Dec 4th to 6th - Mesa

Dec 4th – Sun
We and Ernie & Dianne tried a different restaurant (Hackers) for breakfast. It is in Apache Junction and we had to wait to get in. It was good but other places are just as good with not such a long line to get in.
Neil asked Terry to come over and try some gold sluicing with Neil’s friend Steve. Then Terry joined them to go to a casino and I went shopping at Kohl’s. I got back about 4 with a few items and Terry returned just in time to grab a quick bite of leftovers before we went to play cards with Ernie & Dianne.
We learned a new variation of canasta (ponytail?) at Dave & Glo’s so we taught Ernie & Dianne.
The guys won the first game and the women won a hard fought second game so we started the tie-breaker game at 11:00. The women finally won the third game at 1:40. Our sites aren’t very far apart so we fell into bed at 1:45. Terry’s feet were like ice cubes which is very unusual so I made him put socks on so he could get to sleep!

Dec 5th – Mon
When Terry was on his way to the casino yesterday, he got a phone call from Judy Hunt who has a park model in the Sands RV in Desert Hot Springs. Her, her husband Russ and Gilbert & Grace were staying in a condo in Scottsdale and wanted to see us. Terry suggested dinner today but when I called this morning we all decided lunch would work better.
We made a trip to Casino Arizona to get tickets for a show and ended up losing some money on the slots. We stopped at a grocery store on the way back and I had just finished lunch prep when our visitors arrived. We had a great time catching up before lunch and then went on a tour of the park. We took them to Total Wines where everyone picked up a supply of alcohol. On the way back we stopped at a Big Lots so Grace could buy a narrow table like the one we have between our chairs. We transferred all their purchases to their car and they were on their way about 4:30.
Shortly after they left, Duane & Sue dropped by with drinks in hand. As they were leaving about 5:30, Sue said she had a pork roast in the oven and asked us to join them for dinner. We had a nice dinner, said to heck with line dancing and taught them how to play Wizard which Sue won.

Dec 6th – Tues
I made jelly biscuits for breakfast and then Dave brought over 2 freshly made empanadas which he said should be eaten while they were warm. Glo made the Spanish/Mexican treat and they were very good.
We rode our bikes to visit Larry & Julie and Billy & Lauri stopped in while we were there. We went to see Dennis & Gloria to see if they feeling better since they both had some intestinal distress going on for a few days. Gloria is OK but Dennis is waiting for a lot of cold sores to heal before going anywhere. We stopped at Ernie & Dianne’s to check out the progress of some work they were having done in their Arizona room.
We had a light lunch and relaxed before going to listen to music which again was moved from the courtyard to the ballroom due to continuing cool weather. The band (North Star) is popular so a lot of people attended and we danced a lot. I had a beef roast in the crockpot so we asked Ernie & Dianne and Phyllis to come for dinner with the condition that we were going to line dance lessons at 7. We finished eating and doing dishes in time for us and Ernie & Dianne to go line dancing. We stayed until 8:30 or so for additional instruction in a couples dance. Dave & Glo stopped by for a nightcap.