Pay Up
One of our favorite things to do while in AZ is to have lunch at Guido’s Chicago Meat and Deli, because CHICAGO. To be honest, though the owner is originally from Chicago (he even admitted to knowing the neighborhood on the south side of Chicago in which Bill spent his formative years), it’s the Italian sub sandwich that keeps us coming back. It’s scrumptious, but I’m not going to spend any time talking about it because I have done so in the past. But I have to talk about our experience as we left. When we arrived, we were one of the first tables to be filled. However, it wasn’t long before the place was packed. It isn’t a large place, but every table was filled. The staff seemed completely nonplussed by the crowd, and must have had a good routine in place. When we went up to pay, our server took our little black booklet that held our bill and our credit cards. She ran the credit card and handed it back to us. “Just sign it and put it on top of the pile,” she explained. We looked over to see a large pile of little folders containing signed credit card receipts. We literally tossed our black folder onto the top of the file (seriously, probably 25 or so folders high), and headed out the door. I admired their trust, but Bill (coming from Chicago) was certain that the Mob wouldn’t let anyone get out without paying.

Umbrella Weather
While much of the country is experiencing cold temperatures and piles of snow, here in AZ we are experiencing our own form of Armageddon. The weather forecasters have been telling us about cold temperatures and rain, but we awoke yesterday morning to blue skies, though much chillier temperatures. However, sometime around 10 o’clock, it started to rain. The heavens opened up, and it poured. Because the soil is mostly clay, hard rain can cause terrible flooding. Because of this, nearly every neighborhood has little areas where the ground forms a valley where the water can accumulate. While we had enough rain to turn our valley into a little pond, the rain subsided around 4 in the afternoon. It started up again later in the evening, but it hasn’t thus far amounted to much. In the meantime, our Colorado family is experiencing temps in the single digits.

Neither Rain nor Snow
The rain didn’t deter my sister Bec from driving from Chandler to Mesa to have dinner with us. Jen and I take turns cooking, and last night was my turn. I made pork ribs with saurkraut, one of my favorite Mom dishes. It was every bit as good as Mom’s. And because of the cooler weather, we weren’t even troubled by the fact that the oven was on for nearly two hours as the ribs roasted. I mixed the saurkraut with my mashed potatoes. Yum. I was 7 years old again.

Tick Tock
I’m counting the hours until my next doctor appointment on Monday, at which I fully expect the doc to send my off minus my boot. I’m following his rules to wear it faithfully, but I will admit that I am taking it off every other morning to take a shower. Having gone six weeks with sponge baths makes my shower feel mighty good. I think my family is happy as well.

Ciao.