Year 3 Week 23

November 19 to 25, 2006

Palm Springs, California to Yuma, Arizona & Los Algodones, B.C., México

Year 3 week 23

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot again, although there was a tiny bit of a wind this afternoon, which made the intense desert sun less brutal. Temperature was in the high 80's.

Today was Graduation Day at Guide Dogs Of The Desert. This morning at 11:00 A.M. was a luncheon for today's graduates, their families, their trainers, and their dogs' sponsors. By early afternoon many more people began to arrive for the graduation ceremony at 2:00 P.M.. At 1:00 P.M. we joined a group being taken on a tour of the training kennels.

The graduation ceremony was attended by quite a large crowd. Many puppy raiser families attend these graduations with their "guide dog in training" puppies. I was a little surprised by how many people there were. And dogs ! And face lifts ! ! !

Our offers of assistance before the luncheon, and before the graduation ceremony, were declined. The outgoing "Dorm Mom" is a little possessive of her responsibilities, and while she apparently welcomes her "retirement", and us as her successors, she refused most of our offers of help over the last few days. We have, not surprisingly, formulated some ideas about changes we are likely to be making to the day to day operation of the dormitory residence and kitchen operations, and the graduation luncheon and ceremony.

After the graduation ceremony crowd had thinned out, we helped clean up. We accepted an invitation to join the graduates and staff at a Thai restaurant in nearby Desert Hot Springs, the nearest town, about 6 miles away. Palm Springs is about the same distance away, but is a larger city. One of the graduates, Kathleeya, is Thai, and lives in Desert Hot Springs, so she was the unofficial "hostess" of the dinner outing. Over dinner we chatted with the gentleman from Alaska who was the puppy raiser of Mikey, the guide dog received by today's other graduate Jordan, the 16 year old from Wisconsin. Having been raised in Alaska, Mikey is likely going to be happy to get to Wisconsin tomorrow. It's way too hot here in Palm Springs for Mikey.

After we returned to Guide Dogs Of The Desert, I tried to get online using the dormitory's Wi-Fi, but I was unsuccessful. I used a phone line to get online just to send and retrieve e-mail. We watched Amazing Race.

As I type this, we’re watching tonight’s news and weather on a local Palm Springs TV station. The weather man just said “it’s going to be a little chilly overnight, temperature in the 50’s”. HA HA HA HA HA < SNORT SNORT > HA HA HA ! ! !

 

Monday ; Palm Springs, California to Yuma, Arizona

Another very sunny, hot day.

This morning we prepared for departure from Guide Dogs Of The Desert, then said goodbye to Kathie Flamm, the Volunteer Co-ordinator, and Marilyn, the outgoing "Dormitory Mom". We headed east on Interstate 10, stopping at Flying J in Thousand Palms to empty the trailer's holding tanks and refill with diesel. We turned south on Hwy. 86S, driving along the Salton Sea, stopping for groceries and lunch in El Centro, just north of the Mexican border. After lunch we turned east on I-8, the Interstate that runs across Southern California and into Arizona just north of the Mexican border.

We drove through the Imperial Sand Dunes area just before reaching Arizona. It's the desert sand dune area where Star Wars was filmed. The desert around the dunes is filled with boondocking RV's, with many ATV's and exotic dune buggies tearing around and over the dunes. Looks like fun.

We crossed into Arizona at Yuma. We found our way to Kofa Ko-op, the Escapees Co-op Park. We have been on Kofa Ko-op's lot waiting list for about a year. The waiting list for a lot here is about 9 years long, so I guess we've got about 8 more years to wait to become a lot leaseholder here. We got set up in our site and visited with our "next door neighbour" briefly, until it turned dark.

Oh, darn ! Joanne just realized that we crossed a time zone today. I have to reset all the clocks and watches.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot again. Works for me !

This morning I set up appointments for dental examinations and cleanings for both of us, and an eye exam for me, tomorrow in Los Algodones, B.C. ( Baja California ), Mexico. Los Algodones is about a 20 minute drive from Yuma. First west back into California, then south into the Baja California province / peninsula of Mexico.

After my phone calls to Mexico, which aren't all that easy to make ( Thank you very much, Manitoba Telephone System ), I headed off to the Watch Hospital, "my" Rolex repair shop here in Yuma. I dropped off my Rolex for a minor ( but certainly not cheap ) cosmetic repair. Recently I discovered what I thought was a very tiny crack in the watch case. It turns out not to be a crack, but a small "weld" mark caused by an electrical arc. Guess I won't be wearing my Rolex watch any more when working around the truck or trailer batteries, or when connecting or disconnecting the trailer power supply cord. I guess I must have recently come close to electrocuting myself. That shock couldn't have been any worse than the shock I got when the Watch Hospital told me how much the repair was going to cost !

We had lunch, I napped, then we spent the rest of the afternoon floating around the heated swimming pool, chatting with other Escapees. Late in the afternoon as the sun was setting, and the temperature was cooling, I returned from the pool and worked on polishing out another scratch on the truck. Four down, one to go. I have been using a new scratch polishing compound. It's slow and tedious work, but the product is effective. We’ve had the truck for over 6 months now. I guess I should soon stop being so anal retentive about tiny scratches. As it turned dark, we headed off for some Wal-Martin'. After supper, I took inventory of our medications, and did some planning of medication purchases tomorrow in Mexico.

Ow ow ow ow ! I just finished doing first aid on about a half dozen long, deep scratches on my ankles. They seem to be infected. I have been having problems the last few years with wounds on my lower legs. They are very slow to heal, and often become infected. I acquired these half dozen long, deep scratches on my legs in the desert at Guide Dogs Of The Desert, while searching for "lost" Teddy a few days ago. How can you tell a Canadian has been walking in the desert ( wearing shorts and no socks, scanning the distance looking for his damn cat ) ? Look at his ankles !

 

Wednesday ; Los Algodones, B.C., México

Today was sunny and hot again.

This morning we headed to Los Algodones in México. Through Yuma to I-8, 5 miles west into California, then a few miles south to the Mexican border. We parked and walked across into México.

First stop was Super Pan Bakery, Joanne's favourite Mexican bakery. Last time we were in Los Algodones, we went to this bakery to buy Mexican pastries just before returning to the U.S., late in the afternoon. The inventory at that time was low. Joanne wanted to be sure that this time we went to the bakery early, when they still had lots of inventory. We bought 8 large Mexican pastries. Unfortunatelythey did not survive well being hauled around in my backpack all day.

Next stop was Algodones Optical for an eye examination and new glasses for me. What a bargain ! They had a sale on a new brand of photosensitive lenses made by Corning called SunSensors. The computerized eye examination, including glaucoma and cataract testing, was U.S.$10 ( Canadian price for an eye exam is $80 ). The regular price for the new SunSensor lenses was $109 for prescription bifocals, including frames. The sale price was get another pair free, regular or sunglasses, including frames. I got a pair of SunSensor prescription bifocals, with new frames, and a pair of prescription bifocal sunglasses, with new frames, for U.S.$109. And both pair were ready in 3½ hours ! When I last made a similar purchase in Ottawa, it cost me $1000 !

Next stop was the cheap dentist I made appointments with. Doctora ( the "a" denotes female ) Herminia Marin. Last year we went to Dr. Juan Manuel Camacho, practicing in a large clinic with 2 dentists and 8 hygienists. His price was U.S.$20 for an examination and U.S.$20 for a cleaning. We were very satisfied, but this year I wanted to try one of the cheap, storefront, single dentist practices. Dra. Marin’s price was U.S.$15 for a cleaning with a free examination. Fifteen bucks for what costs $150 in Canada ! We felt Dra. Marin’s services had too much “would you like fries with that ?” upselling. In the future we will stick with Dr. Camacho.

After our dental cleanings we went to our favourite restaurant in Los Algodones called Paraiso. We lingered over a great Mexican lunch, with huge strawberry margaritas, in their lovely outdoor courtyard. After lunch we went to another dentist to get a ( free ) second opinion on Dra. Marin’s recommendation for how to fix a chipped tooth Joanne has. After getting a second opinion from Dr. Erick Escobedo, we walked over to Dr. Comacho’s office and made an appointment for Joanne to have her chipped tooth repaired next Tuesday.

We went to a few different pharmacies and did some price comparisons on some medications I wanted to buy. While I was getting medication prices at one pharmacy, Joanne bought herself 2 huge plastic tubs of her favourite Mexican chocolates, hazelnut and cocoa pralines called Creminos < rolling eyes >. While I bought medications at Farmacias Tury's, Joanne went looking for a place to get haircuts. She selected Silvia’s, where my haircut and beard trim cost U.S.$3 ... yes, you read that correctly ... regular U.S. or Canadian price is usually about $15 to $20. Joanne’s haircut cost U.S.$4 ... regular American or Canadian price usually about the same as mine, around $15 to $20. And both our haircuts, and my beard trim, are as good as any we’ve had, anywhere, and better than many.

Because tomorrow is an American holiday, there were a lot of Americans in Los Algodones today, buying cheap liquor. That resulted in a 40 minute long line up to walk back across the border into the Unites States while the border guards checked closely for liquor purchases, and charged duties < sigh >. While in line we chatted with the couple in line behind us. They are from Washington state. They are snowbird “rookies”, and are still afraid of trying Mexican dentists and optometrists / opticians. After hearing about my eyeglass purchases, and our dental costs, I think that’s about to change for them.

 

Thursday ; Happy American Thanksgiving

We have learned that American Thanksgiving is as large a holiday celebration in the United States as Christmas. That's seems unusual to us Canadians. Thanksgiving in Canada isn't really that big a deal. Apparently the day after Thanksgiving is the second largest shopping day of the year here in the United States. Here, the after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy is tomorrow, from 5:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M.. Most stores are advertising either a 5:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. sale or a 6:00 A.M. to noon sale. I guess that's similar to our Canadian silliness of Boxing Day sales the day after Christmas.

Today was sunny and very warm again. Today I sorted, adjusted, and cleaned all of our glasses. I now have SunSensor prescription bifocals for use most of the time, prescription bifocal sunglasses for driving, and my old prescription bifocals as a spare. Joanne has prescription glasses for driving, regular sunglasses for use most of the time, bifocal sunglasses for map reading in the truck during the day, and reading glasses for map reading in the truck at night. I’ll have to find somewhere to discard / donate my old, old spare pair of glasses. I downloaded and processed the photos I took yesterday in Los Algodones.

At 3:00 P.M. we headed for the clubhouse for the communal Thanksgiving dinner. The park cooked turkeys and mashed potatoes, and everything else was pot luck. It was a great meal indeed ! Joanne's contribution was a new recipe she learned recently in Keremeos, "The Fruit Stand Capital Of Canada", and our new home as of next spring. It's a coleslaw made with apples. We enjoyed meeting new people over dinner. After dinner we returned to the trailer, and gave Bo a haircut. This is the fourth haircut we've given him in the 2 years we've had him, and each one has been an improvement over the previous one.

We watched Survivor, then I printed and reconciled the MasterCard statements.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and warm, less hot than it has been the last 10 days or so.

Today is "Black Friday" here in the United States, the day after Thanksgiving when all stores have a massive early morning sale, signalling the start of the Christmas shopping season. I think the "Black Friday" term is a retailer term. The success, or lack of same, of today's sales, will be a barometer of how good this Christmas shopping season will be for retailers.

The soft rock radio station we have been listening to here in Yuma changed their format this morning to "all Christmas carols, all the time". Oh, for crying out loud !

I realized this morning that I forgot to pay our phone bill when it came due about 2 weeks ago. I usually have a reminder in my computer calendar, but not this time. I paid the bill by phone this morning. I did a couple of minor maintenance chores. I took a propane tank for refilling.

After lunch we spent the afternoon lounging around the pool and hot tub. Late in the afternoon I trimmed Teddy's and Bo's nails. Bo suffers anxiety and panics when his nails are being clipped. It's common in dogs. I tried some new control and relaxation tactics on Bo that I learned recently watching The Dog Whisperer. They didn't work ! I have 2 bites to prove it.

After supper we gave Bo a bath.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm, with some fog in the morning.

This morning we headed for one of Yuma's two flea markets, Yuma Park & Swap. From my perspective, we stayed much too long, until mid-afternoon. I bought a couple of tool items, Joanne bought some cosmetics, and we bought some produce. I'm pleased to be back here where lemons are 15 or 20 for a dollar. After buying them here last year for that price, I could not convince myself to pay 55 cents per lemon back in Canada. Joanne bought fresh avocadoes and a jicama ( pronounced "heekama" ), a local vegetable somewhat akin to a turnip. After supper we collaborated on making a fine guacamole with fresh avocadoes.

Late in the afternoon we washed the truck. We wanted to have it completely clean before we try using a new product we purchased recently. We bought a vehicle dusting brush, to be used to remove the thin layer of fine desert dust that settles on vehicles. Hopefully, dusting the truck occasionally will reduce how often we need to wet wash it. The brush has soft cotton bristles coated lightly with paraffin wax, to lift dust without scratching the vehicle finish. Hope it works.

We took Bo for an obedience session, and play session, in the huge fenced dog run area in this park. Every day we've been allowing him to run free in the fenced area, which is huge, perhaps 2 acres or so. The more freedom we give him off leash, the better behaved he becomes about returning to us when we want him to. We met Bear, a dog that's almost identical to Bo. We cleaned Teddy's and Bo's ears, and administered flea treatments and heartworm medication.

DSK