100th Birthday Party

Aunt H married my father's brother P. We celebrated her 100th birthday party on Saturday. Her mother lived to be 104 and she had another relative who made it to 105, so this isn't completely surprising. I am not sure that you would guess she was a hundred when you looked at her.

 Our family attended the celebration together.

 

We were able to reconnect with our cousins who are her grandchildren.

Mom, Aunt H and Aunt P are the only ones left in their generation. Aunt P will be 100 in July. Mom is a veritable baby in comparison.
 

Aunt H is a wonderful person who has made friends everywhere she went. Her friends from church came, from her service organization, from her neighborhood. In fact, so many more came than expected that they ran out of name tags about half way through the open house.

 The group of family with the birthday girl.

Cousins came from surrounding states although one had to fly in from Nebraska to pay tribute to this wonderful woman. We spent time remembering activities with her and Uncle P. I am particularly grateful to them for taking me to church with them, and for her sister allowing me to sing in the church choir when I was just 10. Without their help and support, I am not sure I would be a singer today.

Family celebrations like this are a wonderful way to remember good times and create wonderful new memories. I am so glad we had this opportunity.

Family gatherings

We have a lot of family visits planned over the next month. I am so excited to see everyone. I will share some pictures from each over the next few weeks.

First, my Aunt Helen is turning 100 this month and we are attending a birthday party with her to celebrate. That means a trip to California where I get to see my mom, both of my sisters, and a few other family members. I have not seen some of them since Thanksgiving except for a video call at Christmas. The others I haven't seen in a much longer time. Some I saw at a party last summer. For others, it has been many years. The weather forecast is mostly nice, so this should be fun.

Then my daughter and her family come to stay for just over a week. We get to play with the grand-kids. I will hand over a bunch of DVDs, some clothes, and some food storage. We love having them visit. Haven't been with them since Thanksgiving either. The Pro wants to be sure that we have some activities planned so we don't sit around watching tv, although I think we'll want to watch some of the DVDs. I think we have lots planned, so it should be fine.

The day they leave, some of my step-daughter's family comes. The grandson wants some time with the Pro to polish his golf game since he is now on the high school golf team. The granddaughter who just delivered the Pro's namesake should be coming too, so we get to see the baby. We spent Christmas with them, so it hasn't been quite as long. They should be here about a week.

I think family time together is important. It is how we build traditions. It is how we strengthen bonds. It is how we show support for one another. It is often how we are able to give new moms a break to rejuvenate. It is how we show love.

When I was young, we visited one aunt and uncle in Seattle and another in Arizona. We visited some cousins on a farm in Oregon when I was quite small. I don't remember many details except trying to milk a cow and bare feet in the dirt. These visits helped us develop deeper relationships that still endure.

Both of my grandmothers had the family over for Christmas activities, one on the eve, the other on the day. My mom's mom always had us over for Thanksgiving until we started camping every year. I loved those family get-togethers. The food was good and the relationships even better.

My sister and one uncle have birthdays around July 4. Mom's mom had a birthday get-together almost every year. This means my sister never had a birthday party. It was always a family celebration. However, she always got fireworks on her birthday. My mom graciously saved sparklers so I could have those for my birthday in January until I was old enough to understand that they weren't for my sister but for the country. Still, it was fun to do sparklers in the middle of winter.

Family gatherings are much harder when the family is spread out. I raised my daughter in New England, so I saw may family once or twice each year. We tried very hard to participate in my in-laws gatherings so my daughter would be connected to those cousins. Now that she lives in the west, she sees less of them. However, none of us are very close physically. We make up for the space with phone and video calls. That doesn't make up for the missed hugs though.

More Early Spring Gardening

For me, being able to be out in the garden really means spring is here. Since our irrigation system isn't usable, I water most of the plants that I plant daily. It is a good way to get a little fresh air since I tend to be a hermit and stay inside most of the time.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the annuals, the new peach tree, and some other plantings for this spring. Digging the hole for the tree required a bit of effort, but the rest wasn't too bad. Then I started my spring cleaning in the garden. The spring gardening really started last fall when I emptied one of the compost barrels. Half went into the asparagus bed; the other half went into one of the garden beds. I had hoped winter would help finish the breakdown of the compost, but we didn't have much winter weather.

We have an area that helps drain water from our walkway into the street through a meandering path. Unfortunately, that area is in the midst of scrub oak, which means it regularly fills with leaves. I spent a couple of hours cleaning it out and moving the leaves to an area I would like to keep the water out of. Other than pruning, on which I'm late, this is the most labor intensive of all the gardening jobs at our house.

In February, I started my tomatoes and some herbs. They are currently growing in the kitchen windowsill. The Pro makes jokes about eating the little doughnuts in the window.

Last month, I talked about replacing two of the ollas in the asparagus bed.

I have started watering it and they seem to be working. After replacing the ollas, I added a few bags of topsoil to the bed to replace some of what has drained out. As you can see, I've left a lot of space-the beds are double height. I do this because the HOA does not allow a garden fence, and I want to limit the depredations of the rabbits, deer, javelina, and skunks in the neighborhood. It seems to be working.

This week, I added a bag of manure and more topsoil to the other garden beds. One will hold the tomatoes in a few weeks. In the other, I planted some carrots and some chard. The Pro loves to pick carrots and eat them fresh. Chard isn't something I find often in the store or my bountiful baskets. It is a good addition to salads and smoothies.

There are still some shrubs and trees that I will have to prune. I have left it a bit late, but it must be done. Luckily, these things are incredibly hardy and will bounce back quickly. I generally do not get this done until things warm up a bit.

Dragon fruit-trying new things

I got my usual basket of lovely produce from Bountiful Baskets on Saturday. Except for the dragon fruit, it was all things I am used to. As I finish up this post, I am drinking a green smoothie with some leftover veggies, dragon fruit, pineapple, and kiwi with the usual liquid and protein powder. This is Saturday's basket.

I got a tropical super pack extra as well. This included dessert wraps, granola, mint, plantain, coconut, pineapple, vanilla beans, mango and another dragon fruit.

I had never seen dragon fruit before. They are a bright pink.

So far, portions of one have made it into two of my smoothies.

Dr. Mercola's site had an update on it just last week, so I had some idea of what to expect. You eat the seedy part inside. I like it. 

Amazon has the plants for sale through 9GreenBox.com with a picture of them fruiting. They call it an orchid cactus.

Bountiful Baskets has greatly expanded the produce in our diet. As with the plantain and fresh coconuts, dragon fruit isn't something I would purchase from the grocery store. I truly enjoy the challenge of figuring out menus to use up all the produce we get. If you haven't tried it yet, check the site to see if it is available in your state. It is currently found in 23 states across the US.

Because the Pro is doing an Atkin's induction for the next couple of weeks, I get the fruit all to myself. Because there was so much, the friend within whom I share got quite a lot too. Most of the fruits are not conducive to freezing and I know her family will enjoy them.

Flower boxes for the deck

The Pro decided that we needed more color on our main deck. He wanted big flower boxes, but he also wanted artificial flowers so that we would not need to worry about watering them. I have had flowers each year in some boxes but they would die during the heat of the summer. I collected the following flowers and greens and flower boxes designed for deck railings. Unfortunately, our railing isn't designed quite that way, so I am using bungee cords to secure them and have to shim one side to even the base so they sit stable.

 I cut Styrofoam to size

 Separated the green vine into two pieces

 Separated all the flowers

 Then I filled the planter with rocks. We are clearing out a bed in the front of the house so I am using those rocks. Filling four planters, I barely made a dent in the bed.

 I stuck the greens at either end

Then filled in with the flowers

 This is what it looked like completed.

 I put 4 of them out on the deck. As you can see, the chair cushions are still in winter storage.

The Pro loved them. He thinks this is just the color we needed. The two in the bottom picture are visible from the street. The one on the right in the top picture is visible from our driveway. All 4 are visible from the house. The upper picture from the living and dining room, the lower picture from the kitchen.

Strategic long range planning and retirement

When I worked at Intel, we had a process we went through regularly called SLRP-strategic long range planning. You worked out your goals for the next 3-5 years. Short range was the specific steps you would take as goals for the years and quarters in that 5 year range to meet those long range goals. It is also a process I use in the home improvement space. I have a list of long range goals with shorter term goals for each year and month. It makes things a little more organized.

On March 18, I spent the morning at a seminar held by the Arizona State Retirement System for those planning to retire within the next year. The Pro isn't really planning to retire again, but if the City comes to agreement with a management company, he will be working for the management company and not the City. That means, he retires from the state retirement system. The seminar was to help us understand out options and help choose our next steps.

On the SLRP front, I've always contributed to 401K or equivalent where it was available. I've been saving the max that I could in order to have a retirement reserve that would enable me to live the lifestyle I want in retirement. The Pro wasn't able to save much since divorce frequently eats up any savings made during a marriage. However, we've continued to save since we married. The pension he will get when we start drawing from ASRS will be a nice addition to Social Security and the other savings we have.

A not unsurprising fact was that, even with Medicare, healthcare concerns will drive most people's retirement decisions. The plans available through ASRS are significantly more expensive than the Medicare Advantage plan the Pro was using before starting to work for the City. When the time comes, we will have a lot of research to do about which plan to choose.

When will we both retire? The Pro retired the first time when we got married. He served a local Welfare Services mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the first eighteen months of our marriage. Prescott lured him out of retirement by asking him to come back to manage Antelope Hills which is where he had his first head pro job. He loves it here. This was the only course that could coax him to come back to the grind.

Since we've been here, I've worked part time as his assistant. I take pictures for tournaments, help with scoring, buy for the Pro shop, do the merchandising, and help with technical things on the computer. We have really enjoyed working together, but until February, my other job was competing for my time. I worked as a corporate secretary for a small publicly traded company and helped with the video conferencing business unit which I used to run. It was challenging and fun, but it also took up more time than we wanted. So, I resigned. It is certainly easier not to juggle the two positions. I have more time available for helping the Pro.

When the Pro does decide to retire, will I also retire? That question is up in the air. A lot depends on when he wants to pull the plug. If it is before I am eligible for Medicare too, I may get a full time job for benefits. I may get a part-time job again and use the family option under ASRS for health care. This whole situation is still too fluid to know. I am fine with the uncertainty on this planning front as there are many options available.

What about the long range planning? We expect that when he does retire, we will have the house paid off. That likely means that the house we still own in Utah will finally be sold to our tenants. While no mortgage may not the be best thing from a tax perspective, I just hate debt. While we might be able to bring in more in income from the money than the outgo for the mortgage payment would be, I simply want to have no house payment. That gives us a lot more flexibility.

We hope we can serve a mission together for our church. That will depend again on when, as well as how his health is doing. If it is within the next few years, this is a likely outcome and we're planning for how to make it happen.

We have a growing family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We will want to visit them often when we have fewer commitments on the home front. There are a few places we'd like to visit. Mostly, we expect to continue to serve in our community and play golf regularly.

So, we have long range plans but they are very open as to the expected date to accomplish the goals. Until my marriage with the Pro, I expected that I would continue to work full time until well into my seventies. Thanks to him, that may no longer be necessary. However, working part time might be fun. We just have to see.
 

Leprechaun Open 2014 welcomes spring

Although the weather has said it is spring for a few weeks, and the calendar says it starts Thursday, St. Patrick's Day starts our spring season at Antelope Hills. The Antelope Hills Men's Golf Club hosts the Leprechaun Open. Approximately 120 golfers are participating in a scramble this morning with a nice lunch and prizes to follow.


The Pro enjoys dressing as a leprechaun to greet the golfers and will continue in costume when prizes are handed out at the end of the tournament.

You can see all the pictures in our Facebook photo album which is part of the Antelope Hills Facebook page. Albums of the previous opens are also available there.

Antelope Hills is open all winter but weather determines whether or not much golf is played. By the time St. Patrick's Day arrives, Prescott usually enjoys great weather. This is official start of the golf season. When the hot weather arrives in Phoenix, usually sometime in April or May, golfers from the valley start heading north to our milder weather.

Antelope Hills, with two championship golf courses, hosts tournaments from March through November. Some of these are small local events while others are much larger. The golf season means that the Pro spends most of his time at the course, at least for six days of the week and often seven. He feels that in order to provide the best customer experience, he wants to be on hand. While his staff is wonderful and could carry on if he could not be there, he feels responsible to see that the events start off well.

This year, the men's club is donating proceeds to the Prescott Women's shelter. They hold raffles and sell mulligans to fund the donation. Each year they pick a different cause for contribution. They provide a great service in hosting this event. Hosting means they manage the check-in process and see that everyone who wants to play has a group to play with.

After the golfers head to the tees, the Pro creates the scoreboard and posts it in the patio area where lunch will be served. As the golfers pick up their lunches, they will be able to see the results of all the rest who are already eating.

This is a fun day for all the participants. In previous years, there have been junior participants when this coincided with spring break. That was last week, so there are no juniors this year. We are happy to officially welcome spring.

Ollas for my asparagus bed

An olla is a ceramic jar used for cooking, storage and other purposes. They have been used in traditional cultures in the southwest for irrigation. You bury the jar to the neck in the garden, fill it, and the water seeps out to irrigate the crops. Since asparagus roots are quite deep, I thought this would work better to water near the roots (the drip system in our yard is in dire need of repair. It leaks everywhere).

I planted the ollas with the asparagus 4 years ago. During the first winter, I managed to crack two of the pots and so have had issues the past two summers. I decided to replace the broken ones this spring. This is what it looked like before I started. The first and last in the row are the broken ones.

 When I dug the two broken ones out, this is what I found. The one on the right still held the water fairly well, but the one of the left had cracked in 2 pieces.

 I read about making a substitute olla from clay pots, so I decided to try. Here are my raw ingredients.

I am using gorilla glue, so I first wet the base and the top of the pot.

 Next I glued the base and the top just to be sure to get a good seal.

I didn't have a clamp, so I put my 4 pound weights on top to 'clamp' them together for a few hours.

 I had to dig the holes a little bigger to fit these in as they are wider than the old ollas.

Since some of the dirt had washed out the past year, I finished up by refilling my raised bed with more top soil. For those wondering, I use double height raised beds but fill only half way to discourage the critters from enjoying my garden. I have cardboard under the dirt and a lot of compost as well. Since we have deer, javelina, rabbits, skunks, chipmunks, squirrels and lots of birds, this discourages them from foraging in the garden. It is not entirely successful, but it helps. Our HOA rules forbid adding a fence to our yard to screen them out entirely.

Now we just wait for the asparagus to start rising through the dirt to harvest it. It should appear by the end of April. I will have to see how successful these new ollas are.

Early garden work

Since all the plants in my yard are convinced spring is here, it is time to do some yard work. I spent a lot of time Saturday and Monday cleaning up and planting. Of course, there is still so much to do, but I am happy with the progress so far.

 First, some general clean up. I removed the mulch from the strawberries and the asparagus. This is the asparagus bed. Those things in the middle are ollas, a traditional deep watering method. Two of them broke the first winter, and another post will show how I'm replacing them with an improvised option rather than spending twice as much to buy new-and then have them shipped.

 One of the trees in the front died, so I have planted a dwarf peach. We love peaches. Hope this does better in that spot.
 

Just above the peach, there is a space in the fence for a planting. We've put in pansies this year.

  
The two blue pots here contain new blueberries. The white one has a two year old plant. They sit in the entry way on the steps approaching our front door.

Just outside the front door, I planted a hyacinth last spring which you can see is already in bloom and smells heavenly. I planted two new ones this week. They should be blooming in a couple of weeks.

On the fence just past the hyacinths is a pot of raspberries. This variety is supposed to do well in pots.

 Just to the right of the raspberry, you can see these pinks. They are similar to carnations but should be sturdier in my climate. We'll see. I love carnations.

Along the same wall with the pinks is my herb garden. New this spring is this lonely parsley plant. It sits between thyme and oregano which are veterans of the garden.

On the other side of the oregano are these six strawberry plants. They get full sun most of the day. The real question is whether they will survive the rabbits in the yard.

The rest of the strawberries are in an abandoned fountain. Two have been in there a couple of years. The rest are new.

Above the strawberries are the violas. They give a nice pop of color at the end of the walkway.

So that's the first phase of the spring garden work. I have some tomatoes started on a window sill in the kitchen. I hope to plant them outside in a few weeks.

The garden stores are selling tomato plants, but the last frost date is in May and I am afraid to plant them outside this early. By May, these should be a good size to go out. I might put them out sooner with protection. I haven't decided yet.