December 20 to 26, 2007

December 20 to 26, 2007

Yuma, Arizona

Thursday ; Today was a perfect "June 18" day. This morning we drove to the Post Office to < sigh > stand in line and pick up mail at General Delivery. From there we drove to a mall where Joanne picked up a "secret" Christmas gift for me at Barnes & Noble. Then we drove to Mervyn's, a department store chain that we have never been to before, to buy some not so secret Christmas gifts for Joanne from me. Hey ... I'd rather she pick out the right sizes and colours so that I don't have to return them. I don't really like Christmas shopping. I absolutely hate Christmas refunds / exchanges. Then it was over to Lowe's for some hardware I need for one of my many pending projects. I'd better get my butt in gear if I hope to get all my projects completed before our friends from Ottawa arrive in early February for our trip into Mexico.

After a late lunch back at the trailer we went to get Sonny the Cocker Spaniel, and take him and Bo to the dog park. Sonny's owners can't get out much right now. Barry had heart surgery a week or so ago, and now Marty is suffering with a cold. I think I may be headed that way myself. My dental hygienist the other day had a cold, and now I think I may be getting one as well. Mucho gracias, Diana ! ! ! On the way to the dog park we also rounded up Tom, Ruth-Anne, and Emma. Tom and I took the 3 dogs on a pack walk around the perimeter of the dog park. How can 3 little dogs produce that much waste ? ! ? There was a new arrival at the dog park today. Samantha, the 15 year old Cocker Spaniel / Terrier cross from British Columbia. What a sweet girl. But completely deaf !

We went to the weekly "social hour" late in the afternoon, munching on snacks and visiting with Samantha's people, new arrivals from British Columbia. They recognized me from a magic show that I performed in Mesa, Arizona about 2½ years ago. Gee ... Joanne makes great guacamole for a gringo from Canada !

 

Friday ; I was very ill today witha cold. Getting out of bed this morning was the hardest thing I've done in a long time. We went shopping to Arizona Market. I didn't last very long. We bumped into Ernie Webster, an Escapee friend of ours from British Columbia. He was sick with a cold like me. Hang around flea markets anywhere along the Mexican border from San Diego in California to South Padre Island in Texas, and inevitably you'll meet a Snowbird you know. We returned home, I went to bed, and Joanne went out to continue shopping. You go, girl ! I spent the day in bed, sleeping, reading, drinking tea, and eating cookies and drugs. The drugs didn't help much. The cookies were better. HA HA < cough cough > HA !

 

Saturday ; Well, I wasn't quite as ill today as yesterday. I managed to be slightly functional today for a few hours. During the night I was having difficulty sleeping, so in the middle of the night I wrote one and half of my "dog training tips" articles. I finished the second article this morning, so now I've got 2 articles "in the can" ready to go. We went with Tom and Ruth-Anne to look at a new RV park under development. The prices are reasonable, but I think the developer is promising much more than he can reasonably deliver. And we've already had a bit of a taste of that problem at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos, so I'm not all that eager to jump on the bandwagon. The development has barely started, and the developer is promising completion in about 15 months. I think it's going to be more like 36 months. We'll check back on this development in a year. Then we drove to the Foothills suburb east of Yuma and looked at a few lots for sale. Tom and Ruth-Anne seemed interested in the area. I think we'll hold off buying anything this winter. I still want to take a look at a new RV development down on the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico, on the Sea Of Cortez. We returned to Kofa Ko-op, and I spent most of the rest of the day in bed.

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and mild, a bit windy. I wasn't quite as ill today, but I was weak.

This morning while Joanne went to do laundry I wrapped Christmas gifts. Joanne selected most of her gifts from me, but I did manage to buy one "secret" gift. My gift wrapping skills are not great at the best of times, but the gifts I wrapped today, while sick, look like they've been wrapped by a retarded elf !

Bo's friend Sonny is sick with Bordatella / Kennel Cough,an upper respiratory infection, kind of like doggie bronchitis. With all the playing Bo and Sonny have done over the last week, I feel that it is somewhat inevitable that Bo will also end up with it. Bo is very oral, and has "swapped spit" with Sonny, and they shared a toy in the dog park. Bo is going to the vet on Wednesday, so we'll ask about the Bordatella vaccine. Although that might be like shutting the barn door after the horse is gone.

This afternoon I wired the CB radio. Did an excellent job ! And I did my monthly backup of all my computer files. You know, I got this laptop as a ( sort of ) Christmas gift from Iams, the pet food company, 4 years ago, and I still have not yet mastered the process of doing monthly backups. Late in the afternoon we went to the weekly ice cream social, had a bowl of ice cream, then visited. We returned to the trailer for supper and to watch Amazing Race.

At bedtime, Teddy, Bo, and I finished off the last of the cookie exchange cookies. Gee, you wouldn't think one man, one cat, and one dog could eat 36 cookies that quickly, would you ? HA HA HA !

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. Over the last few years we have developed a new family Christmas tradition of spending some time on Christmas Eve and / or Christmas Day in the swimming pool and / or hot tub. One of the benefits of spending Christmas down south. But not today ! The weather was right, but my health wasn't conducive to being in the pool or hot tub. But I am improving. This cold seems to be quite widespread around Yuma. Many people in our RV park have colds right now.

We had a lazy day. Spent time sitting out in the sun, reading. Played with Bo in the dog park. Gave Bo a bath. Joanne made tourtié re for supper, her family's Christmas Eve tradition carried forward to us.

Peace on earth, and goodwill towards men !

 

Tuesday ; Merry Christmas to our families and friends who read my blog.

Well, this was our fourth Christmas "on the road". And it brought something new. We've never before experienced a "desert storm" Christmas. Today was sunny and mild, but very windy. And the desert in and around Yuma is very soft sand, like a beach but without the water. So when the wind blows strongly, the sand blows up and around, not unlike blowing snow during a blizzard. For much of the day, the sand was blowing up and around a foot or two offthe ground, soas people walked their lower legs seemed invisible. And little dogs were invisible ! Occasionally, when it would gust strongly and the sand would blow up to 5 or 6 feet high, all you could see of people walking were their heads.

This morning I prepared a pancake breakfast, our variation on my family's Christmas morning tradition of waffles for breakfast. While cooking pancakes, we unwrapped Teddy's gift for him, and gave him a healthy serving of it. Then we gave Bo his gift, and let him unwrap it himself. Bo is like the proverbial "kid on Christmas morning" when it comes to unwrapping gifts. He was jumping around, all excited, when we began to unwrap Teddy's gift. Bo immediately ripped half the wrapping off his gift, then ran into the bedroom with it to finish unwrapping it on the bed. Bo sure loves unwrapping gifts ! While we ate our pancakes, with good Canadian maple syrup, of course, we unwrapped our gifts. Each of us had managed to buy a secret gift for the other. Joanne bought me a book about Native American culture that an Escapee friend had recommended when she found out I am interested in Native culture. I bought Joanne a Mexican poncho last week while we were down in Los Algodones. Just like the one Clint Eastwood wore in the movie "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly". Now all she needs is a flat topped cowboy hat, and a small cigar clamped in her teeth to complete the look. HA HA HA ! Teddy spent the rest of the day lounging around on a large piece of gift wrapping, his favourite part of the Christmas rituals.

It was disappointing to me to be as ill as I was today. My cold is improving, but the cold medications that I took for the last few days have wreaked havoc on my colitis. I felt really sick for most of the day. But, hey ... it's Christmas ... the show must go on !

One of our neighbours, and Christmas dinner table companions came over to visit and offer Joanne assistance with preparing the turkey. We visited with Marty for awhile, then went to the clubhouse to use our Wi-Fi phone to phone my sister and Joanne's sister and her family. First we phoned my sister Sharon. Then Joanne's sister Lorraine. Lorraine was sick, in bed. We spoke to Doug and the little nieces, Madeleine and Amelia.

We decided to bring our little tiny Christmas tree over to the clubhouse to be a centrepiece for our dinner table. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner. As hostess, Joanne had asked everybody at our table tocontribute one of their favourite "family signature" side dishes, so we had a great variety of traditional and interesting, new ( to us ) dishes. Nine out of ten of the people at our table were very nice < rolling eyes ... snickering >. About 30 seconds into dinner Joanne knocked over Marty's full wine glass < more eye rolling >. After dinner we participated in a group mystery gift exchange. We ended up with a day timer pouch, with a calendar page for each day of the year, a calculator, ruler, address book, etc. You know, just what an unemployed, homeless guy needs < more eye rolling >. And a ... Mexican sun / moon / star zodiac chimes thingy made out of burnished metal. It will probably look quite nice hanging in the huge Douglas Fir tree on our lot back in Keremeos. After the gift exchange, there was a pretty pathetic Christmas carol sing along < even more eye rolling >. All in all, a great Christmas dinner, and a pleasant evening, with old and new friends. Too bad I felt sick as a dog !

Teddy and Bo reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy liked their dinner of turkey and gravy !

 

Wednesday ; Today was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day. Another perfect "June 18" day. I wish I had caught my cold one day earlier. Then I would have felt yesterday like I felt today. Much improved ! I could breathe through my nose for the first time in about a week.

Tom and Ruth-Anne brought Emma over this morning at 7:00 A.M.. They were headed for Los Algodones, where Tom had an 8:00 A.M. appointment to have 7 teeth extracted. YIKES ! It was impossible for us to get back to sleep. Bo and Emma love their early morning "pyjama parties". They lie on the bed between us, rolling around on their backs, moaning and groaning, gnawing and licking each other, playing "tug of war" with Bo's new rope and ball toy. Bo had a veterinarian appointment for 11:00 A.M., but the vet's office phoned at 8:00 A.M. to cancel and reschedule. The vet had phoned in sick. Finally Teddy, Joanne, and I gave up trying to get back to sleep, and we all had breakfast in bed. All five of us had muffins and fruit salad in bed.

As I type this, all 3 animals are asleep on the sofa. Poor Teddy ! Now even Emma is using his butt as a pillow. He sure is a laid back cat when it comes to dealing with dogs.

Joanne went Wal-Martin' with Ruth-Anne this afternoon. I took a propane tank to be refilled, and took Bo to the dog park where we played with River the dog and Oslo the7 year old boy. Oslo tired me out and River tired Bo out.

When Joanne returned from Wal-Martin' we trimmed Teddy's and Bo's nails then went to the weekly social hour. We chatted for a long time with a fascinating 79 year old woman with an amazing memory for details, and still a very adventurous spirit. She has lived here in Yuma for over 20 years. When we started talking about Los Algodones she told us all about how to find the illegal gambling places and "houses of prostitution". HA HA HA ! When we started talking about our upcoming adventure of driving to the tip of Baja California, she told us all about her first solo journey to Los Cabos at the tip of the Baja. "Must have been back in '52 or '53 ... drove down there in my 5 speed Saab". HA HA HA ... way to go, girl ! She said that back then the road down the Baja was just a dirt track, used mainly for the Baja 500 road race.

 

DSK