Year 3 Week 22

November 12 to 18, 2006

Hemet & Palm Springs, California

Year 3 week 22

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm.

This morning I did some minor maintenance work outside. After lunch I was going to continue, but the weather was just too darn nice. The temperature was in the upper 70's, and the sun was shining brightly. I decided to succumb to temptation, and spend the afternoon in the swimming pool and hot tub. We met and chatted with quite a few other Canadians in the pool and hot tub. As a matter of fact, I think everybody in the pool and hot tub this afternoon was Canadian. I don't know ... maybe high 70's temperatures are too cold for Americans to be in the pool ?

Late in the afternoon I resumed working on some outside maintenance. I was just finishing, and putting away tools, as the sun set. A couple from Medicine Hat, Alberta stopped to chat, and we chatted for quite awhile. We decided to delay making supper, and went grocery shopping at Vons in the mall across the street from this resort. How come turkeys here in the United States are on sale just before Thanksgiving for $5.00 each when they cost about 4 to 5 times that much in Canada just before Thanksgiving ? ! ?

We had a late supper, while watching Amazing Race.

 

Monday ; Today was another sunny, warm, Southern California day.

I puttered around with a bit of outside maintenance. I used a new scratch removal compound I bought, to try to remove a few little scratches on the truck. It diminished them, but didn't eliminate them. I guess it's not really possible to eliminate little scratches, despite the claims of the product. I spent a bit of time in the swimming pool and hot tub. We went Wal-Martin'. We spent the entire day being angry at, and being hurt by one another < sigh >.

 

Tuesday ; Another sunny, warm California day. What can I say ?

This morning while walking Bo, Joanne "found" a lost elderly woman and her dog. This is such a large RV park, with 1019 sites, that the old woman got lost while walking her dog. She became disoriented, didn't know whether she "lived" in this park or elsewhere. Joanne and a park maintenance employee helped her get back "home" to the other side of the park, where her husband was working outside, oblivious to his wife's plight. Sounds like Joanne and me, 20 years from now.

We walked out ofthe park for shopping. I walked over to the nearby Home Depot, and Joanne walked to a nearby Dollar Store. Golden Village Palms RV Resort is right in the city, surrounded by shopping malls and hotels.

After lunch we went to the fitness centre and worked out on a variety of Nautilus type fitness equipment. It was helpful to my sore, arthritic knee and shoulder, long ago injured hamstring, and Joanne's arthritic hip. There will be a fitness centre at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos, B.C.. When we "live" there starting next spring I think I would like to get into the habit of working out a little bit on these types of fitness equipment on a daily basis. After the fitness equipment, I spent a brief time on a treadmill, and Joanne tried out a step machine and cycle machine. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and hot tub. It was a great way to spend the afternoon, and I hope it will become a daily routine for us "back home" in Keremeos.

Woo-Hoo ! A new record high for the Dow Jones.

 

Wednesday ; Ho-hum ... another very warm sunny Southern California day.

Joanne's wisdom of the day ; "Southern California would be a very nice place if it weren't filled with so many Southern Californians." HA HA HA ! It seems as if this somewhat expensive RV resort is filled with 2 types of people ; Canadian snowbirds, and Southern Californians who are an hour or two from home. The Canadians are interesting, but the Southern Californians are somewhat ... well ... < whispering > boring. They live a sort of L.A.-centric existence.

We found out this morning that the dinner portion of tonight's dinner / dance evening was cancelled. There were so few tickets sold that the resort cancelled the dinner, and it became a no charge evening of music and dancing with a 5 piece "big band" orchestra.

This morning I saw some people picking some fruit out of a tree about a half dozen sites over from us. I wandered over to find out what they were picking. Persimmons ! I had never had a persimmon, so I asked them to explain to me how to eat a persimmon. I picked one, and took it back to the trailer to share with Joanne and Bo. We all liked it, so I picked a few more.

I went shopping to Pep Boys, a chain of large auto parts and accessories stores. I was looking for two items, expecting to spend between $10 and $20. They had neither, but I did find three other items to buy, spending about $100. Hey ... we're in Southern California. Pimp my ride ! We went for lunch to El Pollo Loco ( Spanish for The Crazy Chicken ), a chain of Mexican roast chicken fast food restaurants. Kind of like Swiss Chalet with olé. HA HA HA ! It was quite good.

We spent the afternoon lounging around the pool and hot tub, after a circuit through the exercise equipment in the fitness centre. At 6:00 P.M. we went to the "dance" in the ballroom, sitting at a table with 3 couples, all from Southern California. One of the couples owns a 3 year old Dodge 1 ton diesel dually, that they bought brand new, to tow their fifth wheel. It has about the same amount of mileage as we have put on our truck in the 6 months that we've owned it. The dance evening was pathetically poorly attended, especially given that it was a free event.

See ? ! ? I told you so ! The Curse Of Joanne is alive and well. Remember the photo of Bo and his starfish ? That was in Crescent City, California a year and a half ago. Crescent City, California was hit hard this afternoon by the tsunami caused by the earthquake in Japan today.

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot, temperature in the 80's, thanks to something local called the Santa Ana winds. Somehow the winds that blow over the Santa Ana Mountains always seem to blow warm air down here into the San Bernardino Valley. Wow ... gag me with a spoon. HA HA HA ! I guess that dates me somewhat. I don't think "Valley Girls" still say that here.

This morning I installed the brushed aluminum gas cap door I bought yesterday at Pep Boys. Then I drove to a local Dodge dealer to buy a small tube of touch up paint. I phoned Guide Dogs Of The Desert to confirm that we would be arriving there tomorrow about noon.

After lunch we did a circuit around the fitness equipment, then spent another long afternoon in the pool and hot tub. Nice work if you can get it !

We had a great turkey dinner, with the really cheap turkey we bought a few days ago. We figured there was no point keeping it until American Thanksgiving next Thursday, because we'll be at the Escapee park in Yuma for Thanksgiving. We watched Survivor, then I spent the evening updating my investment files. Well, the stock market certainly has done well lately, hasn't it ? ! ?

 

Friday ; Hemet to Palm Springs, California

Today was another sunny, very warm day, temperature well into the 80's.

This morning we departed Golden Village Palms RV Resort, stopping at Wal-Mart for a few items before leaving Hemet. We drove out of Hemet to the north on Hwy. 79, through San Jacinto ( pronounced “Yasinto” ), to Interstate 10 where we turned east at Beaumont towards Palm Springs. We drove through the area burned by the recent Esperanza wild fire. It burned all over the place, jumping around, crossing the highway, burning some areas and skipping over others. There hardly seems like there's enough vegetation in the desert to burn, but it's so dry, and with some wind, wild fires here race at quite a high speed, burning a lot of area quickly. At Palm Springs we turned north off of I-10 onto Hwy. 62. Guide Dogs Of The Desert is near the intersection of I-10 and Hwy. 62, halfway up the side of a mountain, with a spectacular vista of Palm Springs a few miles off in the distance, far below. The night time vista is particularly pretty. We are surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of windmills. This is a wind farming area.

We met with Kathie Flamm, the Volunteer Co-ordinator, and our "boss", I guess. We met with Marilyn, the current dormitory "Mom", and the woman we will be replacing. Joanne chatted with Marilyn for much of the afternoon. I wandered around, checking things out. Kathie took us around to meet most of the staff. Guide Dogs Of The Desert is on quite a large piece of desert property. The administrative offices and training kennels are on one side of the road, and the student dormitory is on the other side of the road. The breeding kennels are in some other nearby location that we haven't seen yet.

We met the current 2 students, who are graduating in 2 days, on Sunday. Today was their last day of formal training. We chatted with them, one student's mother, Marilyn the Dorm Mom, and Kim, the Director Of Operations, while they all ate dinner. We declined their invitation to join them for dinner, having dinner in the trailer afterwards.

The Guide Dogs Of The Desert property is overrun with little rabbits. Bo thinks it’s great. We don’t !

 

Saturday ; Whew ... brutal desert sun ! Air temperature in the high 80's, but in direct sunlight ... whew ! I just know everybody back in Winnipeg is feeling a lot of pity for me when they read this. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

This morning I got up very early, and went to shower in a dormitory room because we don't have a sewer connection for the trailer in the parking lot, and we don't want to fill up the shower waste holding tank while we're here for the weekend. I chatted with Marilyn for a couple of hours while helping her a very little with breakfast for the 2 students and 1 parent. I napped ! I took some pictures of Guide Dogs Of The Desert property and surrounding view. I polished out a couple more little scratches on the truck.

Why does Bo lie in sunbeams in the trailer, then pant and look at us pathetically, because he's too hot ? ! ? I took him outside and sprayed him with a garden hose to cool him down. A little guide dog trick I learned yesterday. The big dogs seem to really love being sprayed down on hot days. Bo didn't seem to be as thrilled. Hey, Bo ... if you can't run with the big dogs ... ! HA HA HA !

Late this afternoon I misplaced Teddy. I searched all over the trailer. I went into Guide Dogs Of The Desert Gift Shop to get Joanne's help. She was helping out in the gift shop, preparing for tomorrow's graduation ceremony. Joanne and I, and many staff and volunteers who were here helping prepare for tomorrow's graduation began wandering the desert, calling and searching for Teddy. There was a lot of concern by the staff and volunteers that a coyote would eat Teddy. I tried not to panic. After 20 minutes of many people searching the grounds around the Guide Dogs Of The Desert buildings, and out in the desert, Joanne found him ... fast asleep inside the trailer's bedroom closet. Ooooops ! ! !

Tonight we accepted the invitation to have dinner in the dormitory dining room with the 2 students and 1 parent. The students and guide dogs are Kathleeya, a 27 year old woman and her Chocolate Lab guide, Halo, and Jordan, a 16 year old boy and his Black Lab guide, Mikey. Both Kathleeya and Jordan have very limited, impaired vision. Kathleeya was telling the story of how she misplaced Halo recently, because the dog's colour blends in with the colour of the sofa in the dormitory that Halo was sleeping on. Kathleeya asked Jordan if he had seen Halo recently. While she was telling this story, I almost choked on my food, stifling myself from laughing as I contemplated the absurdity of the blind leading the blind. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

 

DSK