The Mainstream lessons ended on the 30th of July. The club held a graduation ceremony on August 1st, including a potluck supper before the dance started. The club provided fried or grilled chicken, and the club members provided side dishes and desserts. There was so much food left over we could have eaten a full meal after the dance. There were five squares in attendance. Brian called most of the dance, with Blake calling one tip and Carl calling the Plus tip. These new dancers were able to attend the graduation ceremony.
There will be some workshop evenings coming up in August. The Plus lessons will continue Monday nights since not all the calls have been taught yet.
We went to the home of Blake and Jennifer on Sunday night to help celebrate her mother’s birthday. Blake and Jennifer cooked supper for several of us. Again, there was so much food, Jennifer sent some home with those attending the party. It was the fifth time her mother celebrated her birthday this week. She has one more event to go. Here’s a picture of the party guests.
On Saturday the 8th, as we were working on our laptops, I looked out the window, and a deer was passing through the back yard of the dance hall. I haven’t seen one during the day yet, so it was quite a sight. We tried to visit the local casino, Hon-Doh, for supper and a quick trip to the casino to try our luck. However, we could not find a parking space. Feeling disappointed, we found a different restaurant for supper. There was a small pizza restaurant that I had been seeing whenever we drove on White Mountain Road. It’s called R & R Pizza. The décor has several railroad themed decorations. The pizza came hot and it was very delicious. We’ll definitely go back sometime.
On Sunday, we went back to Blake & Jennifer’s house to celebrate Blake’s birthday. They cooked three different kinds of brats and had all the fixing to go along with the brats. We had stopped at a local farmer’s sweet corn stand and got 18 ears of sweet corn for the party. Unfortunately, so did some other people. Needless to say, there was lots of corn to be eaten. We had packed our corn skewers when we moved out of the house, so I brought those along. Everyone was impressed/jealous with the little corncob skewers that we had. It did make eating the ears of corn much less messy. After supper, there was birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. We all sang “Happy Birthday” to Blake, pretty much in tune.
The Monday night Plus lessons are almost done. Brian taught the last few calls to the group. There weren’t enough people for two squares, so we changed dancers after each teaching tip. There will be another couple of weeks set aside for some workship/review sessions.
I went into the Silver Creek Community Center on Tuesday morning and met Jennifer’s mother to do some crafting. I took my newest Diamond Art project to work on. One lady was working on a Rug Hooking project, one lady was crocheting and Jennifer’s mother worked on her crocheting project. It was nice to have a place to work on the project without having to bother Brian for space on the table. The Tuesday night Mainstream workshops have started. Blake Bjordahl was the caller that night. Blake has been reviewing the calls at the beginning of the list and taking it step by step. The dancers are enjoying the extra floor time.
Wednesday morning, we went into Taylor to do laundry and then back into Show Low to stop at Walgreen’s for Brian’s prescription and some more cough medicine. In the afternoon, it RAINED and RAINED. Lots of rain and wind. Even a little hail fell during the storm. The truck, motorhome and dance hall got a good bath. It’s still raining just a little bit as I write this update. Does anyone have an ark that we can borrow??
It’s now the morning of the 19th and I think it’s time to get caught up on our activities. It seems like a long time since I last wrote down anything, but then again, we haven’t really done very much since my last entry. In fact, there was one day when neither of us got out of our pajamas the entire day. That was weird as Brian almost always changes into everyday clothes even if there was nothing happening that day.
We went back up to the Zane Grey Clubhouse on the 18th to listen to the Country Jam Session in the afternoon. One of the dancers, Al Peterson, sings and plays his guitar in the band. Each member of the band takes a turn singing a song that they’ve picked out while the other members provide background music on their own instruments. This week there was an accordion player and a new drummer. It’s nice to get away from the motorhome every once in a while.
We continue with the Monday night Plus review, Tuesday night Mainstream review and helping with Blake’s Plus calling on Thursdays in addition to the Saturday night Mainstream dances with Brian, Carl, and Blake calling during the dance.
It was a dark and stormy night. No, really! On the night of August 19th, there were no less than five separate thunderstorms passing through Linden by the dance hall. There was lots of heavy rain, a small amount of hail, lots of lightning and thunder. It was very hard to fall asleep because just as one passed by, another one rolled into the area. At least the wind wasn’t very bad, so the motorhome wasn’t rocking back and forth. At one point, it was raining at the front of the dance hall but not in the back of the dance hall where the motorhome is parked. Then everything moved and the heavy rain started hitting the back of the dance hall and didn’t stop for several hours.
The next morning, I went into the dance hall and cut some fabrics into the projects I’m going to be working on during the crafting weekend coming up in early October. I still have some more fabric to get cut, but hopefully I can get it all cut on Saturday morning.
Brian and I went into the dance hall on Saturday morning. I finished getting my projects cut out and pinned them together and Brian got his computer and the MA220 amplifier ready for the dance that night. The theme for the dance was “Christmas in August” He also spent some time practicing since he hadn’t done Christmas music for a few months.
The club had a membership meeting right before the dance, so we stayed in the motorhome a little bit later than normal. They had pizza and fixings while we had our own French bread pizzas. There were three squares dancing for most of the Mainstream tips with one square dancing the Plus tip. Several dancers wore their Christmas themed outfits. The dancers seemed to enjoy the Christmas themed music, and they really enjoyed when Brian did “Grandma got run over by a Reindeer”. Brian had his blinking lights Christmas hat on while he was calling.
Sunday morning, up like a Lark, I think I’ll take a walk….into the bathroom, not the park, as the song says. I woke up at 5:00 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. So, I used the extra time before Brian woke up to get some work done on my laptop. I read the newspaper and started this update. He finally got up, so I shut down my laptop and watched the TV until breakfast. I didn’t do much during the day, but I did finish my current crossword puzzle book tonight.
Tuesday afternoon, we went back to the Zane Grey Clubhouse to watch the Country Jam. There were eight musicians playing various types of guitars, one drummer, one playing the pedal steel guitar, and one performing on the accordion. They played until 3:30, each taking at least one lead during the jam session. Afterwards, there was a lasagna dinner as a fundraiser for the clubhouse. There was lasagna, salad, a couple pieces of bread and dessert. The lasagna must have been made at the clubhouse as it tasted homemade instead of being bought at a store. On Wednesday, the town's water storage tank collapsed and spilled all the water out of it. The town was without water for a few days. Good thing for the clubhouse that the concert was on Tuesday.
On Friday morning, we drove into Taylor for laundry. Along the way, on Lone Pine Dam Road, we came across a lady riding a horse in the roadway. Yes, she was fully clothed. I stopped the car in the opposite direction and waited for them to pass. The horse looked like it was getting a little spooked with the car, so using my knowledge of when cars were brand new, I pulled out of the way of the horse. I did not disassemble the car like some owners were required to back in the day.
We took a different way back to the camper after the laundry was finished and came across a man walking a bike. We couldn’t tell if he was having problem with the bike or why he was walking the bike. He did appear to have his personal belongings in a backpack. I did see what appeared to be some bike tire remains a little bit up the road. We were going the opposite way of the person with the bike so that may be why he didn’t try to flag us down.
Saturday, August 29th, Brian had his last dance of the month. During the dance, it rained (poured) and thundered for about a half an hour. Brian had already planned to use “It Never Rains in Southern California” for one of his tips. It seemed quite coincidental. He even told the dancers that the free car wash was on him.
Sunday was a day for staying in the motorhome and doing some work. Brian worked on the websites that he manages, and I worked on several Diamond Art projects. I have completed several of the little magnet projects and ready for the top coating of sealant to prevent the little pieces from being pulled off the magnets. But I need to find a time when it’s not raining.
We were woken up early Monday morning to another thunderstorm passing through the area. I think it is supposed to rain most of the day. We had planned on going into Springerville today but with the rain, we may stay home and try later in the week. These past three weeks have been very rainy, living up to the monsoon season reputation. While I was working on my laptop in the afternoon, two does came near the motorhome. Sorry about the fuzziness, I took the picture through our window screen.
It’s hard to believe that’s it the end of August. Where did the month go? Only four more dances to go and then we head back to Bloomington. We will miss all our new friends from Show Low. It will be nice to see them again next summer.