Here We Go.
As most of you already know, Anne's brother passed away at the end of June.
We were both in the UK at the time, but as the funeral service was delayed by the need for an autopsy, we came home. Anne returned for the service alone and spent some time with our niece and was able to meet up with many other members of her family.
During the month of July, I finally retired from Shultz Steel Company entirely.
The company was sold and my contract as a part time consultant was ended.
My retirement gift to myself was a Porsche 911, something I have wanted all my adult life, and had been planning since 2007.
When the economy tanked, I was in the fortunate position to have some cash on hand and decided to start buying stock at bargain basement prices. Some were winners and some were losers, but overall I did OK.
After about 18 months of retirement and the end of the contract, I decided to pull the trigger and buy the dream car.
It is a 2014 911 Carrera with 20,000 miles on the clock when I picked it up.
Here is my favorite girl, and of course Anne wanted to be in the picture too.
We are in Long Beach, opposite the Queen Mary.
Anne has just read this. She wrote a Limerick recently to express her feelings on this subject, and was awaiting an opportunity to give it an airing.! It fits perfectly right HERE!
There was an old fart from HB
Who bought a Porsche that filled him with glee
He said, "There's room in the rear
For a twelve-pack of beer
Not a wife... Now I'm really free!"
Our first long trip was out to Surprise Arizona to visit Barb and Leon.
The car performed perfectly and "surprised" me with the gas mileage.
30 MPG at 74 average MPH.
Barb, is doing fine and Leon is doing a fine job taking care of things.
Here he is taking Georgy for a spin around the kitchen in Barb's walking aid.
We all went out to Scottsdale Harley Davidson,
This was an idea that Barb came up with as we had not been out there before.
Wow! is this the kind dealership or what?
It has a a huge selection of bikes, a coffee shop, a wedding chapel . . . and the biggest Chinese Gong you have ever seen. ( Calm down, folks. This is not a euphemism for . . . anything. I said "Gong", not "Bong")
The Gong is banged with a humongous hammer when someone buys a bike,
This actually happened whilst we were there (I put the whilst in for you, Leon)
Look to the left of the white table to see a side view of the gong!
Madam enjoying a Corbin seat.
Each branch of the military was honored with a bike painted with its emblem.
Following the HD visit we went on to old town Scottsdale and visited the Rusty Spur.
Where Anne tried out a different seat.
I didn't see any guns so I guess everyone complied with this rule.
The history behind the bar.
It seems that in this area of greater Phoenix that you can navigate with only two street names:
Bell and Grand
If you can find one of these you can find your way home.
We all had a "Grand" time, and the whole trip rang our "Bell"!!
Those of you who know all of the participants will be aware of the minor conflicts which arise between partners!
Here is the proof that sometimes even men can admit that , although they were not wrong, then perhaps they were not 100% right! (Ahem! Interjection from Anne: Leon had to be cajoled to sign the above document!)
I can hear all the women groan and say "Yeh! Too right"
More soon from the other side of the pond.
Ciao Bella
Norm and The Editor