks for the retaining wall.

Round Three:
I felt I was getting closer to making edible fudge. All I had to do is pour myself another drink and cook the liquid for a shorter amount of time. That should do it right? Mmmm…..well, I stuck to my plan of more drinking and less boiling. I took the liquid fudge substance off the fire much earlier this time. As it cooled I stirred, and stirred, and stirred. I was so confident that this batch was going to be perfect I added a bunch of expensive walnuts to it. I poured the warm fudge into the pyrex and waited for it to cool. As it cooled it was supposed to harden. I waited, and waited, and waited. It did harden some but not to the classic fudge consistency that I had expected. The fudge looks more like a soft brownie but it is edible and does taste good. I cut it up and individually wrapped the pieces just like Grandma used to do (which was an ordeal in itself that I will not go into).

Round Four:
After a semi-successful batch, I got the urge to make one final attempt at the perfect fudge. I scraped the bottom of the butter barrel and used every last teaspoon of sugar in the house. This was it, there were no more ingredients to do another batch after this. It had to be done right. I thought about this “soft ball” thing and realized what that means. You drop some boiling liquid onto a plate and when it cools it should form a soft ball. That is the point when you take the fudge off the burner and start beating it until it “folds”. Brilliant! So, I boiled the liquid for awhile and then started making splatters onto a plate. They were not making soft balls, but they sure did taste good. I think my theory was correct with the soft ball idea, but I kept eating all the drippings before they became totally cool enough to make a ball, oops.

At this point I was totally “FUDGED up” and just wanted to eat a piece of my creation and be done with the project. I got nervous that the substance would crystallize again so I took the last batch off the burner and started to beat it. I had used all the walnuts in the previous batch so this round would be nut free. I poured the last of the fudge into the cooling pyrex for the final attempt. This might have been it? Well, as close to “good” as it is going to get. It is still a bit soft but at least you won’t break any teeth!

Final Conclusion:
I now know why Grandma always had drinks while making fudge. I learned that making fudge is no easy project but love my family and friends enough to attempt making gifts that are truly from the heart. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!
The Greenhalghs

Our New "Baby"

O.K... here it is, the replacement for the Mitsubishi... and the reason the Mitsu is on the selling block.

This is a 2006 Ford Five-Hundred SEL All-wheel drive. We love it. This vehicle has just received a top safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, so we're certainly pleased with that. Here's the announcement:
"Ford Five Hundred is the only car to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s “Top Safety Pick-Gold” status — plus the government’s 5-Star Crash Test Ratings in four categories, even without the optional front seat side air bags installed".

One of the reasons we bought a new car was to have a little larger (and safer) vehicle for highway driving. With the price of fuel these days, we decided it's not "responsible" to drive the van much since it only gets an average of 14 mpg. The Mitsubishi, although a great car that we love, is just a little to small for long trips. We do plan a trip to Palm Springs this coming February, so the Five-Hundred will get a good road test. We're looking forward to that!

For all the details and a complete interior and exterior tour of this car, click here.

Have a great week-end!

My Beloved Mitsubishi

Today I take on the sad task of preparing my beloved 1999 Mitsubishi Galant for it's next proud owner. Tomorrow I will post a picture of the reason we're selling this car. This 1999 Galant has been lovingly taken care of, with oil changes every 3,000 - 4,000 miles and regular transmission fluid changes, as well. There are about 88,000 gentle miles on it. It's a very comfortable car, with plenty of power on the road. It's front-wheel drive, has air conditioning, and very good heater, and power windows. Gas mileage runs about 20 mpg around town and over 30 mpg on the highway. If you're interested in an excellent used car, give me a call. I'm starting the price at $4900 (with some room for negotiation). 509-670-7840... or e-mail me at:
Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com

Happy Holidays!

May a warm glow follow you through the Holiday Season
and into the New Year!

Mission Ridge - Opening Day

Tomorrow (Saturday) is opening day for our local ski area, Mission Ridge. So, it was good timing for tonight's viewing of Warren Miller's latest release("Higher Ground"). We went to the film, at the convention center, with our friends Troy & Amy Greenhalgh. Troy and Amy (who recently moved to Wenatchee from Sparks, Nevada) love to snowboard, so they were pretty jazzed about going to see the film.

Max & I could only reminisce about the good old days and ponder our fond memories of days gone by. We remember the days when we would pack a lunch and eat on the mountain between runs. We used to love to take off at noon during the week and go up for half a day of skiing. But, we quit skiing several years ago, after Max was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Max said his brain would tell him to turn, but his body wasn't responding like it should... so he decided that was a sign that it was time to quit!

Mission Ridge is really an excellent ski area, featuring lots of light powder snow and a wide variety of runs for the skiers of every skill level. The new high speed quad chair should be a great asset and, even though we are currently getting lots of real snow, the expanded snowmaking capabilities will also be a great advantage to a consistent and extended season for the upcoming season.

Last of the Leftovers

Tonight was the night for the batch of homemade turkey noodle soup. All the other leftovers are gone, so I took the scraps and the leftover stock and built a masterpiece with noodles, and veggies and turkey... and added dumplings on top. YUM! Turns out I had more "stuff" than broth, so I'll have to make some more stock before reheating it tomorrow.

I had a hard time getting a picture of this because the camera lens kept fogging up.

Thanksgiving Feast

The turkey was plump and brown when it came out of the oven... and we were feeling pretty plump ourselves after the Thanksgiving feast at our house. J.R. came up from Yakima and Jeff came over from Renton, so I cooked a 12# turkey and all the trimmings. As always, I love having the leftovers so I don't have to do any real cooking for a few days. I'm looking forward to putting together a big pot of turkey noodle soup, and adding some dumplings on top!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Max & I would both like to extend our warmest regards to everyone for a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We are so grateful for our many blessings, most of which derive from our love for each other and for our family and friends.

Love,
Carol & Max

I Miss Nellie / Meet Maggie

Nellie is the name I gave to the GPS navigational system built in to Lana's mini-van. I loved listening to "Nellie-the navigator" guide us through the maze of round-a-bouts, in her British accent. I miss hearing: "Your route is being calculated" and "Prepare to turn left at the next exit". Imagine this in the British accent.

I miss Nellie so much I went shopping for a navigational system of my own when we returned home. As luck would have it, Costco was selling the Magellan 360 Roadmate, which is a portable GPS navigational system that you plug into your cigarette lighter and attach (with a suction cup) to the windshield. I just got it a couple of days ago, and am enjoying getting to know this new navigation system..."Maggie Magellan", a poor (but good looking and smart) cousin to Nellie. I particularly like the lighted panel feature, which makes it really easy to keep track of upcoming turns during night driving.

When we were in England, our son-in-law, Rob, and I spent part of an evening shopping online for a new Ford Five-hundred, which is the car I would like to get someday. It is all-wheel drive, has a large trunk for my real estate signs, and sits a little higher than most cars which would make getting in and out easier for Max (and me too, of course). If anyone is Christmas shopping for us, I do like the "silver birch" exterior color. :-)

Anyway, the built-in navigation systems are listed at $1995 as an add-on! I blinked hard at that... and am now appreciating the $599 portable system I bought at Costco. The other great thing about the portable system is that it can be moved from car to car... or, in our case, car-to-van. Sometimes we travel in the van and sometimes we take the car on trips. With the cost of fuel now, we're inclined to take the car (1999 Mitsubishi Galant) on trips these days. It gets just about twice the mileage as the van, and is quite comfortable. Of course, we can't take as much stuff with us or crawl in the back and take a real nap, like in the van. Oh well, compromises and sacrifices must be made in the name of being environmentally and financially responsible.

I've been testing Maggie around town and am looking forward to seeing how she performs on a real road trip. Stay tuned for that report in the future. Oh... and I programmed Maggie to speak in a British accent too. How cool is that?