our home value has risen

Good morning.
It's mostly been very nice outside. Low 70's and sunny. We're running about 10 degrees above normal. Liking that!
Our neighbor across the street had her first patio party Thursday afternoon. They live on the golf course. Very nice views from their patio. I'll try to remember to take a pic next time.  :-)
Yesterday was cold and rainy. High of only 65. But the rest of the week should be sunny and 70 again.
We have new neighbors 2 doors down. It was a rental house that was put on the market about 2 months ago. Met the new neighbors as they were attempting to unload a heavy couch. I helped them get it in to the house. It was just the husband and wife doing all this. I later helped them with a large dresser.  They bought the 'Primrose' floor plan. It has a side entrance and 3 bedrooms.

 Craig and I don't care for that one as the bedrooms are quite small. An I think a side entrance is stupid for a home.

Our model is the 'Heather'. It's a 2 bedroom plan with larger bedrooms and a wider living room. The 'Primrose' looks like a tunnel being narrower and longer due to the dining area at the one end where our dining is in the kitchen. They said they wanted our floor plan but they were selling as fast as they went on the market. They said they put in 2 offers and both were already sold by the time they were presented. I checked later online and it's true, the only 'Heather' models for sale right now are 2 that are on the golf course and listed for $215,000 and $244,000. Off the golf course they are listing for $188,00 to $192,000. That's still quite a jump from what we paid for ours 2 1/2 years ago. So that's good!
Also trimmed the bushes in the back yard. Plan on trimming the tree in the front yard tomorrow. Tuesday is bulk pick-up day, so that will be good timing.
Cooking out third turkey today. Craig stuffs this one with oranges and pineapple. Gives the meat a nice slight citrus flavor.
And with that, I'm off to eat a little breakfast.

I'm okay

Good morning.
I've just spent the last day and a half in the hospital.
On Sunday, I had 3 'episodes' of getting very light headed. To the point I had to hold on to what ever was near by as I felt I might fall. They passed quickly, lasting at most maybe 10-20 sec. But I've had a couple of those over the last couple of months, so I got concerned. Was I having mini strokes? I called my doctor on Monday morning to see if he could order some tests to check me out. He said the best place to go was the emergency room. Even though I was feeling fine Monday morning, he said they were best equipped to give me a thorough check-up. I didn't like the idea of spending the money for the emergency room, but I had decided I needed some answers. So off I went to the Centennial Hills Hospital.  It's in my insurance network and actually the closest hospital to our community. They did a cat scan, chest x-ray, blood tests and a few other things. Everything at that point looked good. The doctor said the other tests to completely determine if I had indeed  had a stroke was an MRI. I should also have an ECG, an MRA and a Carotid artery ultra sound. They could only give me those if I was admitted to the hospital. I could have them all out patient, but by the time my primary care physician ordered them and got them scheduled at other facilities, it could take over a month, and if they were mini strokes, time and treatment is of utmost importance. So, I talked it over with Craig, and we decided I'd be admitted.  I didn't realize what was in store for me. I thought I'd spend the night, they'd do the tests, and I'd go home. I haven't been in the hospital as a patient for years, so I was naive. They put a heart monitor on me which means I had 5 wires hooked to my chest. Then I got an IV put in. They took an additional 5 vials of blood after already taking 5 earlier. They woke me up 3 time during the night to do vitals and take more blood. Trying to sleep all wired was uncomfortable. I at least had a private room.
Anyway, all the tests were preformed and all the results were negative for any past strokes or any blood vessel issues. Everything looked good. They even sent in a Physical therapist to test me for inner ear problems. The doctor said I was smart to come in as although there are many possible reasons for my symptoms, you don't want to mess around with a possible stroke. Better to be safe than sorry. Of course, he's not going to get the thousands of dollars in bills. I have like $7000 in deductibles and co-pays. But I am still glad to rule out anything serious. The best they could tell me is the symptoms I had could be caused from dozens of non life threatening issues. Most likely either dehydration, or temporary low sugar. I never eat breakfast, and don't drink a lot of water. So I'll work on that.
In other news.....
We dropped off Craig's car  Monday morning to be repaired from the accident a month ago. We've also sat out on the patio as our temps have been in the low 70's this week. Nearly 10 degrees above normal.
So that's it for now...

Hawaii 3.0

Good morning.
 One of the highlights of our trip to Hawaii, was taking a submarine out deep in the bay.
Here's a stock pic of what it looked like....

 The one we were on seats 64. Two rows of seats, each row facing windows on one side or the other.

You take a boat from the dock out to the sub. It pulls up along side and everyone climbs aboard and goes down the hatch. Once all aboard, the boat pulls away, they close and seal the hatch and down we go.
We went down between 50 and 100 ft deep. Beautiful clear water, though my camera didn't take the best pics through the windows.
This first pic is a man made reef for the smaller fish to hide in. There really isn't much of anything else on the sea floor.

There's a reef shark laying on the ocean floor under the wing of a plane wreck. We saw 4 man made reefs, 2 planes, and 2 ships on the ocean floor teaming with fish.

It was really neat to see that. Back on the ship we got a good view of Waikiki on our trip back to the pier.

There were 2 subs operating and this is the second one coming up.

The people running the sub and ships were all very helpful and knowledgeable.  We were glad we spent the money to go. The company even had shuttles that picked you up at your hotel.
It was  a whirlwind 8 days, and we enjoyed every minute of it. If it wasn't for the long flights and expensive hotel rooms, we'd go back every year.
So, that's it on our little trip to Hawaii.

Hawaii 2.0

Good morning.
I'm much more rested and can post a few more pics.
One of our neighbors brought over some tasty muffins as a welcome back gift.

We ate 2 before I thought of taking the pic.   :-)
We've got some very nice neighbors.
One day we took a trolley ride around part of the island.

This would be along the east shore of Oahu.
At one point the driver stopped and gave a little ukulele performance.

He was a pretty good singer!
We didn't stop here but this is a pic of the Iolani Palace.

And another pic with Diamond head in the background.

I think we spent more time at beach bars then anything else.  :-)
Love those Mai Tai drinks! The weather was perfect. Around 80 everyday, and we love to people watch on the beach.
And a couple of pics of garden areas near the Royal Hawaiian or (Pink Palace)

And Craig had to get a pic of this....

It's a Camaro Limousine. I googled it and  it has a gull wing door. look closely where the guy in black is standing. It was parked outside of the Moana Surfrider. It's the other oldest hotel right next to the Royal Hawaiian.
Craig was pretty impressed.
Well, I've got one more post to do about our trip. I'll get to that hopefully tomorrow.

Hawaii

Good afternoon.
We've just returned from an 8 day trip to Hawaii. Had to get away from the cold weather here in Las Vegas.   :-)
It was only around 60 in Vegas, but 80 in Hawaii.We had non-stop from Las Vegas on Allegiant Air. Still. it was a 6 hour flight there, and 5 back. That's a l-o-n-g flight. I don't know how people fly to Australia or Europe.

They had live entertainment at the airport to welcome us!
Here's a couple of views from our room....

Toward the mountains, and toward the ocean. We were on the 23rd floor of the Holiday Inn Beachcomber Resort. Not on the beach, but a very close walk.
Another view from our balcony.

The  pink building is the Royal Hawaiian. it's one of the oldest hotels on Waikiki.
It's been 32 years since we've been to Hawaii. Of course, a lot has changed, but it was still as beautiful as we remembered it. Here's Craig at a beach side patio with Diamond Head Crater in the background.

A turtle swimming along with the other swimmers.

On the building next door, was a revolving restaurant with an outdoor patio below. We'd sit on our balcony every afternoon watching them set up and then get very busy.

And in one of the parks along the ocean, a giant Banyan Tree.

And another beach pic.

We did a number of sightseeing trips while we were there. I'll post more later this week, but this is it for now.