December 22, 2005

December 22, 2005

Yuma, Arizona

YEAR 2 DAY 188

 

Today was sunny and very warm. I was working outside in the afternoon wearing shorts.

I got a late, slow start to the morning. We went to Arizona Market Place, the local flea market, to buy a backpack purse for Joanne that she saw and liked when we were there last week. It will be another one of my Christmas gifts to her. We took Bo along. Last week we saw that many people wander around the flea market with their dogs. Taking Bo into crowds of people is a good training exercise. We realized that the first time we had him in a crowded place, at Lake Louise. We bought the purse, and some produce. Just as we arrived back at the trailer, a rig from Quebec was pulling into the boondock area across from our site. We wandered over to chat with them. Well, Joanne chatted, I mostly listened. I can't really hold my own in a fast flowing conversation in French. Until their arrival, we were the only Canadians here. However, it's noticeable when driving around Yuma, that there are almost as many license plates from B.C. and Alberta as there are Arizona license plates. Yuma has a permanent population of 80,000, with 95,000 winter visitors.

We had lunch. I read until I fell asleep for awhile. So what else is new ? HA HA HA ! When I woke, I changed into shorts. The afternoon was too hot for long pants. We went outside and cleaned the trailer wheels with bug & tar remover. We had neglected to clean the wheels when we were cleaning the rest of the trailer. Then we decided to open the awning. Yuck ! It was all wet, and had mildew on it. I guess we haven't opened the awning since before we arrived at West Hawk Lake in May. We couldn't open it at West Hawk Lake because of a tree right beside the trailer. Tomorrow we'll have another big job, cleaning the awning. It should be opened and dried after it rains, but we're rarely in one place long enough to justify opening the awning. We sort of forget it exists. We should have opened it, dried it and cleaned it sooner. The next door neighbour offered me some grapefruits. I didn't know Joanne had just bought some earlier today. I accepted them, and offered some Medjool dates in return, although Medjool dates and grapefruits are hardly a fair trade. I guess we came out on the losing end of that trade. Oh, well. We took Bo for a long walk at dusk, just to enjoy the great weather.

I did today's accounting, and started work on today's journal entry. I received some e-mails with feedback that my Christmas card attachment couldn't be opened, because of the ".wps" extension that my word processing software uses. I experimented, and tried to resave it with a ".doc" extension. I will resend it and hope that works. I barbecued a Jack Daniel's Bourbon steak for supper. Great ! We watched a bit of TV, then I went to the clubhouse to get online. For the last couple of days, including tonight, I have had a great deal of trouble getting online and retrieving e-mail. After multiple attempts tonight, I went back to the trailer to get online through the cell phone, to see if the problem is my computer, or something else. I had no difficulties signing on, and getting e-mail, through the cell phone, so I don't think the problem is in my computer. A couple of days ago, somebody changed the phone cord in the clubhouse. Maybe that's the problem ? Tomorrow I'll try signing on in the clubhouse, using my own phone cord.

DSK