Happy Birthday Nikki!!

Happy Birthday to Nikki!!

Hope your day is great and remember to believe in yourself....2010 is a new year!!

(nothing makes you feel older than realizing you have middle aged children)

Laughlin

As promised, this blog is about a weekend in Laughlin topped off by a "Cannonball Run" return to reality here on Cable Lake. This is a picture of the beautiful Colorado River, which separates Bullhead City, Arizona from Laughlin, Nevada. Renee and I arrived about 1700hrs on Friday. The plane lands in Bullhead, there is a "tarmac" arrival and you can see across the river to the casinos..........

....the small parking lot has about 30 cars in it, how tough can it be to find an old white Buick that Rex and Mary left there for us earlier in the day?...........

 
.....Well, that was not the right car. It was an Oldsmobile if the same age. Weird, out of 30 cars. We found the right one, shaking our heads, and headed across the river to find the Aquarius and our $49.95 room........

 

There are about 10 casinos like this in Laughlin, once inside they all look like Las Vegas to me. The prices are reasonable, however. Most are connected by a "riverwalk" along the river which is nice when the weather is good, which is most of the time........

.........This is the view out our window, across the river and of the Bullhead airport...........

 
....we visited the Avi, the casino where Rex and Mary work. It is out of town a few miles and owned by a well-organized and successful Native American tribe. It is beautiful........

....We found Rex and Mary working the blackjack tables back to back. My blackberry camera does not like low light situations and I didn't hang around to take a better shot as photography in the pit is frowned upon.

We ate an a nice Italian restaurant called the Aviano for about $20--a four course dinner served at our table with drinks! I thought I was in Spooner for a while (but the waitstaff had all their teeth).........

.........unhappily, we bid farewell to scenic Laughlin and the fun we had. The ugly part of the trip lay before us.......

Uncle Hans

SUSIE-Q

I LOOK FORWARD TO READING BLOGS ABOUT FAMOUS RV PETS.  FILLMORE, BOO, JAKE, THE MOTORMOUSE, AND MEGABYTE II COME IMMEDIATELY TO MIND.  IT GOT ME TO THINKING, MAYBE THERE ARE SOME SUSIE-Q FANS OUT THERE.

AT LEAST MY BROTHER, THE VET, AND MY GRANDSONS ARE FANS FOR SURE.  DESPITE THE FACT I OFTEN CALL HER THE SCAREDY CAT, OR FAT CAT, SHE'S GROWN UP TO BE A BEAUTIFUL BLACK CAT.

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF SUSIE-Q TO MAKE MY POINT.

rat pack

The Rat Pack was a show that would appeal to people in the 58 & up age group.  God I can't believe that 58 & up IS MY AGE group.  That is absurd.  How can that be?

And I am quite sure that anyone over the age of 55 can relate to my astonishment that I, ME, MYSELF, THE PERSON I AM can possibly be that old.  What became of all the time?  Where did it go?  One of God's design flaws.  When I realized that the time in one's life becomes shorter as time goes one....confusing when you first read it, but crystal clear when one thinks about it.

Anyway, back to the "Rat Pack".  My favorite impersonator was the one who characterized Dean Martin.  He had the curly hair, the pointed chin, the voice inflection, and the stumble down pretty good.  But, alas, they were not Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, JR., or Joey Bishop.  I am sure the longevity of this show is limited to the demise of the current 55+  generation as much as I hate to say that.   So here is my opinion:


Would I go again?     No


Am I glad I went?      Yes


Loved the music, including their singing,  and the orchestra very much--the impersonations, not so much but enjoyable on the whole.


Are we going to Laughlin for Rex's next birthday?  Don't know yet.
Are we going to Vegas for Mary's birthday?  Hope so, I'm working on it!

BIRTHDAY FUN IN LAUGHLIN

I HAD GOOD LUCK ON MY BIRTHDAY.  HANS AND RENEE ARRIVED ON TIME AND EVENTUALLY FOUND THE AZ CAR WHICH WE HAD DROPPED OFF AT THE AIRPORT FOR THEM.  WE GOT INTO WORK ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND SIGNED UP ON THE "EO" LIST, AND THEY TURNED US LOSE AFTER ONLY ONE HOUR OF WORK, ALLOWING US TO VISIT AND DRINK 20 BEERS WITH HANS AND RENEE.

IT WAS GOOD TO SEE THEM HERE IN NEVADA !!!  AND SPEAKING OF GOOD LUCK CHECKOUT THE ROYAL FLUSH ON MARY'S SLOT MACHINE.

NO, SHE DIDN'T GET RICH.  IT WAS A QUARTER MACHINE AND CONSERVATIVE MARY ONLY HAD ONE QUARTER BET, SO SHE MADE $62.50.  NOT BAD ON A  25 CENT BET.

THESE NEXT PICTURES ARE HISTORY !!!  NOBODY HAS EVER SEEN UNCLE HANS GAMBLE IN A CASINO BEFORE !!!  I THINK RENEE IS HAVING A POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON HIM.

HANNAH'S DICE THROWING RECORD IS SAFE FROM UNCLE HANS.  CHECK OUT THE RAIL, AND YOU'LL SEE ONE $1 CHIP IS ALL THAT'S THERE.

LATE NIGHT SATURDAY ON THE WAY TO BED, MARY AND I PASSED A DEAD CRAPS GAME AND MARY THREW THE DICE MAKING FOUR PASSES.  FUN !! MARY MADE $6 AND REX MADE $150.

WE CERTAINLY ENJOYED UNCLE HANS AND RENEE VISITING US.  WE GOT ALL CAUGHT UP ON THE FAMILY AT HOME AND HAD A LOT OF FUN VISITING CASINO BARS IN LAUGHLIN.

MARY WILL BE ALONG THIS WEEK TO BLOG ABOUT THE "RAT PACK IS BACK" SHOW WE SAW, AND UNCLE HANS WILL BE BLOGGING ABOUT THE SAGA OF THE AZ CAR, ONCE HE GETS CAUGHT UP AT WORK.

Happy Birthday to Rex!!

Today is Rex's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be celebrating by spending the week end in Laughlin visiting with Hans and Renee--provided they can fly with the horrendous weather we are having!!  The icing on the cake will be going to see the "Rat Pack" at the Riverside on Sunday night.  I'm sure that will be a post next week.

Happy Birthday Rex and MANY, MANY, MANY more!!

AZ CAR

WE'VE BEEN WORKING FIVE DAYS AND 35 HOURS A WEEK.  NOT BAD IN THIS ECONOMY.  THE TOKES (TIPS) ARE DOWN, BUT WE ARE SURVIVING.

THE PRIORITY PROJECT HAS BEEN THE ARIZONA CAR.  UNCLE HANS HAS A NEED FOR THE CAR, AND WE NO LONGER NEED IT HERE IN ARIZONA FOR GRANDMA.  OIL CHANGE, NEW BATTERY, FRONT ALIGNMENT, AND FOUR NEW TIRES.

UNCLE HANS AND RENEE ARE FLYING TO LAUGHLIN ON FRIDAY AND ARE DRIVING THE CAR BACK TO SPOONER, WISCONSIN. NOW THAT SHOULD BE AN ADVENTURE !!!  THAT OLE CAR (1995) HASN'T BEEN OUT OF MOHAVE VALLEY SINCE GRANDMA'S "VEGAS 80" PARTY IN LAS VEGAS A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO.

FRIDAY IS ALSO MY BIRTHDAY, SO I'M SURE WE WILL BE "TALKING SMART" AND ENJOYING SOME EXTRA BEERS.  IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT HAVING FAMILY HERE FOR MY BIRTHDAY !!!

WILL THE AZ CAR MAKE IT TO SPOONER, WISCONSIN? IT COULD GET UGLY! TUNE INTO THE BLOG FOR AZ CAR ADVENTURE UPDATES.

I Have Had One Hell Of A Day!!

I am writing this Sunday night…who knows when it will be published, that is at the discretion of the editor.

I got up this morning and had specific goals in mind considering the fact that the wind wasn’t blowing.  Sometimes, outdoor chores wait a long time if we have had long stretches of wind.  Today, being windless, gave me the opportunity to play “catch up”.

The first thing that is always done first on Sunday’s is laundry.  I like getting laundry out of the way first thing so I don’t have to think about it anymore.

Then, I wanted to finally “mend it”.  We have two very nice lawn chairs that needed mending-the seam on the seat part gave way.  I bought the product “Mighty Mend It” that was pitched by the late Billy Mays.

I also wanted to do some painting.  The neighbor “Marty”, that built our stand for the grill, recently added a strip of wood that wasn’t painted.  That’s cool…..I have the paint.  So today I decided to get that project done….I so love non windy days!!  It took two coats but I got the job done.

About halfway through the paint job, I decided I didn’t want  pork chops and potato latkes for supper, I wanted pizza.  No wind makes grilled pizza a possibility.  That was a truly inspired idea because they were great, and so tasty.

It was just a nice all around day at camp!!
We are truly blessed!!

Deppler's Baby Swiss

Sometimes the simplest project turns ugly, and Rex's brothers seem to have a penchant for finding these adventures. Renee and I are planning a trip to Laughlin which will undoubtedly be the subject of several blogs (it involves a project quite likely to turn ugly, but more on that later).

I wanted to take Rex some Deppler's Baby Swiss Cheese. Renee and I were unable to make it for a Christmas visit to Green Bay to my mother and we rescheduled for Jan 9-10. I knew I was going to be in the international cheese capital, so I let Neil know that we were coming and had a very important project. Neil sprung into action and soon we were careening down the highway in the big red suburban in search of Denmark........

....here is a picture of Renee, careening............

....So we found Denmark, wondering why go to Denmark to look for Swiss cheese (confusing?).....

......here is a picture of the cheese store in Denmark, but it is closed (and blurry to boot)....

....so we stopped to ask directions and advice of the native Danes.........

 

....here is Neil and I finally accepting the news that the Baby Swiss Cheese quest was over for that day. None here in Denmark...........

....Renee wanted to know why she and the bartender were the only women in a bar with 100 men. Turns out it was the fantasy football play-off season draft and women in Denmark don't go in for that sort of thing, much, I guess..........

The trip to GB reverted to just drinking and the unsuccessful quest forgotten. Poor Rex! We take up the story a few days later in Spooner........

...........the quest resumes with a trip to Economart, my buddy Dave's store in Spooner......

.................Nope..........Swiss, but no Baby Swiss..........

....So, today I was on my way to a hospital miles away and I passed an old cheese store in Comstock, Wisconsin (don't bother looking on the map, it's too small).........

....like many small Wisconsin towns, the largest building is the cheese factory. This one was owned for many years by a man named Blaser, friend for many years of our Dad. Blaser was a horse nut and his grandkids competed (and lost) against Hannah at shows for many years.

This was a hot lead!.........

..........this, by the way, is the chalice, the holy grail. I did not find it in Comstock. After I got zipped, I got back in the car. My blackberry dinged that I had a message or something (who knows what that ding means) I checked it. There was an e-mail from Rex. He asked me to bring him a couple pounds of Deppler's Baby Swiss Cheese when we come out this week!.............

..........in his e-mail he pointed out that I could find it in the Deli section of Dave's Economart right under my nose in Spooner!

Thanks for the tip, brother, your precious Deppler's is safely on the way to Laughlin

Uncle Hans

STILL HERE......

NOBODY HAS BLOGGED ALL WEEK, SO I THOUGHT I BETTER WRITE A QUICK NOTE BEFORE THE E-MAILS START COMING IN TO INQUIRE ABOUT OUR WELL BEING.

THE JANUARY WEATHER HERE HAS BEEN THE BEST.  WE HAVEN'T RUN THE FURNACE HALF AS MUCH AS OTHER YEARS.  IN FACT WE HAVEN'T EVEN PUT UP THE PLASTIC PANELS ON THE SCREEN DOOR TO MAKE IT INTO A STORM DOOR.

I WAS GOING TO BLOG ABOUT THE RECENT NEVADA GAMING NUMBERS IMPROVING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS, BUT AT LAKE TAHOE THE GAMING BUSINESS WAS DOWN 27% AND HERE IN LAUGHLIN IT WAS DOWN 5.5%.  SO DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THE PAPERS.

I GUESS WHAT'S REALLY ON MY MIND IS THE DEVASTATION IN HAITI.  I'M THANKFUL TO HAVE A JOB, WARM WEATHER, AND TO NOT BE IN HAITI.

THE END OF THE SEASON

IT MAY BE THE END OF THE SEASON FOR THE GREEN BAY PACKERS, BUT WHAT AN EXCITING FINISH.

"JIMMY THE GREEK" I AM NOT !!  I ALREADY MISSED TWO PREDICTIONS.  I'M NOT REAL WILD ABOUT CHEERING FOR ARIZONA OR MINNESOTA, BUT I HOPE BRETT FAVRE HANGS IN THERE AND MAKE THE SUPER BOWL.

THERE'S ALWAYS NEXT YEAR......

NOW WHERE IS THE WEATHER FORECAST?

FOOTBALL

I’VE BEEN AWFUL QUITE THIS YEAR ON THE TOPIC OF FOOTBALL.  I GUESS BEING WRONG ON THE PREDICTION THAT FAVRE WAS GOING TO STAY RETIRED KINDA TOOK THE WIND OUT OF MY SAILS.

SINCE I’M NOT REALLY A FOOTBALL FAN, BUT A GREEN BAY PACKER FAN, AND BRETT FAVRE FAN, I KNOW YOU’D LIKE MY OPINION ANYWAY, RIGHT?

FIRST THE MVP.  IT’S A VIRTUAL TIE BETWEEN PAYTON MANNING AND BRETT FAVRE.  THE NUMBER ONE CABLE TV RATINGS PUT UP BY FAVRE ARE GOING TO PUT HIM OVER THE TOP!! FOURTH TIME BRETT FAVRE HAS BEEN NAMED MVP !!

NOW FOR THE SUPER BOWL.  I PICK THE PACKERS IN A REPEAT PERFORMANCE IN ARIZONA AGAIN THIS WEEK –END. PACKERS 41, CARDINALS 3.

THE VIKINGS WILL PLAY THE COWBOYS. THE COWBOYS KNOCKED BRETT FAVRE OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS THREE TIMES IN THE ‘90’S.  NOT THIS YEAR, IN A REAL CLOSE GAME IT WILL BE THE VIKINGS 21, AND THE COWBOYS 17.

WHEN RODGERS AND THE BOYS FROM GREEN BAY MEET THE SAINTS IN THE SUPER-DOME, THEY’RE GOING TO SHOCK THE ROOF OFF THE PLACE. PACKERS 35, THE SAINTS 21.

THIS SETS UP THE “CLASSIC” FOOTBALL GAME OF THE SEASON, PACKERS VS THE VIKINGS FOR THE THIRD TIME.  THIS GAME WILL BE MORE WATCHED THAN THE SUPER BOWL ITSELF !!  VIKINGS 28, AND THE PACK 20.

THE SUPER BOWL WILL BE ANTI-CLIMATIC WITH THE VIKINGS 24 AND THE CHARGERS 20.

THERE YOU HAVE IT.  I’M NOT "JIMMY THE GREEK", BUT BRETT FAVRE WILL WIN THE SUPER BOWL!

GET YOUR SPORTS BETS DOWN EARLY !!!

There Are No Blogs Anywhere

I sat down at the computer to look at “The Happy Camper” blog and asked “new blog going up tomorrow”?  Answer: “There are no blogs anywhere”.
So now I feel I should come up with something.

2010 is a good topic I guess.  So did you make any resolutions?  Anyone go out and party on New Year’s Eve?  Everyone glad the holiday season is over?  Anyone notice longer days?

We wish  everyone  a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2010.

Beach Club, Cayman Islands

...........I wanted to tell the story of the little resort. It needed a separate blog from our other Cayman blog. As I said, the Beach Club is old and run down, the kind we like......

....the rooms are clean and neat, not fancy..............

..........the bar and the restaurant are right on the beach. We ate and drank easily $300/day at the going rate on the street. I am sure the drinks were watered, so we were forced to drink more..............

.....it sits on beautiful 7-mile beach, some very prime real estate.......

....the lobby....

....concierge (?) desk.......

....hokey Christmas tree.........

....view from across the street........

"OK, Uncle Hans, it's a frumpy old resort. What is your point?"

....Well, Renee had stayed here several times over the years and enjoyed the diving and the atmosphere and the great beach, all at a reasonable price. we were happy to find it all still here and doing well. we felt we were set for a few more visits and fun. We actually walked by this huge sign on the front lawn by the street several time before stopping to read it.........

.....Yes. You may officially add the Beach Club to the list of things "too good to be true". It closes for the bulldozers on January 15th. Living there next year will "start" at $4,000,000 (no typo). It is the last reasonable property on 7-mile beach. Truly the end of an era .............and very sad.............

....while we were waiting for our ride to the airport to return home, this empty spot opened up in the lobby...........

....the staff were removing the furniture...........

....construction equipment and steel beams were lurking at the edge of the front lawn........

....This sun is setting on more than this day

.....This sun is setting on more than our vacation

.....This sun is setting on an era. On a simple, wonderful, happy, uncomplicated, time in Grand Cayman. The door is closing to those without the necessary $4,000,000.......

.......We check out Turks and Cacoes in April. We already hear that their 12-mile beach is nicer than the Cayman. We also hear it is more expensive (this I gotta see!). Stay tuned................


Uncle Hans