bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We slept in until 7 for a change. Ate a nice breakfast. We have no water as our hose is completely frozen. This is the brand new hose that just arrived about 2 weeks ago! We have water in the tank for just such an emergency, as this had also happened yesterday. So Bob had checked the thermostat on it. Brian’s hose also froze last week, so the company is having a real issue! The main problem is that now Bob has to keep putting water in the tank all the time while we are waiting for another hose to be delivered, and of course, this will take some time.

We paid bills and updated the budget. Our main costs right now are groceries and eating out., and  gasoline,of course driving to Denver takes about 1/2 tank on the way back,  due to the long uphill climb, so we usually have to refill more than our usual 1x a week. Our electric and propane bills have been down quite a bit from last year due to the warmer weather.

We went square dancing with the Timberline Toppers. The caller was Bear, who is a terrific caller. We had a great time!

Sunday– My GSA day. I had four assignments. First on the snow at the entrance from the gondola. Since the DEW tour is going on, it was very busy. My second assignment was at the Super-connect hut. It was very busy when I arrived, so the other Denise stayed with me until 10 when Kathy arrived for her shift. I stayed with her until 11:30 when I went to lunch. I should have said that Kathy arrived late, as she had been at the map at the top of the Colorado lift. She looked over and there was a man on the ground. So she walked over to make sure he was okay. He had bent over to tighten the buckles on his ski boot and his artificial hip had popped out of joint. Ewwww! Ouch! Needless to say, Kathy ended up calling that in and staying with the man, helping to load him in the sled, and watching as Ski Patrol took him down the mountain.

After lunch, my third assignment was at the Gold Coast Runner, assisting with the waivers. This morning, our boss had told us to minimize our skiing. I had to ski from the Vista House to the Runner on the 4 O’Clock run. EEEEK! It was insane! They had put up fencing for snowmobiles to use the right side of the slope to get to the top of the half-pipe. So the run was narrower than normal. Plus all the snowboarders were flying down this beginner slope to get to the spectator area for the DEW tour. Since this is a beginner slope,  there were a lot of beginners ‘wedging their way across the run.  It was really scary and very, very crowded!

I made it safely to the Runner. Ed and a new gal he was mentoring,  were there. They were not eager to leave.. Finally, they went to Ski Hill Grill and Brian arrived to relieve me. I also was did not want to leave. Brian volunteered to do my next assignment, which was back on 4”O’clock, just monitoring the traffic. So we switched assignments. I went down and told Tom, our team leader what we were doing and he was okay with it. He suggested that I just stay down at the bottom and talk to people. He also told me to go change out of my ski boots. Bless his heart! So I did, and spent the rest of the day wandering around at Ski Hill Grill, talking to people. It is easy to see who needs help. I assisted with finding missing skis, taking missing ski reports,  and sat with a woman from Georgia, explaining where the beginner trails were and talking her into taking a ski lesson. I am a big believer in lessons. Having family teach you is a great way to scare people right out of ever skiing again! 

After our shift, Bob met us at the Blue River Bistro for happy hour again. Same ‘orange dreamcycle’ martini, same appetizers, but only 7 of us this week.

Monday- Off to the Rec Center to exercise. I have made changes to my routine, increasing weights, decreasing the number of reps, and added cardio. I returned to the motor home and did a lot of ‘stuff’., the biggest one was taking out Bob’s stitches. They came out really easily and the ear looks really good!

We went to dinner with Brian & Kathy and Craig & Terilu at the Senior Center. To nights menu was salad, BBQ ribs, baked beans, bread, corn on the cob and coleslaw. The ribs were terrific, hardly any fat, and lots of meat. This was Kathy and Brian’s first time there and they were amazed. Dessert was cake. There was so much wonderful food for the whopping price of $6. Unfortunately, that is the last $6 meal, the price is going up in January to $8, still a bargain for a three course meal!

Tuesday- We were up and out the door to the 50+ at Breck. this was the first time for Bob and Terilu. Craig took a lesson and Brian skied with the fast skiers. The rest of us skied with the blue cruisers. We had a really good time skiing. At 11:30 ,Bob and I left the group. Terilu and Kathy went to the Vista House with the group for lunch. Kathy had forgotten her cell phone, so Brian could not call her. He was skiing with the fast  group, when the guide had a fall. Brian is a retired EMT and firefighter. So he knew what to look for. The guide said he was okay, so Brian rode up on the lift with him. He asked the guide questions, and he could not answer Brian. So when Brian got to the top he took him to the Ski Patrol cabin at the top of the Mercury lift. They recognized the issue and took the guide down to the BRC( Breck Rescue Center), which is a mini-hospital. They also called Sandy, the Guest Service Director. Brian stayed with the guide until Sandy showed up, then hopped on the super-connect to get up to Vista House to meet Kathy.

In the afternoon, Bob and I went to Mahjongg at the Senior Center. Bob is doing very well. He won one game. I won 5 or 6, I was on a roll this week. Last Tuesday I did not win any games!

We returned to the motor home, ate dinner, and watched some of our recorded TV shows on the DVR.

Wednesday-  I had woken up at 1 am and was up to 2:30, so I slept in this morning. By 10 AM I was at Cost Cutters in Dillon to get my hair cut.  After lunch, we went grocery shopping at Walmart and City Market. Both were extremely busy! Glad we got that out of the way before the even bigger crowds arrive.

We puttered around the motor home, ate dinner, and went to the activity center at 6:30  to play games. This was Craig and Terilu’s first GSA day, so they were too exhausted to play with us. This was the day that they toured the mountain with Lori, so it was a pretty busy day for them.  We played Phase 10 with Brian and Kathy until 9 PM.

Thursday- We slept in until 7:30. It had snowed during the night, 2”. They rec’d 5” on the mountain, the most that we have gotten so far this year in one snow storm! We really need a good snow dump. Denver rec’d anywhere from 8-20 inches. I went to the Rec. Center to exercise, then worked on the article for a couple of hours. We ate lunch, then went to the Activity Center to relax in the hot tub. We picked up Craig and Terilu and went to dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Frisco. This was the first dinner we have had there. We went to lunch there last year. The food was good and the company even better. After dinner we walked over to Pioneer Sports to check on lift tickets for Craig and Terilu’s daughter who is arriving next Wednesday. The tickets for Breck are ridiculous. The regular price is $104 per day and they were offering a $1 discount! For 3 days it was a $4 discount. Woop-T-do! Not worth the trip to pick up the tickets. So we tried Safeway, same price! So I suggested that Craig try the Air Force base outside Denver.

Friday- What a day!  The temp was –11. First, the batteries in the TV remote for the bedroom died. We always turn on the TV to check the weather and to make sure the world is still out there! Then we noticed that we did not have water, again. The hose is frozen, again, even with the new high wattage, expensive extension cord, as suggested by the hose maker yesterday when Bob called about it freezing the previous night.  We turned on the pump to use the water in the tank and there was no hot water.  Then our power management system tripped and we lost all power. Bob worked on all of these issues, which made him late for the bus. So I drove him to the locker room. AT 9 AM, the hose unfroze, but we still did not have hot water. I emailed Bob to give him and update, and worked on the article until 11. I went to the bathroom and noted that there was water dripping onto the floor. Looking up, I noticed that there were water droplets all around the skylight in the bathroom over the shower. We decided that it was condensation. Since I had clothes drying in the shower, I was not a happy camper. So I called Bob at the mountain and told him what was going on. He was just finishing his second assignment for the day, so we decided that he should come home to work on everything. If he stayed all day, he would be too tired, plus once the sun sets around here, the temp drops dramatically. so I picked him up at 11:30 at the base of the gondola.  Since we were afraid that he might need the car to go pick up some parts, I called Craig and Terilu to ask for a ride to Mahjongg. They were skiing, and ended up arriving late, as they ran into a situation with an injured skier, who they assisted. We played mahjongg until 4. As we were leaving, Jo Ring, one of the workers, suggested to us that we sign up for dinner for the  January 23rd, as there is a special meal,( prime rib)  and it was almost sold out!   Craig had checked with the Air Force base ( he is retired Air Force) and he was able to purchase lift tickets for $60 per day. A much better price!

When I arrived back at the motor home, Bob had everything fixed except the hot water. So he laid on his back, on the concrete, and using the heat gun, and defrosted the 1” of pipe under the motor home that does not have insulation. Woosh, the hot water flowed. So he knows that he has to add some insulate to that spot. As soon as he finished that, the power management system popped again. We have electric from the outside connection, but for some reason this has happened two times. Bob decided it was because he has a new heater under the front of the motor home to stop the water pipe from freezing. We had to decided what to turn off, since this was happening without the microwave, coffee pot, or hair dryer running. So the Christmas lights on the outside tree are now turned off! Hopefully that will take care of the issue. Well, that didn’t work! We popped it again. We did not have this problem last year, so we have to figure out what the issue is so that we can fix the problem.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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