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March 24, 2006
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
At last the day had arrived for our trip to Arizona and warm weather. We got out to the airport in plenty of time to catch our plane. You know what they say, "at least two hours before departure". If Dave had his way, we'd be there sometime the day before! Anyway, I think we were the first ones there, so we sat around and read for a while. As it turned out, our plane was delayed and we ended up leaving an hour and a half later than expected. Apparently, on its way to Portland, the plane had to land in Seattle to refuel and then once on the ground, they discovered that one of the bathrooms didn't work. They spent about 45 minutes trying to solve that problem and then decided that they couldn't - so we were short one bathroom on our flight to Arizona. Of course, that just mentally suggested the need to use the bathroom and everyone was lining up to take care of business in the one and only bathroom aboard. (Actually, there were two, but they wouldn't let us common folks use the one up in first class). Just the same, we arrived with no problems other than being an hour later than scheduled.
Bob and Jeanne picked us up at the arrival gate and guess what? It was raining! Arizona hasn't had rain for 150 or so days and the time we decide to come down here, it rains! They needed it for sure but give me a break! We have seen so much rain up our way all winter long and I just wanted to soak up some SUNSHINE!! It has been cloudy all week in the 60's and they are all shivering around here but it is suppose to get up to the 80's by this weekend.
Our main purpose for coming to Phoenix is to house/dog sit for my sister and brother-in-law while they take a bunch of people to Israel for a tour of the Holy Land. After giving us instructions on the ins and outs of their home and how to care for their Bassett Hound, Stanley, we took them to the airport on Tuesday for their flight. There were about 50 people in their group and one of the young men couldn't find his passport. He thought he must have left it at home. So Dave and I drove him back to his house (about an hour one way in rush hour traffic) to try to find it. It wasn't where he thought it was. So then he decided to call the shuttle that he had taken to see if it had been left there. They were still trying to locate it when we returned to the airport 45 minutes before their flight left. The worst of it was, the rest of the group couldn't even check in or check their baggage until everyone was ready! I don't know if they ever found the passport, but it was out of our hands from that point. I know that they had to be at the airport three hours early so they could get the entire bunch checked through. I don't know how they managed it in less than an hour! I decided that I wouldn't want to be a tour guide if I had to be under that much stress!
As I mentioned, we are dog-sitting for Stan the Bassett Hound. He is quite the dog but you have to watch him constantly because he can sniff out anything. My sister had accidentally left her bedroom door open while she was packing for her trip and Stan got into the snack supply. He managed to eat a huge chocolate bar and a whole bag of yogurt pretzels before she caught him. She called the vet and was instructed to give him some hydrogen peroxide to make him throw up. What a mess! He was fine after that but I doubt if he will think twice if he has the opportunity to do it again!!
We decided to attend a baseball game on Thursday. The Cactus League has it's spring training down in the Phoenix area so you can catch a lot of major league teams getting ready for the baseball season. We jumped in the Mini-Cooper and headed for Mesa to watch the Cubs and Mariners play. The grandstand and bleachers were all sold out by the time we arrived so we had to settle for a place on the grass out past left field. It was okay, but it was hard to see what was going on and it was really hot. Not that I am complaining about the sunshine, mind you. That evening, we went out for authentic Mexican food and got passes to watch the Phoenix Suns kill the Portland Trail Blazers. We left that game at halftime. I think I have had my fill for sports for a while.
We will be getting ready for our trip to the Grand Canyon the beginning of next week. In between now and then, just laying around in the sun sounds like a pretty good idea! I am sorry I don't have any pictures but we left the cord that connects our digital camera to the computer at home and we have no way of uploading them. If we can find another one down here, we'll have pictures next week.
