December 27, 2007 to January 2, 2008

December 27, 2007 to January 2, 2008

Yuma, Arizona

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny, warm and windy again. I guess it's windy here in Yuma quite often. We don't mind. It's quite often windy back in Keremeos, as well. I was feeling a lot better today. Well, except for having to blow my nose every few minutes ! Unfortunately, it seems as if Joanne may now be getting a cold < sigh >.

This morning we helped our new friends Marty and Barry ( Sonny's people ) leave. They are returning to their regular winter home in San Felipe ( Fehleepay ), Mexico. They were here in Yuma for the last few weeks just because Barry needed heart surgery. He's still not capable of "heavy lifting" so we offered to help them leave. We didn't realize when we made the offer that it would be an entire morning of work. I helped Barry hitch their truck to their trailer, and carried heavy stuff from the trailer to the truck. Lots of heavy stuff ! They load and unload a lot of stuff because they leave the trailer at a storage yard here in Yuma. Once they were ready to depart we followed them to the storage yard, got them backed them into their tight fit storage space, unhitched the trailer, removed the fifth wheel hitch from the truck to make more room in the bed of the truck for "stuff", then carried more stuff from the trailer to the truck. Sheesh ... for frequent RV travellers, who actually have 2 fifth wheel trailers, one in Yuma and another down in San Felipe, they sure don't travel light ! I am grateful to Joanne that she has our lives simplified and our stuff so well organized.

Barry and Marty have a CB radio in their truck, so it gave me an opportunity to test our new CB radio and ensure that it's working well. And we quite liked having the ability to talk to the vehicle we were following down the highway about 10 miles to the Foothills where their storage yard is. We think the CB radio will be a useful tool when we're travelling with our Ottawa friends Erbon and Lorraine down on the Baja.

On our way back from the Foothills we went to PetsMart to buy dog food. Bo remembered his shopping trip to PetsMart a week or so ago, and was very excited to go shopping again < rolling eyes >. We filled up with diesel before returning to Kofa Ko-op.

This afternoon I took the Wi-Fi phone to the clubhouse and purchased Mexican vehicle insurance from an insurance agency owned by an Escapee who calls himself Mexico Bob in Nogales ( Nogahlezz ), Arizona, a border town east of here towards Tucson ( Toosahn ). The process of purchasing the insurance by phone was efficient and painless. I hope the process is as efficient and painless if I need to make a claim. Mexican vehicle insurance is required for travel in Mexico. Canadian and U.S. vehicle insurers do not extend their policies to cover travel in Mexico. I had done quite a bit of comparison shopping for Mexican vehicle insurance online over the last few months before deciding on Mexico Bob.

 

Friday ; Another sunny, warm day. Joanne is now sick with a cold. This morning I took the Wi-Fi phone to the clubhouse to pay the U.S.$ MasterCard by phone. I can pay the Canadian $ MasterCard online, but not the U.S.$ one. Then I returned a phone call from Sandy and Peachy, friends of ours from Escapees Ontario Chapter 18. We met Sandy and Peachy at the Chapter 18 Spring Rally on our first day as full time RV'ers, in June, 2004. We had a lot of anxiety about the new lifestyle we were just beginning. Sandy became our full time RV'ing mentor, offering much reassurance and encouragement. We have seen them about once a year since then, always in a different part of North America. They have just recently arrived in the Yuma area. They are also friends with Tom and Ruth-Anne, who are also from Ontario originally.

I visited with Tom and Ruth-Anne for awhile. After 2 days of suffering, Tom is up and around today. WOW ... his teeth look great, even if they are only temporary. Tom says this is the first time in his entire life that he has a nice mouthful of teeth. Those Mexican dentists sure do nice work. And quickly ! And cheap, relative to American and Canadian dentists ! The many people that we have talked to who have had dental work done in Mexico have paid between 10% and 20% of what it would cost in the United States or Canada. After lunch, Joanne took Ruth-Anne to Arizona Market to shop for fresh fruit and vegetables. I continued reading a book that I started a few days ago. It's a book that I have been wanting to read for quite awhile. It's Tom Clancy's "Hunt For Red October", probably his most well known book, and one of the few books of his that I haven't yet read. I found it here in Kofa's library.

After Joanne returned from shopping I disassembled and cleaned out the inside of Bo's retractable leash. Then we washed the truck. Disassembling and repairing a Flexi leash is difficult, but I learned to do it many years ago when we owned pet supply stores. A few days ago 7 year old Oslo was walking Bo around the dog park, when he dropped Bo's Flexi. Bo took it as an opportunity to trot quickly away from Oslo, and return to me, dragging his Flexi through the sand, getting sand inside the case and mechanisms.

 

Saturday ; Another gorgeous day. Joanne was still very ill today with a cold. She slept very late this morning. I tried to be quiet to let her sleep, working inside and out on minor maintenance chores. I visited with Tom and Ruth-Anne. This afternoon Joanne washed some laundry, and it tired her right out. She returned to bed. Poor baby ! I started reading the book she bought me for Christmas. I took Bo to the dog park for a long play session. Late in the afternoon we went to Wal-Mart. Tom and Ruth-Anne came along with us. After supper I began to plan and prepare for my New Year's Eve magic show. Oh my goodness ... am I ever rusty ! I'm going to have to practice a lot in the next couple of days.

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm again. Kind of a repetitive theme, isn't it ?

The park's power was off all morning. During the night there was an automobile accident on a nearby street and a utility pole was snapped off, cutting off power to the neighbourhood until early afternoon. This morning I polished all the water spots off the truck. Yuma's water has a high mineral content, and it spots severely. This afternoon Sandy and Peachy, our friends from Sarnia, Ontario, came over for a visit. Tom and Ruth-Anne also came over, and we all spent the afternoon sitting outside in the warm sunshine visiting. Late in the afternoon we headed to the veterinarian for Bo's rescheduled appointment for a physical examination and vaccinations. Desert Veterinarian Clinic was a large modern clinic. The receptionist / vet tech was friendly and efficient. But we did not like the vet at all. A young woman who has been a vet for a total of 11 months, with a strutting, smarmy, superior attitude. And the clinic was administratively disorganized. We might return to the same clinic next year and give them a "second chance", but we certainly wouldn't return to the same woman vet. When we left the vet clinic, we bought some take out dinner at El Pollo Loco ( The Crazy Chicken ) and rushed home to watch the second half of Amazing Race.

 

Monday ; New Year's Eve

Today was sunny, warm and windy. This morning Ruth-Anne presented a gift for us to Joanne. She made us a lovely, embroidered furniture throw. Thank you very much, Ruth-Anne.

I took the computer and Wi-Fi phone to the clubhouse, did some computer work, and made some phone calls. On and off all day I practiced and prepared for my magic show performance tonight. My juggling is terrible ! I rehearsed all the routines I was going to perform tonight, including a difficult one that I haven't done in many years. Good thing I rehearsed. I had a magic show disaster during my rehearsals that I would certainly hate to have happen on stage. Suffice to say that I spent some time cleaning up in the trailer ! ! !

I took a propane tank to be refilled, and took Bo to the dog park for a play session. I noticed that our new next door neighbour was sitting outside, with their cat in a tent just like Teddy's. I took Teddy and his tent over, and we visited. Joanne was in bed, sick. At some point she happened to look out the window. When I returned home she said "Hey ... the new next door neighbour has 2 cats in tents just like Teddy's. And one of their cats looks just like Teddy." HA HA HA ! Too much cold medication, Joanne !

At 6:00 P.M. we went to the park's New Year's Eve potluck dinner. That was followed at 8:00 P.M. by my magic show. Ohhhhh ... I was terrible ! ! ! Worst performance I've ever done ! I flubbed routine after routine ! And I was heckled by an obnoxious old goat throughout. My performance was mercifully brought to an abrupt conclusion about ¾ of the way through when an audience member died. HA HA HA ... sorry < SNORT > I suppose it's not a laughing matter. And she didn't actually die. But she did seem to come awfully close. I guess time will tell.

My act ceased when there was a medical emergency in the audience. Until an ambulance arrived the sick old woman was attended to by an EMT staying in the park. When the ambulance arrived the ambulance attendants attended to her briefly, then took her. The entire incident took about 45 minutes. I was expecting to resume my performance, hoping that the last part would go better. But the New Year's Eve event organizer succumbed to the pressure brought to bear on her by a few old biddies to terminate the evening's festivities. Not just the balance of my performance, but the entire New Year's Eve party. I thought that was completely unnecessary, and inappropriate. So ... from my perspective, the evening left a real sour taste in my mouth. Worst of all, my magic skills were atrocious tonight. And the heckler really bothered me. For the amount of money I was being paid ( nothing ! ) I resent having to cope with an a*****e. His heckling certainly did nothing to alleviate the struggle I was having with my own rusty skills !

On the other hand, Joanne seemed a bit more objective and certainly a lot more positive than me afterwards. She thought the audience was appreciative and enjoying my performance, despite the fact that there were a few rough spots. I have reasonably good stage presence, and recovery skills. And the rest of the audience seemed to dislike the heckler as much as I did. She's confident that some of the more outspoken residents of this park will take him to task, and sooner rather than later. She tried to "cheer lead" me, but I was in a negative frame of mind.

Despite the pronouncement that the party was over, about half the people stayed to chat and munch on snacks. Joanne and I chatted for awhile with an 82 year old French Canadian fellow that lives in the park, and that we have come to know a little, before we returned to our trailer about 10:00 P.M..

Our goals were achieved in 2007, and we had a very good year overall.

Happy New Year ! ! !

 

Tuesday ; New Year's Day Today was cloudy, cool, and windy. We had a slow, lazy day. I took the computer to the clubhouse and retrieved year end banking and investment data. There was a lot of bitching going on in the clubhouse today about how last night's medical emergency was handled, barking dogs, and whatever else people could find to bitch about, I guess. There is still no word on the woman whose medical emergency stopped my magic show and the rest of the evening's festivities. Rumour is that she had a stroke. I spent much of the day "number crunching". What a poor year 2007 was from an investor's standpoint ! Oh, well ... it's only money < choke >.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. Joanne is still sick. I'm sick again ! I think we both now have a flu on top of our colds.

This morning while Joanne slept late I visited Tom and Ruth-Anne. Happy Birthday, Ruth-Anne. This afternoon we washed the trailer. We went to the regular weekly Wednesday "Social Hour". We chatted with a couple from Ohio about WorkCamping job aggravations. Iwas asked to either repeat or at least finish my magic show, probably next Wednesday. Joanne had already persuaded me to be a good sport and finish my magic show if I was asked. Fine ! Somebody brought some "Yuma road kill" to share at the social hour. HA HA HA ... you learn something new every day. "Yuma road kill" is a huge box of freshly picked Romaine lettuce that has fallen off a truck leaving the lettuce fields. Apparently finding Yuma road kill is a pretty regular occurrence around here. HA HA HA !

The woman who became ill during my magic show on New Year’s Eve is fine and back home. Apparently the moral of that story is don’t mix “old folk” medications with wine ! HMPH ... and they said wisdom comes with age ! Reminds me of Grandma Carlson ... HA HA < SNORT > HA HA < cough > HA ! Sorry ... inside family joke. With apologies to those who know !

Joanne went Wal-Martin’. I spent the late part of the afternoon and most of the evening continuing to “number crunch” my year end investment data. < big sigh > Not a good year !

 

DSK