A Day at the Zoo

ALL THE LAKES WERE CROWDED SO WE HIT THE ZOO What a great day we had! Spent about four hours at the zoo. I won't bore you with the details, but we managed to stay ahead of or behind the many "stroller brigades". The highlight of the visit was watching a grandmother, daughter and 4 month old baby orangutan eat, play and nap. The baby was just adorable and fought taking a nap like any other toddler. We never got a picture of the baby but here are some pictures you might enjoy. We especially enjoyed the prairie dog colony - they are so cute!!!!!

Yes, flamingos in Arizona! Can you believe that??? After the zoo, we visited Tuesday Morning, an outlet/closeout store. I had been looking for square melamine dinnerware for the trailer. (All the cupboards are square - why not the dishes?) Would you believe I found them? And in HOT PINK!!! My new decor is going to be navy blue and pink. (in the trailer) Now if I could only find square paper plates. Got any ideas??? Afterwards, we found an outdoor restaurant in Scottsdale and had dinner on the patio. Thank goodness for the Entertainment book - it sure has paid for itself.

Chi Wow Wow Races

I guess you’ve figured out by now that I do not know how to spell that damn dog breed’s name. I could look it up but am too lazy. On Saturday, after Cinqo de Mayo, I headed back to El Zocalo for a little “hair of the dog”. The place is owned by a Mexican couple and his name is (can’t spell this either) Debed. Not the sofa but de bed! I needed a little “hair of the dog” and ordered a Pacifico, a Mexican beer that’s served with a wedge of lime. After pondering about three seconds, I ordered a shot of tequila. Debed (not de sofa) asked me what kind I wanted and I was totally stumped. He has a whole wall with nothing but bottles of tequila. They range from low (but not rotgut – he won’t serve it) quality to exceptionally high quality “sipping” tequila. Now the only tequila I know about is Jose Cuervo and Don Julio – which is what I used to buy every time I went to Mexico. If you want to know a little about tequila, go here: http://www.beerliquors.com/buy/liquors/donjulio.htm. Did you know that tequila can only be manufactured in Mexico and is one of the most pure spirits you can drink? (And all that talk about donkey piss) I asked for a shot of Don Julio and he said – which kind, silver, anejo or real. (Pronounced RE – AL) I asked how much they were. $10 a shot (a SHOT, mind you) for the silver and anejo and $200 for the real. OK, let’s forget about the real. I settled for the $10 shot. I was teased by the other patrons at the bar because I didn’t swig it in one gulp, like gringos do. Instead, Don Julio is a tequila to be savored, just like Grand Marnier. So I did, to the appreciation of Debed. (Not de sofa). OKOKOKOK – I know it’s getting old, I just think it’s so damn funny. Anyway, his wife joined me and we chatted for awhile. (They had donated a dinner for two when I was collecting items for the raffle put on by the Community Policing Advisory Board, of which I am the co-chair.) They are really nice people and treat me especially nice. Then it was off to the chi-wow-wow races for me. What fun that was! The most fun was being surrounded by (mostly) little dogs. A lot of dogs were dressed up in the Mexican style, but lots were not! The lady in this picture was being interviewed by a TV station. There were booths set up that were selling all kinds of “doggy stuff” – clothes, natural foods, sunglasses, photo albums, basically you name it. One item that caught my eye (that I could kick myself for not buying) was a bandana that the collar actually goes through. TiAmo and Taccia hate bandanas that are tied around their necks. There was one little dog that I absolutely fell in LOVE with. It was a miniature Pomeranian. I have never seen a little dog with such an attitude. She would bark at other dogs and you could almost hear her saying “this is MY space – get out”. She just loved people but had such a diva like attitude. “I’m the Princess and don’t you forget it!” I wish I had been able to get a picture of her. Adorable she was!!! The chi-wow-wow races are an absolute hoot! They have 5 or 6 lanes with a person at one end and the owner at the finish line. In some races, none of the dogs will take off. In others, 5 dogs will just sit at the starting gate and one will run. Sometimes the dogs will stop mid-race and pee on one another. I left the races before they were over and went to El Zocalo for dinner and another shot of tequila. My table was ready as soon as I arrived and (no surprise here) it was the best table in the house. My waiter looked like John Travolta’s little brother and the mariachi band was just great. I ordered chili relleno, which seems to be all I ever order at a Mexican restaurant. What I neglected to tell you is what a great place the outside patio is at this restaurant. It’s almost overgrown with bougainvillea, roses, vines and beautiful flowers. The floor is brick and there are fans and misters to keep you cool. The tables are wrought iron with linen tablecloths and the service and the food is great! Sometimes they have a cowboy singer who is an absolute HOOT! He tells stories in between songs. Fortunately I walked to the races and dinner, so I was able to have a couple of gold margaritas (ok – or three or four) and walk home. It was a beautiful night and I didn’t have to work the next day. A great time for me. This is the kid that I danced with all night. He was cute, funny and very, very young. I think I reminded him of his grandmother. At least I've still got some "sass". Cutie pie without his glasses for sure.

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo actually fell on a Friday night. The Mexicans have a joke around here that only gringos celebrate the holiday as an excuse to get drunk. At any rate, that's whatcha do, I guess. I was going to meet a friend at a local Mexican restaurant, El Zocalo. (Which is walking distance from my apartment.) She said she would get there about 5:15 and get us a table. I worked kinda late and was on my way when she called and said that there were NO TABLES available and that there was a TWO HOUR WAIT! She put our names in and I decided that we'd go to the Elephant Bar for cocktails and appetizers. It's a great place - decorated like a jungle, but very tasteful and upscale. The door handles are actually bronze elephants. She had coconut shrimp and I had calamari and we each had two Belvedere martinis. MMMMMMM We stayed and chatted for a couple of hours and I couldn't figure out where to go next. Believe it or not, I'm not well acquainted with places to go "out". She decided to call El Zocalo and guess what??? Our table was ready. Since we had already eaten heavy appetizers, we munched on nachos, had a few margaritas and decided to go to another bar where we heard that they had kareoke. Now I LOVE kareoke - to listen OR participate. The people who got up were very good - you could tell they had done their songs before. The problem was that the songs were all current pop songs. I hardly knew a one! Oh well, it was a fun night anyway. More later!

Solo Patrol Assist

Here I am in uniform, in my patrol car ready to go it alone for the first time. I was all excited when the computer displayed "DISPATCHED". I pressed the button to find out what exciting event I had been dispatched to. It was the dispatch crew asking me if I could go get them dinner at Boston Market. What a letdown. Later I got dispatched to an area where 6 cars were parked in a "No Parking" zone. I succeeded in getting 5 of them moved by their owners and wrote my very first citation on the one whose owner I couldn't find. The rest of the night was pretty quiet until around 9:00 pm. A drunk was driving down one of the main roads, endangering other drivers. It took 6 police officers to stop him and he finally ended up crashing into a wall. When I heard what happened on the radio, I put myself "out of service" and headed back to the station. If I had gotten dispatched to that call I would have been out until midnight. I have to work for a living!!!