January 24 to 30, 2010
Sunday ; After an early lunch we headed to the Yuma Civic Center to attend the Mexican Expo hosted by the cities of Los Algodones, Mexicali, and San Felipe. Los Algodones is the border town across from Yuma, Mexicali is about an hour west of here, across the border from Calexico, and San Felipe is a beach resort town on the Sea of Cortez / Gulf of California a couple of hours south of here. There were many vendor booths and a stage with a variety of live entertainment. It wasn’t quite the tourism expo we had expected. Most of the vendor booths were dentists and pharmacies.
We returned home and I went to nap with Sully and Bo while Joanne went to Wal-Mart. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart on Mondays to Fridays. I refuse to do it on Saturdays and Sundays. After Joanne got home we went to the dog park with Bo. I wanted to try out my new “low wind” kite on a day with no wind. There wasn’t enough wind to make the kite fly, unless if I walked with it. If I just stood in one spot, the kite wouldn’t fly. But it was obvious that it would indeed fly with almost no wind. Walking speed was enough.
We went to the Sunday ice cream social. We chatted with a couple from Ontario and a couple from northwest BC. After supper I reviewed the new TV’s manual and made some adjustments to the TV, then went to the clubhouse and did some online work.
Monday ; What should have been an hour or two of running errands this morning turned into an entire day ( sigh ). And once again, due to another ( bigger sigh ) “misunderstanding” of our mail forwarding instructions, our mail was not sent where I wanted it to be. After driving out to the Bard, California Post Office twice in the last two weeks, I discovered last night by e-mail that our last batch of mail was sent to Yuma, Arizona ! I hate picking up mail at the Yuma Post Office. The line up is never less than half an hour, usually closer to an hour, and more than that before Christmas !
This morning we drove to the Yuma Post Office. The length of the line up suggested about an hour wait. I didn’t wait ! We drove to the Fry’s Mall where Joanne went into Fry’s for a few grocery items and I went to Checker Auto Parts for some spray paint. From there we headed to 24 Karat to pick up Joanne’s rings. They weren’t ready ! We waited for half an hour for the work to be finished. And when it was finished, I wasn’t satisfied with the quality. We left the rings there for further work. We drove to Barnes & Noble to pick up the book I ordered as a gift for Joanne’s birthday. As I parked in the Barnes & Noble parking lot I realized that I had left a discount coupon at home ( another sigh ). We drove across town to RV Connection for a couple of items. They didn’t have either of the items I wanted. It was shaping up to be a pretty crappy day ! We went to Peanut Patch and bought some of their wonderful freshly made peanut butter. Then we went home for lunch.
After lunch we headed out again. Back to Barnes & Noble … with the coupon … and I got the book. She’d better damn well like it after all the trouble I went through to get it ! ! ! Back to 24 Karat to pick up Joanne’s rings. Still not as close to perfect as I expect jewellery repairs to be, but … ! Over to the 99¢ Only Store for way too much shopping for way too long ! And finally to the Post Office again to pick up mail. The wait was half an hour ( mumbling and grumbling ).
Once back at home we took Bo to the dog park for his daily long walk around the perimeter. And I brought my kite, thinking that flying my kite would be a good way to de-stress myself. Well … ( pouting ) … Joanne flew my kite and I walked the dog !
After every meal I must take an ulcerative colitis medication to enable my food to digest properly. It’s a packet of powder that must be mixed in a glass of water. Tonight after supper I was mixing my medication on the dinette table and glanced up at the TV. I knocked the glass of water over, and it poured all over the dinette table, where my new computer was sitting ! YIKES … DÉJA VU ! ! ! I grabbed the computer, yanked out the power cord, then as quickly as possible yanked out the battery pack. Most of the water and medication were on the bottom of the computer with only a few drops splashed onto the keyboard. VERY CLOSE CALL ! ! !
Not a great day !
Tuesday ; Well, today was a better day, thankfully. First we washed the truck. I had been procrastinating washing the truck for a couple of weeks already, and was going to postpone it again today, but somebody put her foot down and said it was getting done … today ! Then I continued working on my project of spray painting the corners of the slide where I installed some bracing brackets. I finished the painting and will remove the masking and reinstall the rubber moulding after the paint has cured in the sun for a few days. I glue repaired a kitchen cupboard door. I cosmetically repaired the bottom of the TV compartment in the entertainment wall. We took Bo and Sully to the dog park. Joanne walked around the perimeter with Bo. I ambled around with Sully while he sniffed Yucca plants and rolled around in the desert sand taking a dust bath like a chinchilla.
Wednesday ; Today was a more relaxed day than usual. I continued to fuss with a small repair that I am doing on a kitchen cupboard door. We gave Bo a bath, an easier task now that we have given him a haircut. I did some very minor work outside on the truck and trailer. We did the first weekly application of OraVet plaque prevention gel to Bo and Sully. It wasn’t too bad, easier with Bo than Sully. We’ll try it for 16 weeks then reassess.
Late in the afternoon we went to the weekly heavy appetizers potluck / social hour. We chatted with a couple from Northern California. After “Happy Hour” we took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog park. I went to the clubhouse and took care of online work. I am in the midst of changing our mail collection and forwarding arrangements, and I hope that will result in improvement.
Thursday ; Joanne’s 56th birthday
Happy Birthday, my love. This morning we headed off to run some errands. First stop was Arizona Market Place where Joanne wanted to buy some produce and I needed an RV accessory. In previous years there were a few RV parts dealers at the Arizona Market Place. This year there is only one. And they were out of stock of the item I needed. I will either have to check back in a week, or buy it elsewhere. I already know that RV Connection doesn’t have it, so we’ll probably have to drive out to The Foothills and check for it at Al’s RV. I don’t think we’ll be able to wait a week to check again at Arizona Market Place because we suspect the owners of the lot we are on will be returning soon to Kofa Ko-op to be here for the upcoming annual general meeting and we will have to vacate their lot and leave.
Next stop was Lowe’s for a variety of items. We bumped into Jim, a neighbour from back home at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos. Didn’t know he was spending the winter in Yuma. Then over to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. Today they had a 50% off sale on all electronics. I wanted to see if they had a DVD player. They didn’t. As I was heading to Wal-Mart to buy a birthday cake, Joanne took a peek at my “to do” list, seeing “buy cake” was my next chore. She said she would prefer it if I made her a cake instead of buying her one. Okay ! Although I don’t recall ever having made a cake before. We returned home for a late lunch.
After lunch I napped with Sully and Bo. Sully loves having afternoon naps with me. After napping I made a birthday cake. And icing. I modified the cake recipe a bit. I added peanuts and raisins to a chocolate cake recipe. Hope it turns out okay. I certainly am a messy cook ! Oh well, my job was just to make it, not clean up afterwards. HA HA HA !
We took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog park. We’ve come to really enjoy our afternoon walks in the setting sun. I went to the clubhouse to retrieve and send e-mail before we went out for Joanne’s birthday dinner. Just before leaving for dinner I sang Happy Birthday to Joanne, playing along on my Mexican Arpa Magica.
Joanne asked to be taken to Olive Garden for her birthday dinner. On the way to Olive Garden we stopped at Best Buy to buy a cable to connect the computer to the TV. The “geek” who served me was not able to understand my computer’s “expansion port” VGA cable connection. I’ll have to return to Best Buy with the computer ( sigh ). At Olive Garden we had a lovely dinner, then returned home for card, cake, and gift. We didn’t have any candles for the birthday cake that I had baked, so I stuck toothpicks in the cake and set them on fire. HA HA HA ! My gift was a book entitled “99 Days To Panama”, written by an American couple who travelled by RV with their dog through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. We are planning to do that trip in 4 years !
Friday ; This morning I removed the masking from my spray painting project and reinstalled the rubber moulding around the edges of the slide. The paint job looks good despite my lack of spray painting skills. I have way too much “nuts & bolts” hardware in little packages and little bags. Yesterday at Lowe’s I bought a hardware storage container with many little compartments. Today Joanne helped me dump out all the little packages and bags, sort, rearrange, and store it all in the new compartmentalized storage container. Well, that’s better ! Now I won’t be searching for half an hour through little bags and packages to find the right size of screw or washer or whatever I’m looking for.
After lunch we headed to The Foothills. I found the RV part I needed at Al’s RV. We decided to visit Joy and Dave, neighbours of ours back home at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos. We knew what RV park they were staying at in The Foothills. We spent much of the afternoon visiting with them. Before leaving The Foothills area we stopped for groceries at Fry’s and I bought another can of spray paint at Checker Auto Parts. Now I have a spare can of the paint that I occasionally need, and usually have difficulty finding when I need it.
Once back home at Kofa Ko-op we took Bo for his walk around the dog park. As we entered the dog park …WHOA … our friends Lynn and Mischa and their Canaan dog Gypsy from SKP Park of the Sierras in Central California were in the dog park. They had arrived in Yuma yesterday. They found out yesterday by phone that Kofa Ko-op was full so they went to another RV park. Late this afternoon they came over to Kofa Ko-op to see if there were any vacancies ( there weren’t ) or if any vacancies are expected soon ( there aren’t ). While here they decided to take Gypsy for a walk in the dog park, and that’s how we bumped into them. They came over and visited with us in our trailer for awhile before leaving Kofa Ko-op. Hopefully a vacancy will become available here soon and they can move in.
Saturday ; This morning we went to the clubhouse for the Saturday morning breakfast. Today was Eggs Benedict Day. Our friend Monica from Tennessee made excellent Eggs Benedict … for over 100 people ! We chatted for the entire morning with Dorothy, who lives across the street from us, and was seated at our table. She’s 90 years old, and in excellent health, physically and mentally. She has a fascinating life story. Especially the story about her mother’s undeveloped film. When her mother died about 25 years ago, in the mid-1980’s, she discovered 8 rolls of undeveloped film in her mother’s bedroom dresser drawer. She took them in for processing and found that they were photos her mother took between 1926 and 1932 ! It was the depression era, and her family couldn’t afford at that time to pay for film processing. The photos are now part of Dorothy’s life memoirs that she has written at the urging of her children … who are older than Joanne and me ! Dorothy is, not surprisingly, a widow, having been married to her first husband for 30 years and her second husband for 28 years ! One of the principal reasons we enjoy our membership in Escapees so much is because we meet such interesting old people.
I noticed a woman in the clubhouse working on an HP Mini netbook computer identical to mine. Surprise, surprise … the hinge assembly was broken ! I was going to offer to fix it for her, now that I’ve learned how to do that, but not only had her computer’s hinge assembly fallen apart, she had lost the tiny little screws. That reinforces my theory for why this “first generation” of Hewlett Packard Mini netbook computer had a “life” of only a few months before it was replaced by a “second generation” with a different hinge design ! And a different VGA port !
I spent some time this afternoon working on securing the new TV for travel. It fits into the space in the entertainment centre wall where the old TV was, but it needs to be held in place so it can’t move forward or backward, or “rock” from side to side which would eventually cause the little plastic stand on the bottom to break. I have figured out what needs to be done to secure the TV for travel, but I need to buy some double sided tape.
We walked with Bo in the dog park. I read and napped. We spent a long time in the swimming pool. Winter in Yuma is over. It came last week. Lasted two days ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA ! After supper we went to the clubhouse for a performance by Rainbow Station, a children’s choir comprised of about two dozen children, about half Caucasian / American and half Hispanic / Mexican, ranging in age from four to twelve. They were very good ! Which was somewhat surprising to me ! I couldn’t help but notice … the Mexican kids were better than the American kids. Better voices, much better rhythm and timing, better stage presence.
DSK
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
January 17 to 23, 2010
January 17 to 23, 2010
Sunday ; Happy 11th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
That’s it ! I’m putting my foot down ! No more date shakes for Bo and no more buffet restaurants for Joanne ! SHEEEEESH ( shaking my head in despair ) !
Today was a petty relaxed day. I spent quite awhile this morning providing a sympathetic ear to a fellow in the park from Ohio whose 11 year old Siamese cat Spencer has been missing for two weeks. The day after he arrived here Spencer escaped and hasn’t been seen since. His owner is still looking for him, and has increased his reward for the return of Spencer from $100 to $500. He’s not yet ready to acknowledge that Spencer may not be alive any longer. I think Spencer’s life likely ended within hours of escaping. Spencer is an Oho cat, and, in my opinion, would likely not have the “Arizona desert / street smarts” to avoid being a snack for a coyote.
This afternoon I went to the clubhouse to get online, update my blog, and send birthday greetings to Madeleine. We spent some time floating around the pool. We met our new neighbour Bob and his Canaan dog Samantha. We invited Bob and Samantha to join us on our daily walk around the dog park with Bo. Canaan dogs are an Israeli breed, rare in the United States, but Samantha is Bo’s second Canaan friend. The other is Gypsy, whom we first met here at Kofa Ko-op a few years ago, but whose home is actually at SKP Park of the Sierras in Central California.
We went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social, and chatted with Bob and a woman from Michigan whose son and daughter-in-law live in Summerland, about an hour north of us in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley.
I spent a long, tiring, frustrating evening trying to finish my photo copying / backup project. I have now copied all of our photos from CD to the portable hard drive, except for one folder containing 91 photos from February, 2009, our last year’s trip to Mexico. Some of the photo files in that folder are corrupt or infected. With a lot of trial and error effort I have managed to save / copy 26 of the 91 photos. I don’t know if I will succeed in saving any more of them, but I’m too tired tonight to continue.
Monday ; Today was what constitutes a bad weather day in Yuma. Temperature of only 70 degrees, overcast, very windy. I wasn’t feeling well, so I spent most of today in bed, reading and napping. Our TV died today ! It’s 11 years old, so I’m not too surprised. However, I was recently looking at new televisions and all new televisions seem to be rectangular. Our TV is square, and fits in a square opening in the trailer’s entertainment center wall. I expect that we will not be able to find a new TV that will fit that square opening. Temporarily we are watching our little 5 inch AC / DC TV that we use only when boondocking without AC power.
Using the flavour injector needle I bought myself for Christmas we injected a roast with a mixture of red wine and barbecue sauce before cooking. It was excellent ! The roast was very tender and tasty. Late in the evening I went to the clubhouse to get online and look for some software that might help me recover the 65 photos that remain on the corrupt / infected CD. I didn’t have much success. I got distracted by checking out whether the new and improved Wi-Fi signal in the clubhouse would support VOIP / Skype. I ended up having a lengthy video chat with Joanne’s brother-in-law in Winnipeg about travel in Mexico.
Tuesday ; Well, today was a truly foul weather day, cold, windy, and raining. A real rarity in Yuma ! Because of the foul weather we stayed indoors most of the day. Joanne did a load of laundry. I did some online work at the clubhouse. Our biggest accomplishment of the day was giving Bo a haircut … indoors ! Made quite a mess in the trailer. Late in the day Joanne realized that she had some coupons that expired today for advertised specials at Albertsons. So after supper we put the solar covers on the pool and hot tub then went shopping to Albertsons.
Wednesday ; Because Bo and Sully had to go for dental cleanings today, we deprived them of food starting at 6 PM last night. By bedtime Sully was hungry. And he woke me up about hourly during the night demanding food. Poor Sully. Early this morning we took them to Arizona West Veterinary Clinic and left them for the day.
When we returned from the veterinary clinic Joanne went off to her daily morning water aerobics session in the swimming pool, and I …. sliced my finger open cutting a bagel ! Not the first time I’ve done that ! ! ! Gotta get me a bagel slicer !
My plan for today was to do a small spray paint job. But it was too windy today to spray paint. Instead I climbed up on the roof of the trailer, removed the MaxxAir cover off the kitchen fan roof vent, disassembled and cleaned the roof vent and the “top side” of the Fantastic Fan. YUCK … guess I’d better schedule that as an annual chore ! The Internet and Joanne’s brother-in-law Doug both recommended that I try using somebody else’s DVD / CD drive to attempt to read my archived photo CD with the corrupt file. Sometimes one piece of hardware can read what another can’t. Good suggestion ! I was able to read and copy the CD using my next door neighbour’s desktop computer. Got all the photos except the one corrupted one. WOO-HOO … nice work, Daniel.
Well … today’s veterinarian bill was U.S.$835 ! ! ! YIKES ! ! ! And not all the news was good. Dr. Millikan ascertained with little, if any, doubt that Sully is blind ! I’m slightly dumbfounded that he has been functioning as well as he does. He certainly fooled us ! Being blind may partially explain why he did so poorly at the animal shelter. And he needed three teeth extracted. Poor Sully ! And he has high blood pressure which will require medication daily. The veterinarian is of the opinion that the high blood pressure was probably what caused his retinas to detach causing blindness. And he had some trouble resuming breathing on his own after being on the ventilator during anaesthesia. We picked Bo and Sully up late in the afternoon. Having been “under” general anaesthetic barely slowed Bo down. Certainly he was a bit lethargic and sleepy tonight, but when we were driving home from the vet he was almost “normal”. Perhaps a bit subdued when we passed the field of sheep, but … ! HA HA HA ! Sully, on the other hand, was in pretty rough shape tonight. It’s pretty hard for an animal of his age to fight off the anaesthetic. I hope he’s a lot better by tomorrow morning.
Thursday ; A fierce winter storm blew in off the Pacific reaching as far inland as Yuma. It started raining heavily during the night and continued throughout today. Apparently the heaviest rainfall in over 20 years for this region. I was awakened at 3:40 A.M. by an earthquake. Joanne and the animals slept through it.
Around midnight last night Sully awoke and asked for food despite still being groggy and wobbly. This morning he was quite a bit more alert and steady on his feet … and very hungry. I considered rescheduling my dentist appointment in Mexico this morning because of the bad weather, but … decided not to.
The roads and walkways were flooded in Yuma and Los Algodones. This is desert ! The roads are not designed with drainage in mind. And the flat roofed buildings in Mexico are certainly not designed to be rained on heavily. The dental clinic’s ceiling was leaking all over the place. They were behind schedule because they were unable to use some of the rooms in the clinic. Halfway through my procedure they had to quickly relocate me and all their instruments and supplies to another room. A huge water filled bubble had appeared on the ceiling of the room I was in and was about to burst.
I had one old filling removed and replaced. And one new cavity repaired. First cavity in many years. And it was a big one ! Dr. Camacho showed it to me on a TV using an intra-oral camera., both before he began drilling it out and after he had partially drilled out the large section of decay. The work took over an hour and a half. The bill was $130 ; $10 for x-rays and $60 for each of the fillings. I wonder what the cost of that work would be back home ? ! ? There was no line up at the border crossing. But the last 100 feet or so of the walkway to the Customs & Border Patrol building was covered in ankle deep water !
By this afternoon, 24 hours after their anaesthesia, both Bo and Sully were completely back to normal. The wind became very strong. The rain seemed to be falling horizontally. For a few hours in the afternoon there was a tornado warning. But I’m eagerly looking forward to the stupendous desert blooming in a couple of months that should be the result of today’s heavy rains. Yuma gets four inches of rain annually. Half of that fell today !
In the evening, after the weather had calmed somewhat, I went to the clubhouse to do some online work. The birthday gift I ordered from Amazon.com has been returned to them and they have issued a refund to my MasterCard. Another problem solved !
Friday ; Today started out nice but became cloudy with a bit of light drizzle this afternoon.
We spent the day shopping and running errands ( sigh ) again. First stop was the Arizona Market Place where Joanne bought some produce and I bought a bagel slicer. No more sliced fingers … hopefully. Next it was over to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to browse for a new TV at Best Buy. Then it was across the Colorado River and over to Bard, California to pick up our mail at the Post Office. It wasn’t there ! I’m very frustrated and angry. We have been away from home for almost 3 months, half the winter travel season, and we still have not received any mail from home. Changes will have to be made to our mail forwarding arrangements for next winter !
We went to Sun Gardens Date Farm to buy date shakes, then drove quickly back to Yuma where we went to Wienerschnitzel for lunch. Chili cheeseburgers, chili fries, and date shakes. We browsed at Wal-Mart for a new TV, then went back to Yuma Palms Shopping Centre to browse for a new TV at Circuit City, which we found was no longer in business at that location. We returned to Best Buy and bought a new TV. Our main criteria was size. It had to fit the existing opening in the trailer’s entertainment centre wall. Our old TV was square shaped, and all new ones are rectangular shaped. I guess it’s time we jumped into the 21st century. We selected an LG brand LCD TV that was on sale this week for $100 off. New televisions are not as cheap as I thought they would be. Well they are, but the really cheap ones are … well … cheap junk !
Back at home I installed the new TV and discarded the old one. Gee, the days of just plugging in and turning on a new TV are gone. This one came with an instructional CD which I have not yet viewed. I just stumbled around the on screen menu for awhile, then decided that I would have to review the CD within the next few days.
After supper we watched a movie on the new TV. While watching it I printed and reconciled this month’s MasterCard statements. At 9 PM we went to the clubhouse and put the solar covers on the swimming pool and hot tub. Then I went in the clubhouse and did quite a bit of online work.
Saturday ; Right after lunch we headed downtown to attend Yuma Lettuce Days, an annual event we have attended before. We wandered around visiting the many arts and crafts vendors. I bought myself a little light for my computer. It’s an LED light on one end of a flexible arm, with a USB connection on the other end. It’s perfect for working on the computer outside after dark on warm evenings, which I like to do. And it will be good for when we are boondocking. I can use the computer without having to turn on any lights in the trailer, thereby conserving precious trailer battery power. I also bought myself a “pocket” kite. It’s a small kite without any “spine” or poles. It’s all nylon and folds up into a little pouch. It flies in light breezes only. It’s not meant for flying in strong breezes. It will be perfect for flying on Mexican beaches next winter. The kite I selected is a Canadian flag design.
On the way home from Lettuce Days we stopped at Wienerschnitzel to buy milk shakes. Once back home at Kofa Ko-op we took Bo to the dog park for a walk, and I flew my kite. WOW … it was great. In just a light breeze I had it up to 300 feet in no time ! I’ve always enjoyed kite flying, although I haven’t done it much or often. I worked on spray painting the corner braces I installed on the trailer slide. It went poorly. If there’s one thing I can’t do well, it’s spray painting. And I ran out of spray paint before the job was finished.
After supper we went to the clubhouse for a performance by a barbershop quartet called The Celltones. I like barbershop quartets. At 9 PM we went to put the solar covers on the swimming pool and hot tub, and I went into the clubhouse to do some online work.
DSK
Sunday ; Happy 11th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
That’s it ! I’m putting my foot down ! No more date shakes for Bo and no more buffet restaurants for Joanne ! SHEEEEESH ( shaking my head in despair ) !
Today was a petty relaxed day. I spent quite awhile this morning providing a sympathetic ear to a fellow in the park from Ohio whose 11 year old Siamese cat Spencer has been missing for two weeks. The day after he arrived here Spencer escaped and hasn’t been seen since. His owner is still looking for him, and has increased his reward for the return of Spencer from $100 to $500. He’s not yet ready to acknowledge that Spencer may not be alive any longer. I think Spencer’s life likely ended within hours of escaping. Spencer is an Oho cat, and, in my opinion, would likely not have the “Arizona desert / street smarts” to avoid being a snack for a coyote.
This afternoon I went to the clubhouse to get online, update my blog, and send birthday greetings to Madeleine. We spent some time floating around the pool. We met our new neighbour Bob and his Canaan dog Samantha. We invited Bob and Samantha to join us on our daily walk around the dog park with Bo. Canaan dogs are an Israeli breed, rare in the United States, but Samantha is Bo’s second Canaan friend. The other is Gypsy, whom we first met here at Kofa Ko-op a few years ago, but whose home is actually at SKP Park of the Sierras in Central California.
We went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social, and chatted with Bob and a woman from Michigan whose son and daughter-in-law live in Summerland, about an hour north of us in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley.
I spent a long, tiring, frustrating evening trying to finish my photo copying / backup project. I have now copied all of our photos from CD to the portable hard drive, except for one folder containing 91 photos from February, 2009, our last year’s trip to Mexico. Some of the photo files in that folder are corrupt or infected. With a lot of trial and error effort I have managed to save / copy 26 of the 91 photos. I don’t know if I will succeed in saving any more of them, but I’m too tired tonight to continue.
Monday ; Today was what constitutes a bad weather day in Yuma. Temperature of only 70 degrees, overcast, very windy. I wasn’t feeling well, so I spent most of today in bed, reading and napping. Our TV died today ! It’s 11 years old, so I’m not too surprised. However, I was recently looking at new televisions and all new televisions seem to be rectangular. Our TV is square, and fits in a square opening in the trailer’s entertainment center wall. I expect that we will not be able to find a new TV that will fit that square opening. Temporarily we are watching our little 5 inch AC / DC TV that we use only when boondocking without AC power.
Using the flavour injector needle I bought myself for Christmas we injected a roast with a mixture of red wine and barbecue sauce before cooking. It was excellent ! The roast was very tender and tasty. Late in the evening I went to the clubhouse to get online and look for some software that might help me recover the 65 photos that remain on the corrupt / infected CD. I didn’t have much success. I got distracted by checking out whether the new and improved Wi-Fi signal in the clubhouse would support VOIP / Skype. I ended up having a lengthy video chat with Joanne’s brother-in-law in Winnipeg about travel in Mexico.
Tuesday ; Well, today was a truly foul weather day, cold, windy, and raining. A real rarity in Yuma ! Because of the foul weather we stayed indoors most of the day. Joanne did a load of laundry. I did some online work at the clubhouse. Our biggest accomplishment of the day was giving Bo a haircut … indoors ! Made quite a mess in the trailer. Late in the day Joanne realized that she had some coupons that expired today for advertised specials at Albertsons. So after supper we put the solar covers on the pool and hot tub then went shopping to Albertsons.
Wednesday ; Because Bo and Sully had to go for dental cleanings today, we deprived them of food starting at 6 PM last night. By bedtime Sully was hungry. And he woke me up about hourly during the night demanding food. Poor Sully. Early this morning we took them to Arizona West Veterinary Clinic and left them for the day.
When we returned from the veterinary clinic Joanne went off to her daily morning water aerobics session in the swimming pool, and I …. sliced my finger open cutting a bagel ! Not the first time I’ve done that ! ! ! Gotta get me a bagel slicer !
My plan for today was to do a small spray paint job. But it was too windy today to spray paint. Instead I climbed up on the roof of the trailer, removed the MaxxAir cover off the kitchen fan roof vent, disassembled and cleaned the roof vent and the “top side” of the Fantastic Fan. YUCK … guess I’d better schedule that as an annual chore ! The Internet and Joanne’s brother-in-law Doug both recommended that I try using somebody else’s DVD / CD drive to attempt to read my archived photo CD with the corrupt file. Sometimes one piece of hardware can read what another can’t. Good suggestion ! I was able to read and copy the CD using my next door neighbour’s desktop computer. Got all the photos except the one corrupted one. WOO-HOO … nice work, Daniel.
Well … today’s veterinarian bill was U.S.$835 ! ! ! YIKES ! ! ! And not all the news was good. Dr. Millikan ascertained with little, if any, doubt that Sully is blind ! I’m slightly dumbfounded that he has been functioning as well as he does. He certainly fooled us ! Being blind may partially explain why he did so poorly at the animal shelter. And he needed three teeth extracted. Poor Sully ! And he has high blood pressure which will require medication daily. The veterinarian is of the opinion that the high blood pressure was probably what caused his retinas to detach causing blindness. And he had some trouble resuming breathing on his own after being on the ventilator during anaesthesia. We picked Bo and Sully up late in the afternoon. Having been “under” general anaesthetic barely slowed Bo down. Certainly he was a bit lethargic and sleepy tonight, but when we were driving home from the vet he was almost “normal”. Perhaps a bit subdued when we passed the field of sheep, but … ! HA HA HA ! Sully, on the other hand, was in pretty rough shape tonight. It’s pretty hard for an animal of his age to fight off the anaesthetic. I hope he’s a lot better by tomorrow morning.
Thursday ; A fierce winter storm blew in off the Pacific reaching as far inland as Yuma. It started raining heavily during the night and continued throughout today. Apparently the heaviest rainfall in over 20 years for this region. I was awakened at 3:40 A.M. by an earthquake. Joanne and the animals slept through it.
Around midnight last night Sully awoke and asked for food despite still being groggy and wobbly. This morning he was quite a bit more alert and steady on his feet … and very hungry. I considered rescheduling my dentist appointment in Mexico this morning because of the bad weather, but … decided not to.
The roads and walkways were flooded in Yuma and Los Algodones. This is desert ! The roads are not designed with drainage in mind. And the flat roofed buildings in Mexico are certainly not designed to be rained on heavily. The dental clinic’s ceiling was leaking all over the place. They were behind schedule because they were unable to use some of the rooms in the clinic. Halfway through my procedure they had to quickly relocate me and all their instruments and supplies to another room. A huge water filled bubble had appeared on the ceiling of the room I was in and was about to burst.
I had one old filling removed and replaced. And one new cavity repaired. First cavity in many years. And it was a big one ! Dr. Camacho showed it to me on a TV using an intra-oral camera., both before he began drilling it out and after he had partially drilled out the large section of decay. The work took over an hour and a half. The bill was $130 ; $10 for x-rays and $60 for each of the fillings. I wonder what the cost of that work would be back home ? ! ? There was no line up at the border crossing. But the last 100 feet or so of the walkway to the Customs & Border Patrol building was covered in ankle deep water !
By this afternoon, 24 hours after their anaesthesia, both Bo and Sully were completely back to normal. The wind became very strong. The rain seemed to be falling horizontally. For a few hours in the afternoon there was a tornado warning. But I’m eagerly looking forward to the stupendous desert blooming in a couple of months that should be the result of today’s heavy rains. Yuma gets four inches of rain annually. Half of that fell today !
In the evening, after the weather had calmed somewhat, I went to the clubhouse to do some online work. The birthday gift I ordered from Amazon.com has been returned to them and they have issued a refund to my MasterCard. Another problem solved !
Friday ; Today started out nice but became cloudy with a bit of light drizzle this afternoon.
We spent the day shopping and running errands ( sigh ) again. First stop was the Arizona Market Place where Joanne bought some produce and I bought a bagel slicer. No more sliced fingers … hopefully. Next it was over to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to browse for a new TV at Best Buy. Then it was across the Colorado River and over to Bard, California to pick up our mail at the Post Office. It wasn’t there ! I’m very frustrated and angry. We have been away from home for almost 3 months, half the winter travel season, and we still have not received any mail from home. Changes will have to be made to our mail forwarding arrangements for next winter !
We went to Sun Gardens Date Farm to buy date shakes, then drove quickly back to Yuma where we went to Wienerschnitzel for lunch. Chili cheeseburgers, chili fries, and date shakes. We browsed at Wal-Mart for a new TV, then went back to Yuma Palms Shopping Centre to browse for a new TV at Circuit City, which we found was no longer in business at that location. We returned to Best Buy and bought a new TV. Our main criteria was size. It had to fit the existing opening in the trailer’s entertainment centre wall. Our old TV was square shaped, and all new ones are rectangular shaped. I guess it’s time we jumped into the 21st century. We selected an LG brand LCD TV that was on sale this week for $100 off. New televisions are not as cheap as I thought they would be. Well they are, but the really cheap ones are … well … cheap junk !
Back at home I installed the new TV and discarded the old one. Gee, the days of just plugging in and turning on a new TV are gone. This one came with an instructional CD which I have not yet viewed. I just stumbled around the on screen menu for awhile, then decided that I would have to review the CD within the next few days.
After supper we watched a movie on the new TV. While watching it I printed and reconciled this month’s MasterCard statements. At 9 PM we went to the clubhouse and put the solar covers on the swimming pool and hot tub. Then I went in the clubhouse and did quite a bit of online work.
Saturday ; Right after lunch we headed downtown to attend Yuma Lettuce Days, an annual event we have attended before. We wandered around visiting the many arts and crafts vendors. I bought myself a little light for my computer. It’s an LED light on one end of a flexible arm, with a USB connection on the other end. It’s perfect for working on the computer outside after dark on warm evenings, which I like to do. And it will be good for when we are boondocking. I can use the computer without having to turn on any lights in the trailer, thereby conserving precious trailer battery power. I also bought myself a “pocket” kite. It’s a small kite without any “spine” or poles. It’s all nylon and folds up into a little pouch. It flies in light breezes only. It’s not meant for flying in strong breezes. It will be perfect for flying on Mexican beaches next winter. The kite I selected is a Canadian flag design.
On the way home from Lettuce Days we stopped at Wienerschnitzel to buy milk shakes. Once back home at Kofa Ko-op we took Bo to the dog park for a walk, and I flew my kite. WOW … it was great. In just a light breeze I had it up to 300 feet in no time ! I’ve always enjoyed kite flying, although I haven’t done it much or often. I worked on spray painting the corner braces I installed on the trailer slide. It went poorly. If there’s one thing I can’t do well, it’s spray painting. And I ran out of spray paint before the job was finished.
After supper we went to the clubhouse for a performance by a barbershop quartet called The Celltones. I like barbershop quartets. At 9 PM we went to put the solar covers on the swimming pool and hot tub, and I went into the clubhouse to do some online work.
DSK
Sunday, January 17, 2010
January 10 to 16, 2010
January 10 to 16, 2010
Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. It was our intention to begin washing the trailer today, but … I was just too tired and sore from yesterday’s job of changing the truck’s front brakes. My knees hurt from kneeling on gravel. My shoulder blades hurt from lying on gravel. My hands were blistered. My arms were bruised from working within the confined space under the wheel wells. My knuckles were scraped. My back ached from working all hunched over. Changing brakes would be a difficult enough job with the truck up on a hoist, working at chest to eye level. Doing the job with the truck on the ground, and the ground was gravel … !
We slept late this morning. We spent much of the afternoon floating around the pool on our pool noodle chairs, and in the hot tub. We took Bo for a long walk around the dog park. We took Sully outside for awhile. I did some computer work sitting outside in a lawn chair. At 6 PM we headed for the ice cream social. Today was the monthly birthday ice cream social. Everybody whose birthday is in January ( including Joanne ) got their ice cream first. There was birthday cake for everybody. After eating a huge bowl of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce, butterscotch sauce, and chopped nuts, along with two pieces of birthday cake ( me … Joanne only had one ), we returned to our trailer to have supper. HA HA HA ! Actually we were obviously too full of ice cream and cake to eat supper. At the ice cream social we visited with a couple from near our home in B.C., a couple from Alberta, and a couple from New Hampshire. We invited the New Hampshire couple to visit us next summer on their way to or from Alaska.
Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. It was a day for running errands. First stop this morning was Lowe’s to buy some hardware. Then Sears to buy a phone card, a socket, and a socket adaptor to replace my neighbour’s that I broke. We went to CJ’s RV Supplies where I finally found a piece of moulding for the trailer that I had been looking for since last spring. Then Food City, CVS Pharmacy, a panaderia, Fry’s, and finally UPS to try to get my Amazon.com shipment re-addressed / re-routed. UPS refused to re-address / re-route the package for the recipient. They will only do that for the shipper ( sigh ).
At the checkout at Fry’s we received an interesting and unusual offer. We always bag our own purchases in cloth shopping bags that we have been using for over 20 years. The cashier at Fry’s offered to exchange our very old cloth shopping bags for new Fry’s cloth shopping bags at no charge. Great offer … okay !
After a very late lunch at home I took a brief nap, we walked Bo around the park, then headed for the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! ! ! I finished up the brake job on the truck by checking the torque on the lug nuts and reinstalling the wheel liners and hub caps. Just before it got dark I went to the clubhouse to work online. I sent an e-mail to Amazon.com asking them to contact UPS to get my package re-addressed / re-routed.
The first time I had the front brakes replaced on the truck, in Penticton a little over 2 years ago, the brakes were hot and smelly from home all the way down here to Yuma. Consequently I thought it normal for new brakes on this truck to be hot and smelly for quite awhile. Apparently not ! These new brakes are neither hot nor smelly. I surmise that that means perhaps my brake work may be superior to that done by the dealer. And since I’m obviously not very good, what does that imply about the work done by the dealer ? ! ?
Now that I have the netbook computer and a portable hard drive one of my objectives has been to ensure that all my files, documents and photos exist on two different storage media for safety / backup, either the computer’s main drive, the portable hard drive, a memory stick, or CD. For the last few nights I have been copying all my old archived photos from CD’s to the portable hard drive. Tonight I copied all our full time RV travel year 2 photos. Three more years to go.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm. I’m going to stop making that comment, because it’s rare for Yuma to not be sunny and warm. I’m only going to comment on the weather when it isn’t sunny and warm.
Well … what a Dumb Ass Day I’ve had ! I slept late this morning. Got up and dawdled, planning to putter around until lunch time, then leave after lunch for our late afternoon dentist appointments in Mexico. At 11 AM Joanne asked “What are you doing ? We have dentist appointments in Mexico in an hour”. HUH ? ! ? WHAT ? ! ? YIKES ? ! ? ZOOM ! ! !
We got to our dentist’s office right on time. And there was no waiting, we went straight in. I had difficulty during the dental cleaning. I couldn’t breathe. I choked and gagged. My sinuses were draining and drowning me. For about half an hour, then my brain went “BOING” ! ! ! Oh … I forgot to tell the hygienist that I’m allergic to latex and I need her to wear vinyl gloves instead. DUH ! ! ! The cleaning was excellent. I need an old filling replaced and a new cavity filled. I made another appointment for next week. Dr. Camacho’s rate for a dental cleaning and examination has increased to $45, triple the price of the little storefront dentists ! But … I suppose the services of his large modern clinic are worth triple the price.
After the dentist we went to Algodones Optical. I have been having a bit of difficulty adjusting to my new glasses and I wanted the glasses checked and my eyes re-examined. Something seems to me to be wrong with the left lens. The eye doctor checked the glasses under some sort of microscope type piece of equipment and verified that the lenses conform to the prescription. Then he re-examined my eyes and confirmed that the prescription was correct. He suggested that the problem might be that my right eye is dominant, and that might be why it seems to me that the left lens is not quite right. Hopefully a bit more time to adjust to the new glasses will rectify that.
We went for lunch to our new favourite little restaurant for some of their excellent tacos. Joanne had dos tacos carne asada y uno taco pescado. I had dos tacos carne asada y uno taco camarón. I dropped the salt shaker … and it landed in a bowl of guacamole, splashing all over the table … and us !
We walked across town to Farmacia Safari, the veterinary pharmacy, to buy Sentinel for Bo. They didn’t have any. I guess we’ll have to get it from the veterinarian in Yuma when we take Sully and Bo in for their dental cleanings next week. Before heading for the line up to cross the border we stopped at Liqui’s Farmacia y Licoreria a.k.a. The Purple Store so that Joanne could buy another 3 litres of Yomi Lala ( rolling my eyes ). The line up at the border today was 45 minutes.
Back home at Kofa Ko-op we had time to take Bo and Sully to the dog park, and then some time in the pool for us before dark. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with both Amazon.com and UPS. UPS will not re-address / redirect a package in transit for the recipient, only the shipper, or so they initially claimed. Amazon.com said they couldn’t / wouldn’t do it. I finally convinced a telephone agent at Amazon.com to phone UPS and arrange for the package to be redirected. While I stayed on the line the Amazon.com agent phoned UPS who refused to re-address / redirect the package. ( sigh ) Fine ! The package will eventually find its way back to Amazon.com who will eventually issue me a refund. I won’t do business in the future with either Amazon.com or UPS. And Joanne doesn’t get her birthday gift !
Wednesday ; WHEW … today was trailer wash day. Tough job ! Although Harvey wasn’t as filthy as he usually is after a trip from north to south. We had pretty nice weather in early November driving down. No nasty weather until almost San Francisco. And the exhaust pipe extension I had installed on Lanoire last spring seems to have been effective at keeping most of the diesel exhaust soot off the trailer. Although the temperature today was only in the mid-70’s ( snicker ) the intense desert sun made it impossible to work outside wearing jeans. I had to change into shorts to wash the trailer.
Late in the afternoon we headed to the clubhouse for the regular Wednesday afternoon “heavy appetizer social hour”. In addition to everybody’s potluck contribution of heavy appetizers there was also homemade bean and bacon soup. I couldn’t eat any because of the bacon, but Joanne quite liked it. She was one of the women who had volunteered to bake cornbread to accompany the soup. We chatted with a couple who are about to embark on a 100 day around the world cruise. We signed up for an upcoming farm tour, and Joanne signed us up for a week of pool closing duties. This park is a co-op. Everybody has to make a “fair share” contribution to the work that needs to be done for the park to function well. We think that includes visitors who are staying here longer than just a few days.
I spent the evening entering year end investment fees data, and copying our travel year 4 photos from CD to portable hard drive. At 9 PM we went to learn how to cover the pool and hot tub from the people that are doing it this week.
Thursday ; Yuma to Quartzsite & return
This morning we headed off for a day trip to Quartzsite, about 2 hours north of Yuma on Hwy. 95. Quartzsite is “Mecca” for RV’ers. Every year tens of thousands of RV’ers converge on the small town of Quartzsite. They begin arriving in November, and peak in about mid-January … like now ! Each year in January there are a number of events to attract them. A huge RV show. A massive rock, gem, and mineral show. Thousands of flea market vendors, and miles of flea markets. These thousands of RV’s boondock / dry camp for miles and miles and miles around Quartzsite, out in the desert, on BLM ( Bureau of Land Management ) land. We’ve been to Quartzsite a number of times before. Never in peak season in mid-January. And never for longer than two days. We’re not really Quartzsite kind of people !
But yesterday and today were a two day Escapee Happy Hour event. Hundreds of Escapees from all over North America who were anywhere near Quartzsite headed for the two day event. And RV’ers definition of “near” is pretty broad. Many of the people from Kofa Ko-op were there. Some just for the day, like us. We didn’t want to take our rig to Quartzsite just for a couple of days and lose our site at Kofa Ko-op. Some took their rigs there to stay for a few days or a week, and attend both the Escapees Happy Hour and the big RV show which starts Saturday.
We were a little disappointed in the “Happy Hour” event. While we weren’t certain of what to expect, our expectations were nevertheless not met. There were a few hundred people sitting around in lawn chairs listening to a group of musicians play. One of the musicians was our old friend Ernie, playing saxophone. We visited with Ernie and Colombe, from BC, whom we haven’t seen in a year and a half. We visited with Dennis and Carol from … Texas, I think, … whom we haven’t seen in 5 years. And we visited with a variety of our friends from here at Kofa Ko-op.
We brought Bo along to Quartzsite. He was feeling “drivey deprived”. He was exceptionally well behaved, which he usually isn’t in a crowded event. Good dog, Bo. On our way home I gave him a special treat. A few miles from Kofa Ko-op we passed a large field full of sheep. I stopped, rolled down the window, and allowed him to bark at the sheep until they all stampeded away from the fence along the side of the road. HA HA HA … Bo LOOOOOVES making a large herd of sheep stampede.
Friday ; Another long and somewhat frustrating day of running errands. And I’m in a foul mood ! And I don’t know which is chicken and which is egg !
I stayed up way too late last night trying unsuccessfully to copy our Year 4 Baja California, Mexico photos from CD to portable hard drive. I finally discovered that there was a crack in the CD. I’m going to download some software that is supposed to recover most of the data from a damaged CD and give it a try.
At least today was a great day for Bo. He got to go drivey, have a date shake, shop at PetsMart, and stampede sheep again. Right after an early lunch we set off across the Colorado River to Bard, California to pick up mail at the Post Office and go for date shakes. I was expecting two pieces of mail at the Post Office ; a letter from MasterCard and a batch of forwarded mail from home. Neither was there ! And both were allegedly mailed 10 days ago. We certainly have not had much success with our mail forwarding this year so far. We’ve been away from home for over 2½ months and have not yet received any of our forwarded mail !
We went to Sun Gardens Date Farm for date shakes. Having date shakes is undoubtedly the highlight of Bo’s winters in the south. While at Sun Gardens I visited with a farm cat who only had one ear. I thought it had lost an ear to a fight or accident, but when I petted its head I realized that it was born with only one ear. What an odd genetic flaw !
We returned to Yuma and went shopping at PetsMart. From there we headed to 24 Karat, a jewellery store, to have Joanne’s engagement and wedding rings repaired. After 35 years of wear, the backs of the bands have worn very thin. WOW … what an expensive job to have the backs of the bands replaced / rebuilt. The price of gold is at an all time high. Of course, when we got to where the jewellery store was supposed to be, it had relocated ( sigh … fume ).
After the jewellery store, it was time for Wal-Martin’ which really entrenched my foul mood ! Then a brief ( yeah, right ! ) stop at Sally Beauty so that Joanne could “quickly run in and pick up one item”. Our final stop was Barnes & Noble where I ordered the book I want to give Joanne for her birthday. It was 25% more expensive at Barnes & Noble, but I don’t care ! I can’t deal with Amazon.com and UPS and all their addressing and delivery protocol bullshit ! When the book arrives at Barnes & Noble, they’ll phone me, I’ll pick it up and pay for it then. No muss, no fuss ! On the way home I once again allowed Bo to bark out the open window of the truck at the field of sheep until they stampeded. HA HA HA … you’re one tough perrito, Bo.
In the evening I downloaded the CD Recovery Toolbox software and used it to try to recover my Baja photos from the cracked CD. It worked successfully and recovered all the photos on the cracked CD. I’m impressed ! I copied the recovered photos onto a blank CD and the portable hard drive, so now they exist on two media for safety. Well done, Daniel !
Saturday ; This morning we headed to the east side of Yuma, to the suburb community known as The Foothills. There was an advertised special at Foothills Hardware & Lumber I wanted. It was out of stock ( sigh ). We went into the large shopping mall in The Foothills for a few other items. I bought a particular brand of shoe cleaner I wanted at Foothills Shoes. We bought some advertised specials at Fry’s. The grocery stores in the Yuma area have very aggressively priced specials in their weekly flyers. Joanne checks the weekly flyers and we shop for advertised specials weekly at Fry’s, Albertsons, and Food City. It’s made a big difference in our grocery costs.
Sully has been acting a bit neglected lately so I promised him a cuddle nap after lunch. Joanne did a bit of waxing and buffing on the trailer. I polished shoes. I cut and installed a couple of pieces of exterior panel edge moulding on the trailer. I removed the screws in the slide corner braces and reinstalled shorter screws. The job looks better. We took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog run. He was ill during the night. We did not allow him to have an excess of date shake yesterday, a mistake we have made in the past. I wonder if he’s losing his ability to digest date shakes / dairy products as he ages ?
We went … again … to Ranch House Restaurant for their Saturday night special of barbecued beef ribs. Again they were not available. Last week they substituted something else, claiming the beef ribs were of poor quality. This week they were “sold out”. We won’t be returning. It seems as if they are using their advertised specials as “bait & switch”. We went instead to HomeTown Buffet.
DSK
Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. It was our intention to begin washing the trailer today, but … I was just too tired and sore from yesterday’s job of changing the truck’s front brakes. My knees hurt from kneeling on gravel. My shoulder blades hurt from lying on gravel. My hands were blistered. My arms were bruised from working within the confined space under the wheel wells. My knuckles were scraped. My back ached from working all hunched over. Changing brakes would be a difficult enough job with the truck up on a hoist, working at chest to eye level. Doing the job with the truck on the ground, and the ground was gravel … !
We slept late this morning. We spent much of the afternoon floating around the pool on our pool noodle chairs, and in the hot tub. We took Bo for a long walk around the dog park. We took Sully outside for awhile. I did some computer work sitting outside in a lawn chair. At 6 PM we headed for the ice cream social. Today was the monthly birthday ice cream social. Everybody whose birthday is in January ( including Joanne ) got their ice cream first. There was birthday cake for everybody. After eating a huge bowl of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce, butterscotch sauce, and chopped nuts, along with two pieces of birthday cake ( me … Joanne only had one ), we returned to our trailer to have supper. HA HA HA ! Actually we were obviously too full of ice cream and cake to eat supper. At the ice cream social we visited with a couple from near our home in B.C., a couple from Alberta, and a couple from New Hampshire. We invited the New Hampshire couple to visit us next summer on their way to or from Alaska.
Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. It was a day for running errands. First stop this morning was Lowe’s to buy some hardware. Then Sears to buy a phone card, a socket, and a socket adaptor to replace my neighbour’s that I broke. We went to CJ’s RV Supplies where I finally found a piece of moulding for the trailer that I had been looking for since last spring. Then Food City, CVS Pharmacy, a panaderia, Fry’s, and finally UPS to try to get my Amazon.com shipment re-addressed / re-routed. UPS refused to re-address / re-route the package for the recipient. They will only do that for the shipper ( sigh ).
At the checkout at Fry’s we received an interesting and unusual offer. We always bag our own purchases in cloth shopping bags that we have been using for over 20 years. The cashier at Fry’s offered to exchange our very old cloth shopping bags for new Fry’s cloth shopping bags at no charge. Great offer … okay !
After a very late lunch at home I took a brief nap, we walked Bo around the park, then headed for the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! ! ! I finished up the brake job on the truck by checking the torque on the lug nuts and reinstalling the wheel liners and hub caps. Just before it got dark I went to the clubhouse to work online. I sent an e-mail to Amazon.com asking them to contact UPS to get my package re-addressed / re-routed.
The first time I had the front brakes replaced on the truck, in Penticton a little over 2 years ago, the brakes were hot and smelly from home all the way down here to Yuma. Consequently I thought it normal for new brakes on this truck to be hot and smelly for quite awhile. Apparently not ! These new brakes are neither hot nor smelly. I surmise that that means perhaps my brake work may be superior to that done by the dealer. And since I’m obviously not very good, what does that imply about the work done by the dealer ? ! ?
Now that I have the netbook computer and a portable hard drive one of my objectives has been to ensure that all my files, documents and photos exist on two different storage media for safety / backup, either the computer’s main drive, the portable hard drive, a memory stick, or CD. For the last few nights I have been copying all my old archived photos from CD’s to the portable hard drive. Tonight I copied all our full time RV travel year 2 photos. Three more years to go.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm. I’m going to stop making that comment, because it’s rare for Yuma to not be sunny and warm. I’m only going to comment on the weather when it isn’t sunny and warm.
Well … what a Dumb Ass Day I’ve had ! I slept late this morning. Got up and dawdled, planning to putter around until lunch time, then leave after lunch for our late afternoon dentist appointments in Mexico. At 11 AM Joanne asked “What are you doing ? We have dentist appointments in Mexico in an hour”. HUH ? ! ? WHAT ? ! ? YIKES ? ! ? ZOOM ! ! !
We got to our dentist’s office right on time. And there was no waiting, we went straight in. I had difficulty during the dental cleaning. I couldn’t breathe. I choked and gagged. My sinuses were draining and drowning me. For about half an hour, then my brain went “BOING” ! ! ! Oh … I forgot to tell the hygienist that I’m allergic to latex and I need her to wear vinyl gloves instead. DUH ! ! ! The cleaning was excellent. I need an old filling replaced and a new cavity filled. I made another appointment for next week. Dr. Camacho’s rate for a dental cleaning and examination has increased to $45, triple the price of the little storefront dentists ! But … I suppose the services of his large modern clinic are worth triple the price.
After the dentist we went to Algodones Optical. I have been having a bit of difficulty adjusting to my new glasses and I wanted the glasses checked and my eyes re-examined. Something seems to me to be wrong with the left lens. The eye doctor checked the glasses under some sort of microscope type piece of equipment and verified that the lenses conform to the prescription. Then he re-examined my eyes and confirmed that the prescription was correct. He suggested that the problem might be that my right eye is dominant, and that might be why it seems to me that the left lens is not quite right. Hopefully a bit more time to adjust to the new glasses will rectify that.
We went for lunch to our new favourite little restaurant for some of their excellent tacos. Joanne had dos tacos carne asada y uno taco pescado. I had dos tacos carne asada y uno taco camarón. I dropped the salt shaker … and it landed in a bowl of guacamole, splashing all over the table … and us !
We walked across town to Farmacia Safari, the veterinary pharmacy, to buy Sentinel for Bo. They didn’t have any. I guess we’ll have to get it from the veterinarian in Yuma when we take Sully and Bo in for their dental cleanings next week. Before heading for the line up to cross the border we stopped at Liqui’s Farmacia y Licoreria a.k.a. The Purple Store so that Joanne could buy another 3 litres of Yomi Lala ( rolling my eyes ). The line up at the border today was 45 minutes.
Back home at Kofa Ko-op we had time to take Bo and Sully to the dog park, and then some time in the pool for us before dark. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with both Amazon.com and UPS. UPS will not re-address / redirect a package in transit for the recipient, only the shipper, or so they initially claimed. Amazon.com said they couldn’t / wouldn’t do it. I finally convinced a telephone agent at Amazon.com to phone UPS and arrange for the package to be redirected. While I stayed on the line the Amazon.com agent phoned UPS who refused to re-address / redirect the package. ( sigh ) Fine ! The package will eventually find its way back to Amazon.com who will eventually issue me a refund. I won’t do business in the future with either Amazon.com or UPS. And Joanne doesn’t get her birthday gift !
Wednesday ; WHEW … today was trailer wash day. Tough job ! Although Harvey wasn’t as filthy as he usually is after a trip from north to south. We had pretty nice weather in early November driving down. No nasty weather until almost San Francisco. And the exhaust pipe extension I had installed on Lanoire last spring seems to have been effective at keeping most of the diesel exhaust soot off the trailer. Although the temperature today was only in the mid-70’s ( snicker ) the intense desert sun made it impossible to work outside wearing jeans. I had to change into shorts to wash the trailer.
Late in the afternoon we headed to the clubhouse for the regular Wednesday afternoon “heavy appetizer social hour”. In addition to everybody’s potluck contribution of heavy appetizers there was also homemade bean and bacon soup. I couldn’t eat any because of the bacon, but Joanne quite liked it. She was one of the women who had volunteered to bake cornbread to accompany the soup. We chatted with a couple who are about to embark on a 100 day around the world cruise. We signed up for an upcoming farm tour, and Joanne signed us up for a week of pool closing duties. This park is a co-op. Everybody has to make a “fair share” contribution to the work that needs to be done for the park to function well. We think that includes visitors who are staying here longer than just a few days.
I spent the evening entering year end investment fees data, and copying our travel year 4 photos from CD to portable hard drive. At 9 PM we went to learn how to cover the pool and hot tub from the people that are doing it this week.
Thursday ; Yuma to Quartzsite & return
This morning we headed off for a day trip to Quartzsite, about 2 hours north of Yuma on Hwy. 95. Quartzsite is “Mecca” for RV’ers. Every year tens of thousands of RV’ers converge on the small town of Quartzsite. They begin arriving in November, and peak in about mid-January … like now ! Each year in January there are a number of events to attract them. A huge RV show. A massive rock, gem, and mineral show. Thousands of flea market vendors, and miles of flea markets. These thousands of RV’s boondock / dry camp for miles and miles and miles around Quartzsite, out in the desert, on BLM ( Bureau of Land Management ) land. We’ve been to Quartzsite a number of times before. Never in peak season in mid-January. And never for longer than two days. We’re not really Quartzsite kind of people !
But yesterday and today were a two day Escapee Happy Hour event. Hundreds of Escapees from all over North America who were anywhere near Quartzsite headed for the two day event. And RV’ers definition of “near” is pretty broad. Many of the people from Kofa Ko-op were there. Some just for the day, like us. We didn’t want to take our rig to Quartzsite just for a couple of days and lose our site at Kofa Ko-op. Some took their rigs there to stay for a few days or a week, and attend both the Escapees Happy Hour and the big RV show which starts Saturday.
We were a little disappointed in the “Happy Hour” event. While we weren’t certain of what to expect, our expectations were nevertheless not met. There were a few hundred people sitting around in lawn chairs listening to a group of musicians play. One of the musicians was our old friend Ernie, playing saxophone. We visited with Ernie and Colombe, from BC, whom we haven’t seen in a year and a half. We visited with Dennis and Carol from … Texas, I think, … whom we haven’t seen in 5 years. And we visited with a variety of our friends from here at Kofa Ko-op.
We brought Bo along to Quartzsite. He was feeling “drivey deprived”. He was exceptionally well behaved, which he usually isn’t in a crowded event. Good dog, Bo. On our way home I gave him a special treat. A few miles from Kofa Ko-op we passed a large field full of sheep. I stopped, rolled down the window, and allowed him to bark at the sheep until they all stampeded away from the fence along the side of the road. HA HA HA … Bo LOOOOOVES making a large herd of sheep stampede.
Friday ; Another long and somewhat frustrating day of running errands. And I’m in a foul mood ! And I don’t know which is chicken and which is egg !
I stayed up way too late last night trying unsuccessfully to copy our Year 4 Baja California, Mexico photos from CD to portable hard drive. I finally discovered that there was a crack in the CD. I’m going to download some software that is supposed to recover most of the data from a damaged CD and give it a try.
At least today was a great day for Bo. He got to go drivey, have a date shake, shop at PetsMart, and stampede sheep again. Right after an early lunch we set off across the Colorado River to Bard, California to pick up mail at the Post Office and go for date shakes. I was expecting two pieces of mail at the Post Office ; a letter from MasterCard and a batch of forwarded mail from home. Neither was there ! And both were allegedly mailed 10 days ago. We certainly have not had much success with our mail forwarding this year so far. We’ve been away from home for over 2½ months and have not yet received any of our forwarded mail !
We went to Sun Gardens Date Farm for date shakes. Having date shakes is undoubtedly the highlight of Bo’s winters in the south. While at Sun Gardens I visited with a farm cat who only had one ear. I thought it had lost an ear to a fight or accident, but when I petted its head I realized that it was born with only one ear. What an odd genetic flaw !
We returned to Yuma and went shopping at PetsMart. From there we headed to 24 Karat, a jewellery store, to have Joanne’s engagement and wedding rings repaired. After 35 years of wear, the backs of the bands have worn very thin. WOW … what an expensive job to have the backs of the bands replaced / rebuilt. The price of gold is at an all time high. Of course, when we got to where the jewellery store was supposed to be, it had relocated ( sigh … fume ).
After the jewellery store, it was time for Wal-Martin’ which really entrenched my foul mood ! Then a brief ( yeah, right ! ) stop at Sally Beauty so that Joanne could “quickly run in and pick up one item”. Our final stop was Barnes & Noble where I ordered the book I want to give Joanne for her birthday. It was 25% more expensive at Barnes & Noble, but I don’t care ! I can’t deal with Amazon.com and UPS and all their addressing and delivery protocol bullshit ! When the book arrives at Barnes & Noble, they’ll phone me, I’ll pick it up and pay for it then. No muss, no fuss ! On the way home I once again allowed Bo to bark out the open window of the truck at the field of sheep until they stampeded. HA HA HA … you’re one tough perrito, Bo.
In the evening I downloaded the CD Recovery Toolbox software and used it to try to recover my Baja photos from the cracked CD. It worked successfully and recovered all the photos on the cracked CD. I’m impressed ! I copied the recovered photos onto a blank CD and the portable hard drive, so now they exist on two media for safety. Well done, Daniel !
Saturday ; This morning we headed to the east side of Yuma, to the suburb community known as The Foothills. There was an advertised special at Foothills Hardware & Lumber I wanted. It was out of stock ( sigh ). We went into the large shopping mall in The Foothills for a few other items. I bought a particular brand of shoe cleaner I wanted at Foothills Shoes. We bought some advertised specials at Fry’s. The grocery stores in the Yuma area have very aggressively priced specials in their weekly flyers. Joanne checks the weekly flyers and we shop for advertised specials weekly at Fry’s, Albertsons, and Food City. It’s made a big difference in our grocery costs.
Sully has been acting a bit neglected lately so I promised him a cuddle nap after lunch. Joanne did a bit of waxing and buffing on the trailer. I polished shoes. I cut and installed a couple of pieces of exterior panel edge moulding on the trailer. I removed the screws in the slide corner braces and reinstalled shorter screws. The job looks better. We took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog run. He was ill during the night. We did not allow him to have an excess of date shake yesterday, a mistake we have made in the past. I wonder if he’s losing his ability to digest date shakes / dairy products as he ages ?
We went … again … to Ranch House Restaurant for their Saturday night special of barbecued beef ribs. Again they were not available. Last week they substituted something else, claiming the beef ribs were of poor quality. This week they were “sold out”. We won’t be returning. It seems as if they are using their advertised specials as “bait & switch”. We went instead to HomeTown Buffet.
DSK
Sunday, January 10, 2010
January 3 to 9, 2010
January 3 to 9, 2010
Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm. I spent most of the day working on a trailer repair project. I recently noticed that the top corners of the living room / dinette slide were developing little stress fractures from the hundreds of cycles of being extended and retracted. I wanted to deal with that before it became a problem. I worked on installing corner bracing brackets on both the front side and back side of the top corners of the slide. I didn’t quite have all the hardware required, so I didn’t complete the job. On Thursday I’ll get the rest of the hardware I need at Arizona Market Place. Joanne finished sanding and varnishing my desk.
Late in the afternoon, but while the sun was still intense, we went to the pool to try out the new pool noodle chairs we recently bought in Palm Springs. They’re great ! I discovered that if I lean back in the pool noodle chair, and put another pool noodle behind my neck and over my shoulders, I can float around the pool reclined … and … HA HA HA … fall asleep ! What a great way to nap ! After my afternoon nap in the pool we took Bo for his daily walk around the dog park perimeter and Joanne did laundry.
We went to the Sunday early evening ice cream social. Every week at the ice cream social new arrivals in the park introduce themselves. One of the new arrivals was a couple from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where we were born and raised and lived until 1988. As the ice cream social was winding down we went over to chat with them. Ironically, they used to live in Keremeos, B.C., our current summer home.
Monday ; Today was mostly sunny and warm, with a bit of light overcast late in the afternoon. We spent most of today running errands. First stop was RV Connection to buy some 12 volt fluorescent bulbs. Then over to Yuma Palms RV Resort. While in Palm Springs we saw a promotional ad for Yuma Palms RV Resort. I sent them an e-mail from Palm Springs but they didn’t respond. I considered that a bad sign, and expected that the promotion was not what it appeared to be in the ad. However, when we got there today, they honoured the promotion in the ad without question, and we made a reservation to stay there for one week at the end of February and all of March.
We drove to the Post Office. I was going to check if there was any mail there for us. There shouldn’t be, but there seemed to be some confusion with our neighbour who is collecting and forwarding our mail, and maybe she sent a batch of our mail to Yuma a month ago. The line up at the Post Office was as long as it was just before Christmas, and I didn’t want to wait in a long line up, especially considering that maybe there’s some mail there for us, or maybe not ! We went for lunch to Wienerschnitzel. After having lunch I had to listen to Joanne tell me over and over and over ( rolling eyes ) how much she loves Wienerschnitzel’s chili cheese fries. We shopped for groceries at Albertsons, then went to a nearby mall where Joanne went to Fry’s to buy some advertised grocery specials, and I went to Checker Auto Parts and bought brake pads and the rest of the materials I need to replace Lanoire’s front brakes.
Back home at Kofa Ko-op we took Bo for his daily long walk, then I went to the clubhouse to get some online work done. Once again, Kofa Ko-op’s Wi-Fi system and / or AOL Canada was working very poorly, and my very limited patience was sorely tested ! ! ! It was tested even further when I returned a phone call to HP regarding the recent warranty repair service to my netbook. I cut my call with HP short when Joanne came to the clubhouse to retrieve me to get the barbecue started and begin preparing supper. It was my first time using my new “flavour injector” big needle device that I bought myself for Christmas. I injected a whole chicken with melted margarine and lemon juice, wrapped it in foil, then slow roasted it on the barbecue. The results were excellent ! After supper I ( sigh ) continued working on my 2009 investments performance analysis. Well, taken just on its own, 2009 was a pretty good year for the stock markets. Let’s hope the financial recovery continues through 2010.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm. We spent the day in Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico.
First stop in Los Algodones was our dentist’s office to make appointments for next week. Then we went to see another dentist that I was considering switching to. Over the last few years our regular dentist in Los Algodones, Dr. Juan Camacho, has lost his ability / willingness to stay on schedule. In my opinion his wait times have become unreasonable. But after I made appointments at the alternative dentist for later today, and we left, Joanne said she didn’t like the alternative and wanted to stay with Dr. Camacho. Okay … we simply ignored our appointments for later in the day with the alternative dentist.
We went to Algodones Optical. I had an eye examination, then ordered two pairs of trifocal glasses. I haven’t had trifocals before, and wanted to try them as I have been having a lot of difficulty seeing 5 feet away, such as reading labels of items on grocery store shelves. I still have difficulty understanding how Algodones Optical can offer eye examinations and glasses as cheaply as they do. The eye examination was $20, reduced to $10 with the purchase of glasses. My first pair of glasses were trifocal SunSensors, frames included, for $119. My second pair were trifocal sunglasses, frames included, for $49. They were ready in 2½ hours. Total bill was $178 !
Next we went to a number of different pharmacies and did some price comparisons on a medication I wanted. We returned to the pharmacy with the best price, and I negotiated an even better price based on the quantity I was purchasing. Negotiating is part of the process in Mexico, even at farmacias. Next I went looking for a place to get a haircut. We went to Sylvia’s, a hair stylist shop I had been to a couple of times in previous years, but there were quite a few customers waiting and I didn’t want to wait. Besides, the price there at Sylvia’s was $4 and I had seen a couple of other places advertising haircuts for $3. We went and looked at a couple of places and I chose one where the stylists were all women and there was no waiting. Joanne is of the opinion that I get good haircuts from Mexican women, but bad haircuts from Mexican men. She’s right ! I got an excellent haircut and beard trim for $2.99. I gave the stylist $3 and walked out without my change. HA HA HA !
Finally it was time for lunch. Joanne did not want to return to El Paraiso, a restaurant we have been to many times. She wanted to try one of the smaller, more authentic Mexican taco restaurants to have fish tacos. We checked out a few, then made a selection. She had tres tacos pescado. I had uno taco pescado, uno taco camarón, y uno taco carne asada. The carne asada taco was the best I’ve ever had.
After lunch we went shopping for two RV door stained glass windows requested by friends of ours. For Tom and Ruth-Anne we purchased a stained glass window with a pair of Cardinals for the door of their Cardinal fifth wheel trailer, an identical window to the one in our trailer. For Brett and Barb at Riverside RV Park Resort we bought a stained glass window with a couple of large, pink roses. Barb wanted a stained glass window with flowers for their RV, also a Cardinal fifth wheel trailer. The prices were a lot higher than when I bought a stained glass window for us a few years ago, but, of course, some hard negotiating brought results.
We still had some time before my glasses were to be ready so we went shopping for Mexican chocolates and chocolate bars. We bought some MiniNugs, MiniCocoNugs, and Banderitas de Coco, a coconut candy confection similar to cocada de leche which we’ve had before. And … WOO-HOO … Joanne found her beloved Yomi Lala chocolate milk drink. She bought 3 litres ! HA HA HA ! You go, girl ! I couldn’t help but notice the uniformed police officer partaking of the free samples of tequila !
We walked around a section of town we had not explored before while we continued to wait for my glasses to be ready. On the way back to Algodones Optical we stopped at a panaderia and bought some pan dulce. Well … DUH ! ! ! HA HA HA ! Finally we returned to Algodones Optical and picked up my new glasses. HEY … I really like the trifocals !
The late afternoon line up to return to the United States was as long as it always has been, but thanks to a redesign and reconstruction of the Customs & Border Patrol building we were back across the border in half an hour instead of the 1½ to 2½ hour waits of previous years.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. Spent the afternoon ( big sigh ) Wal-Martin’.
Late in the afternoon we went to the clubhouse for the regular Wednesday afternoon “heavy appetizers Happy Hour”. Then a walk around the dog park with Bo, some outdoor time with Sully, and another evening of working on the computer.
Thursday ; While most of North America, even much of the South, wallows through severe winter weather, it was, once again, sunny and warm here in Yuma. This morning we went to the Arizona Market Place flea market to buy some hardware I need to complete the repair project I am doing on the upper corners of the dinette / living room slide. They didn’t have everything I needed so we had to also go to Lowe’s for some more hardware items.
In the afternoon we took Bo and Sully to the veterinarian for examinations and inoculations, in preparation for dental cleanings for both of them. It was the first time that Bo and Sully have been in the truck at the same time. Everything was fine until … WHOA … SHEEP ! ! ! MANY MANY SHEEP ! ! ! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF … ! Geez, Bo, relax ! When we arrived at the vet a few minutes later, Bo was SOOOOO cranked up it was embarrassing ! They are both in excellent health. I think the veterinarian overstated the degree of Sully’s visual impairment. She considered him to be blind ! I disagree, although I concede his vision is impaired. HEY … he’s 13 years old and has cataracts, but he’s not blind ! Bo is the only pet we’ve ever had who considers a trip to the vet, getting examined rudely, and being poked with needles to be a wonderful social experience. HA HA HA !
Back at home we took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog park. I’m having some eye strain and vision distortion from my new glasses, but less today than yesterday so hopefully it’s just a matter of a few more days until my eyes adjust satisfactorily and comfortably to the new glasses.
Friday ; WOW … sex twice in one day for $1.37 ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA ! Sorry … Mexican medication humour. What I meant to say was … today was sunny and warm ( snicker ).
Yesterday I ordered a birthday gift online for Joanne from Amazon.com. Believing that they would ship by USPS ( United States Postal Service ) … which is what their website indicated … I provided a “USPS General Delivery” address. Today Amazon.com verified that my order has been shipped … by UPS ! ! ! You would think that Amazon.com’s shipping department would know that UPS can’t deliver to “USPS General Delivery” ! ! ! And that some moron who types things onto their website would know the difference between USPS and UPS ! ! ! I wonder how much effort it’s going to take me to get that straightened out with UPS ? Maybe if we go down to their Yuma office on Monday I can get the package rerouted to there ?
I spent the morning working on my slide corner reinforcement bracing project. I’m finished … temporarily. I bought and used ¾” long screws. What the job really required was ½” long screws. Next time we’re in the vicinity of Lowe’s I’ll buy the shorter screws, then re-do the job. I also “installed” Señor Caballero ( the fourth … HA HA HA ) which I bought at Arizona Market Place yesterday. Señor Caballero is a rubber Saguaro cactus, wearing a bandanna ( made of material with the same pattern as Bo’s bandanna… HA HA HA ),sunglasses and a cowboy hat, that fits on the truck’s antenna. But … sadly … his lifespan in the intense sunlight of Yuma, Arizona, and Keremeos, BC, is only about a year. This fourth reincarnation of him is a much better version than the three earlier ones. HA HA HA … maybe he’ll “survive” for more than a year.
Recently while we were cleaning and rearranging cupboards and closets we found a couple of DVD movies given to us as Christmas gifts by my sister … four or five years ago. Sorry, Sharon. Tonight we watched Hotel Rwanda. First time we’ve watched a movie on the new little netbook computer. Great picture quality. Had to connect the netbook into the trailer’s stereo system to hear the sound well.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm with a light breeze in the morning. This morning we went to Kofa Ko-op’s Saturday morning breakfast. Today was “omelette in a bag” day. We had breakfast, visited for awhile, then it was time to get to work.
I spent the entire day replacing the front disc brake pads on the truck. It was a difficult and dirty job. With a lot of learning curve. Changing the first side took about ¾ of the day, and the second side took the remaining ¼ of the day. I’m pleased and proud of myself. I learned how to do something I had never done before. And I saved about $150. And I installed ceramic brake pads, much better quality than the original equipment semi-metallic brake pads. I had to borrow a socket and adaptor from my next door neighbour. I broke his socket adaptor. On Monday I’ll get him a replacement, and buy myself the size of socket that I needed to do this job but didn’t have.
We went out for supper. We went to the Ranch House Restaurant for their advertised Saturday special, barbecued beef ribs. When we got there we found that tonight’s special was barbecued pulled pork. The beef ribs were such poor quality that the chef decided to make a change to tonight’s special. Darn … I can’t digest pork and was looking forward to barbecued beef ribs. We went to a KFC with a Saturday night buffet. Joanne has felt KFC deprived for about the last 20 years, since I developed ulcerative colitis and can’t digest KFC. Until recently ! I can eat their new grilled chicken. So off to the KFC buffet we went, where Joanne ate original KFC until she was ready to pass out. HA HA HA !
DSK
Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm. I spent most of the day working on a trailer repair project. I recently noticed that the top corners of the living room / dinette slide were developing little stress fractures from the hundreds of cycles of being extended and retracted. I wanted to deal with that before it became a problem. I worked on installing corner bracing brackets on both the front side and back side of the top corners of the slide. I didn’t quite have all the hardware required, so I didn’t complete the job. On Thursday I’ll get the rest of the hardware I need at Arizona Market Place. Joanne finished sanding and varnishing my desk.
Late in the afternoon, but while the sun was still intense, we went to the pool to try out the new pool noodle chairs we recently bought in Palm Springs. They’re great ! I discovered that if I lean back in the pool noodle chair, and put another pool noodle behind my neck and over my shoulders, I can float around the pool reclined … and … HA HA HA … fall asleep ! What a great way to nap ! After my afternoon nap in the pool we took Bo for his daily walk around the dog park perimeter and Joanne did laundry.
We went to the Sunday early evening ice cream social. Every week at the ice cream social new arrivals in the park introduce themselves. One of the new arrivals was a couple from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where we were born and raised and lived until 1988. As the ice cream social was winding down we went over to chat with them. Ironically, they used to live in Keremeos, B.C., our current summer home.
Monday ; Today was mostly sunny and warm, with a bit of light overcast late in the afternoon. We spent most of today running errands. First stop was RV Connection to buy some 12 volt fluorescent bulbs. Then over to Yuma Palms RV Resort. While in Palm Springs we saw a promotional ad for Yuma Palms RV Resort. I sent them an e-mail from Palm Springs but they didn’t respond. I considered that a bad sign, and expected that the promotion was not what it appeared to be in the ad. However, when we got there today, they honoured the promotion in the ad without question, and we made a reservation to stay there for one week at the end of February and all of March.
We drove to the Post Office. I was going to check if there was any mail there for us. There shouldn’t be, but there seemed to be some confusion with our neighbour who is collecting and forwarding our mail, and maybe she sent a batch of our mail to Yuma a month ago. The line up at the Post Office was as long as it was just before Christmas, and I didn’t want to wait in a long line up, especially considering that maybe there’s some mail there for us, or maybe not ! We went for lunch to Wienerschnitzel. After having lunch I had to listen to Joanne tell me over and over and over ( rolling eyes ) how much she loves Wienerschnitzel’s chili cheese fries. We shopped for groceries at Albertsons, then went to a nearby mall where Joanne went to Fry’s to buy some advertised grocery specials, and I went to Checker Auto Parts and bought brake pads and the rest of the materials I need to replace Lanoire’s front brakes.
Back home at Kofa Ko-op we took Bo for his daily long walk, then I went to the clubhouse to get some online work done. Once again, Kofa Ko-op’s Wi-Fi system and / or AOL Canada was working very poorly, and my very limited patience was sorely tested ! ! ! It was tested even further when I returned a phone call to HP regarding the recent warranty repair service to my netbook. I cut my call with HP short when Joanne came to the clubhouse to retrieve me to get the barbecue started and begin preparing supper. It was my first time using my new “flavour injector” big needle device that I bought myself for Christmas. I injected a whole chicken with melted margarine and lemon juice, wrapped it in foil, then slow roasted it on the barbecue. The results were excellent ! After supper I ( sigh ) continued working on my 2009 investments performance analysis. Well, taken just on its own, 2009 was a pretty good year for the stock markets. Let’s hope the financial recovery continues through 2010.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm. We spent the day in Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico.
First stop in Los Algodones was our dentist’s office to make appointments for next week. Then we went to see another dentist that I was considering switching to. Over the last few years our regular dentist in Los Algodones, Dr. Juan Camacho, has lost his ability / willingness to stay on schedule. In my opinion his wait times have become unreasonable. But after I made appointments at the alternative dentist for later today, and we left, Joanne said she didn’t like the alternative and wanted to stay with Dr. Camacho. Okay … we simply ignored our appointments for later in the day with the alternative dentist.
We went to Algodones Optical. I had an eye examination, then ordered two pairs of trifocal glasses. I haven’t had trifocals before, and wanted to try them as I have been having a lot of difficulty seeing 5 feet away, such as reading labels of items on grocery store shelves. I still have difficulty understanding how Algodones Optical can offer eye examinations and glasses as cheaply as they do. The eye examination was $20, reduced to $10 with the purchase of glasses. My first pair of glasses were trifocal SunSensors, frames included, for $119. My second pair were trifocal sunglasses, frames included, for $49. They were ready in 2½ hours. Total bill was $178 !
Next we went to a number of different pharmacies and did some price comparisons on a medication I wanted. We returned to the pharmacy with the best price, and I negotiated an even better price based on the quantity I was purchasing. Negotiating is part of the process in Mexico, even at farmacias. Next I went looking for a place to get a haircut. We went to Sylvia’s, a hair stylist shop I had been to a couple of times in previous years, but there were quite a few customers waiting and I didn’t want to wait. Besides, the price there at Sylvia’s was $4 and I had seen a couple of other places advertising haircuts for $3. We went and looked at a couple of places and I chose one where the stylists were all women and there was no waiting. Joanne is of the opinion that I get good haircuts from Mexican women, but bad haircuts from Mexican men. She’s right ! I got an excellent haircut and beard trim for $2.99. I gave the stylist $3 and walked out without my change. HA HA HA !
Finally it was time for lunch. Joanne did not want to return to El Paraiso, a restaurant we have been to many times. She wanted to try one of the smaller, more authentic Mexican taco restaurants to have fish tacos. We checked out a few, then made a selection. She had tres tacos pescado. I had uno taco pescado, uno taco camarón, y uno taco carne asada. The carne asada taco was the best I’ve ever had.
After lunch we went shopping for two RV door stained glass windows requested by friends of ours. For Tom and Ruth-Anne we purchased a stained glass window with a pair of Cardinals for the door of their Cardinal fifth wheel trailer, an identical window to the one in our trailer. For Brett and Barb at Riverside RV Park Resort we bought a stained glass window with a couple of large, pink roses. Barb wanted a stained glass window with flowers for their RV, also a Cardinal fifth wheel trailer. The prices were a lot higher than when I bought a stained glass window for us a few years ago, but, of course, some hard negotiating brought results.
We still had some time before my glasses were to be ready so we went shopping for Mexican chocolates and chocolate bars. We bought some MiniNugs, MiniCocoNugs, and Banderitas de Coco, a coconut candy confection similar to cocada de leche which we’ve had before. And … WOO-HOO … Joanne found her beloved Yomi Lala chocolate milk drink. She bought 3 litres ! HA HA HA ! You go, girl ! I couldn’t help but notice the uniformed police officer partaking of the free samples of tequila !
We walked around a section of town we had not explored before while we continued to wait for my glasses to be ready. On the way back to Algodones Optical we stopped at a panaderia and bought some pan dulce. Well … DUH ! ! ! HA HA HA ! Finally we returned to Algodones Optical and picked up my new glasses. HEY … I really like the trifocals !
The late afternoon line up to return to the United States was as long as it always has been, but thanks to a redesign and reconstruction of the Customs & Border Patrol building we were back across the border in half an hour instead of the 1½ to 2½ hour waits of previous years.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. Spent the afternoon ( big sigh ) Wal-Martin’.
Late in the afternoon we went to the clubhouse for the regular Wednesday afternoon “heavy appetizers Happy Hour”. Then a walk around the dog park with Bo, some outdoor time with Sully, and another evening of working on the computer.
Thursday ; While most of North America, even much of the South, wallows through severe winter weather, it was, once again, sunny and warm here in Yuma. This morning we went to the Arizona Market Place flea market to buy some hardware I need to complete the repair project I am doing on the upper corners of the dinette / living room slide. They didn’t have everything I needed so we had to also go to Lowe’s for some more hardware items.
In the afternoon we took Bo and Sully to the veterinarian for examinations and inoculations, in preparation for dental cleanings for both of them. It was the first time that Bo and Sully have been in the truck at the same time. Everything was fine until … WHOA … SHEEP ! ! ! MANY MANY SHEEP ! ! ! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF … ! Geez, Bo, relax ! When we arrived at the vet a few minutes later, Bo was SOOOOO cranked up it was embarrassing ! They are both in excellent health. I think the veterinarian overstated the degree of Sully’s visual impairment. She considered him to be blind ! I disagree, although I concede his vision is impaired. HEY … he’s 13 years old and has cataracts, but he’s not blind ! Bo is the only pet we’ve ever had who considers a trip to the vet, getting examined rudely, and being poked with needles to be a wonderful social experience. HA HA HA !
Back at home we took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog park. I’m having some eye strain and vision distortion from my new glasses, but less today than yesterday so hopefully it’s just a matter of a few more days until my eyes adjust satisfactorily and comfortably to the new glasses.
Friday ; WOW … sex twice in one day for $1.37 ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA ! Sorry … Mexican medication humour. What I meant to say was … today was sunny and warm ( snicker ).
Yesterday I ordered a birthday gift online for Joanne from Amazon.com. Believing that they would ship by USPS ( United States Postal Service ) … which is what their website indicated … I provided a “USPS General Delivery” address. Today Amazon.com verified that my order has been shipped … by UPS ! ! ! You would think that Amazon.com’s shipping department would know that UPS can’t deliver to “USPS General Delivery” ! ! ! And that some moron who types things onto their website would know the difference between USPS and UPS ! ! ! I wonder how much effort it’s going to take me to get that straightened out with UPS ? Maybe if we go down to their Yuma office on Monday I can get the package rerouted to there ?
I spent the morning working on my slide corner reinforcement bracing project. I’m finished … temporarily. I bought and used ¾” long screws. What the job really required was ½” long screws. Next time we’re in the vicinity of Lowe’s I’ll buy the shorter screws, then re-do the job. I also “installed” Señor Caballero ( the fourth … HA HA HA ) which I bought at Arizona Market Place yesterday. Señor Caballero is a rubber Saguaro cactus, wearing a bandanna ( made of material with the same pattern as Bo’s bandanna… HA HA HA ),sunglasses and a cowboy hat, that fits on the truck’s antenna. But … sadly … his lifespan in the intense sunlight of Yuma, Arizona, and Keremeos, BC, is only about a year. This fourth reincarnation of him is a much better version than the three earlier ones. HA HA HA … maybe he’ll “survive” for more than a year.
Recently while we were cleaning and rearranging cupboards and closets we found a couple of DVD movies given to us as Christmas gifts by my sister … four or five years ago. Sorry, Sharon. Tonight we watched Hotel Rwanda. First time we’ve watched a movie on the new little netbook computer. Great picture quality. Had to connect the netbook into the trailer’s stereo system to hear the sound well.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm with a light breeze in the morning. This morning we went to Kofa Ko-op’s Saturday morning breakfast. Today was “omelette in a bag” day. We had breakfast, visited for awhile, then it was time to get to work.
I spent the entire day replacing the front disc brake pads on the truck. It was a difficult and dirty job. With a lot of learning curve. Changing the first side took about ¾ of the day, and the second side took the remaining ¼ of the day. I’m pleased and proud of myself. I learned how to do something I had never done before. And I saved about $150. And I installed ceramic brake pads, much better quality than the original equipment semi-metallic brake pads. I had to borrow a socket and adaptor from my next door neighbour. I broke his socket adaptor. On Monday I’ll get him a replacement, and buy myself the size of socket that I needed to do this job but didn’t have.
We went out for supper. We went to the Ranch House Restaurant for their advertised Saturday special, barbecued beef ribs. When we got there we found that tonight’s special was barbecued pulled pork. The beef ribs were such poor quality that the chef decided to make a change to tonight’s special. Darn … I can’t digest pork and was looking forward to barbecued beef ribs. We went to a KFC with a Saturday night buffet. Joanne has felt KFC deprived for about the last 20 years, since I developed ulcerative colitis and can’t digest KFC. Until recently ! I can eat their new grilled chicken. So off to the KFC buffet we went, where Joanne ate original KFC until she was ready to pass out. HA HA HA !
DSK
Sunday, January 3, 2010
December 26, 2009 to January 2, 2010
December 26, 2009 to January 2, 2010
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm, as are almost all days in Yuma. I spent much of the day again working on restoring my computer. I finished downloading software, from online and using my new portable DVD/CD drive for the first time. I restored a backup copy of all my files that I had saved on my new portable hard drive before I sent the computer to HP for repairs, and before Joanne wrapped it as a Christmas gift for me. I downloaded and processed yesterday’s photos. I worked on getting caught up on a backlog of data entry, mostly credit card transactions, that accumulated while my computer was away for repairs.
In the afternoon we spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, then took Bo for a walk around the perimeter of the dog park. While Joanne did laundry I went to the clubhouse and worked online and updated my blog. After supper we watched a movie ; About Schmidt. Well … wasn’t that uplifting ? ! ? ( tongue in cheek & rolling eyes )
Sunday ; Today was another sunny, warm day. No surprise there … HA HA HA ! This morning I was asked to perform a magic show here on New Year’s Eve. With considerable reluctance I agreed. My New Year’s Eve performance here two years ago was the worst magic show experience I’ve ever had. My magic was going poorly … my fingers weren’t working well … my performance was marred by a 7 year old assistant from the audience … and a drunk a*****e heckler … and halfway through my show an audience member in the front row keeled over face first onto the floor and had to be hauled out on a stretcher into an ambulance … ! ! ! Talk about a show stopper ! ! !
This afternoon we gave Bo a bath, then Joanne went grocery shopping at Albertsons while I napped with Sully and Bo. I took Bo for an obedience session. He had not had an obedience session in a long time, and I thought he was overdue for some practice. He did exceptionally well. Good dog, Bo ! He certainly is not the unruly terror that we rescued in Alabama 5 years ago.
Late in the afternoon we went to the regular weekly Sunday ice cream social. The fellow sitting beside me was celebrating his 88th birthday. HEY … my new life goal is to be sitting here at an ice cream social in 33 years, having Happy Birthday sung to me. He and I were chatting about computers. He said he gets his computer instruction from his “computer whiz kid” daughter. She’s one year younger than me. HA HA HA !
This park is disposing of their library of VCR movies. We picked up six to watch and take back home to the library at Riverside RV Park Resort. Tonight we watched Nurse Betty. Afterwards I reconciled our December MasterCard statements.
Monday ; Today was uncharacteristically cloudy and cool. I spent some time with my new portable hard drive and its instructions manual, learning how to use the hard drive and the ins and outs of its functionality. A few days ago somebody placed a bag of foil confetti on the bargain table. I thought I might be able to incorporate the use of confetti into a couple of my magic routines so I picked it up. Today I experimented with using the confetti in my magic. I used Joanne as a test audience. I wasn’t all that impressed with the use of confetti but Joanne thought it was worthwhile. I’ll use it on New Year’s Eve and then solicit feedback from a real audience. For one thing, it makes a mess. I suppose that if I use it on New Year’s Eve I’ll have to return to the clubhouse on New Year’s Day and clean up the mess I make on the stage.
We trimmed Bo’s and Sully’s claws today. Darn … I clipped the quick in three of Bo’s nails. Just a teensy little bit, but still … ! I’ve hit the quick in a claw or two before, because he has black nails, but not in a long time, and certainly never three at one clipping ! ! ! It was partially attributable to the fact that I lost my computer calendar where I have routine tasks such as pet nail trimming scheduled. I guess it was a bit too soon after his last nail trimming, and they hadn’t grown out as much as usual. I’m sorry, Bo !
I spent some time online in the clubhouse tonight. I did some exploring of Hewlett Packard’s website. I found and downloaded the user’s manual and maintenance manual for my HP Mini. If I had found these before, when the hinge screws first came loose in my new netbook, I probably could have avoided having to send it back for warranty repairs. Why didn’t their e-mail service support link me to the maintenance manual when I first contacted them about the loose screws in the hinge assembly ? ? ? ! ! ! ? ? ? Cynically, Joanne’s answer to that question was that it’s a self serving, make work for themselves project to answer all enquiries with “send it back to us for repairs”.
The only “surprise” gift I got for Joanne for Christmas was some baking moulds to turn fresh tortillas into baked taco salad shells, so tonight for supper we had taco salad in baked shells. MMMMM ! The movie we watched tonight was “Big Business” with Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. I think they’re both such good comic actresses.
Tuesday ; I had insomnia last night. In the middle of the night, after hours of tossing and turning, I decided to get up and do something productive. The truck needs new front brakes. I got online and researched / learned how to replace front disc brake pads. The process seems within my capabilities. I think I’ll give a try at doing it myself.
Today was sunny and warm. Because I was up until 3:30 A.M. I slept very late this morning. Joanne wanted to go to the new Quechan Casino for lunch. This was the final day for their $8.95 lunch buffet “2 for 1 Tuesdays”. On the way over to the casino we diverted to Bard, California, across the Colorado River from Yuma. Bard is where all the date farms are, and where we occasionally go for date shakes. I wanted to check out the small town Post Office in Bard to see if it’s a viable alternative for where to have my mail forwarded to. The line ups at the Yuma Post Office are terrible ! If I have my mail sent to Bard once a month, we can pick up the mail there and then go for date shakes. Bo loooooves date shakes ! As do I !
From Bard we drove over to the Quechan Casino which is on the road to the Mexican border at Los Algodones. I’m not sure I would go again for the “2 for 1” lunch special. The line up was an hour long ! If I had known that before we entered the line up, I wouldn’t have ! But … after the agony of an hour long wait was over, it was a great lunch. After we had eaten for an hour, and were ready to leave, stuffed to the gills, Joanne had an inspiration ( rolling eyes ). She returned to the dessert bar, picked up a chocolate chip chocolate cookie … and coated it with melted chocolate under the chocolate fountain. SHEEEEESH … can you spell “excessive” ? ! ?
Since we were at the casino, we decided to play the slot machines. About once a year, we play penny slot machines for an hour, or until we lose $1 each, whichever comes first. Big spenders, eh ? HA HA HA ! Well, today we played penny slots for an hour. Joanne won $1.96. I won $4.83. So … applying our winnings to the cost of our lunch, we ate a humongous buffet lunch, then amused ourselves for an hour on slot machines, for a total expenditure of … wait for it … $2.16. HA HA HA !
On our way back home we stopped at Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Joanne went to PetsMart to buy Glucosamine treats for Sully, and I went to Best Buy to look at a computer accessory. Back at Kofa Ko-op we took both Bo and Sully to the dog park. Joanne walked around the perimeter with Bo, and I stayed near Sully as he ambled around sniffing dessert plants and cacti. I had an agenda. I wanted to see if a walk in the desert would cause a recurrence of the rheumy, wet eyes that Sully suffered for about a month after his first walk in the Mojave Desert, a month and a half ago. We just cleared up that problem about a week ago with the administration of antihistamine eye drops for two days. Apparently Sully is allergic to the desert.
Wednesday ; Well, that was exciting ! Big earthquake here today, magnitude 5.8 ! And it lasted a long time !
Today was sunny and warm. We spent most of the day running errands. We started by visiting three different veterinarians to get information and prices on health examinations, inoculations, and dental cleanings for Bo and Sully. One of the vets we had used before, a few years ago. But that was not whom we chose today. We went to a prosthetics store and Joanne got their certified fitter’s assistance to buy a new mastectomy bra. We went to a another prosthetic business and a specialty swim suit store and Joanne looked for another mastectomy swim suit. She didn’t find anything acceptable. I suggested we return to Palm Springs in the spring and she can shop there again for another mastectomy swim suit. Palm Springs seems to have the best selection and prices on mastectomy swim suits. We had a late, very light lunch at Rally’s. First food we had eaten in 24 hours … and we weren’t even hungry yet. Them massive casino buffet lunches last a long time ! HA HA HA ! Joanne went to Fry’s for a few items she needed to prepare her contribution to this afternoon’s “heavy appetizer social hour”. I went to Checker Auto Parts and got information and prices on front disc brake pads for Lanoire. On our way back to Kofa Ko-op we stopped at our chosen vet and made an appointment.
Back at “home” we took Bo for his daily long walk around the perimeter of the dog park, then Joanne prepared her cream cheese and mushroom stuffed puff pastry appetizers. We went to social hour, had an early supper of “heavy appetizers“, and chatted with friends and neighbours. Afterwards I took the computer to the clubhouse, got online, and paid year end bills.
The earthquake hit while I was sitting in the waiting room at Hanger Prosthetics, and Joanne was in the back with a fitter. It was surprisingly strong, and lasted a very long time, perhaps 15 seconds. I was staring at the water cooler, which was shaking so hard it almost fell over. After about a 5 second pause, the strong aftershock hit, and it too lasted a long time, about another 15 seconds. The manager of Hanger Prosthetics came out into the waiting room, and evacuated the building because their air conditioner unit was smoking. The epicentre of the earthquake was in Mexicali, Mexico, about 73 miles west of Yuma. It was felt as far west as San Diego on the Pacific coast, and east at least as far as Yuma. Earthquakes are pretty rare here in Yuma. The earthquake measured 5.8 and the very strong aftershock was 4.9 !
Thursday ; New Year’s Eve ; Today was a lovely, sunny, very warm day. And tonight there was a “Blue Moon”. Until last night, when it was explained on the TV news, we didn’t know what a “Blue Moon” was. A “Blue Moon” is when there is a full moon for the second time in a calendar month. The second night of full moon is a “Blue Moon”. It happens once every 2.72 years.
This morning I worked on the computer. I finished a spreadsheet summarizing our 2009 medical expenses for income tax purposes. I realized that my new netbook computer didn’t have Google Earth software, so I downloaded that, then got distracted and sidetracked playing with Google Earth. In the afternoon I rehearsed magic for my performance tonight. I’ve added a few new wrinkles to some of my routines. Hope it works out well ( I‘m typing this in the afternoon ). Wish me luck ! We took Bo for his daily long walk around the perimeter of the dog park. Then Sully wanted to go outside for a bit of sunshine and exploring.
At 7 PM we headed for the New Year’s Eve party at the clubhouse. After half an hour of socializing it was time for me to perform my magic show. It went reasonably well. My hands / fingers stumbled on one routine. I thought my recovery was … not too bad. Joanne thought it looked sloppy. I use her as my “professional critic”. At least no one in the audience keeled over and fell face first onto the floor, and got hauled out on a stretcher and into an ambulance … like during my performance here on New Year’s Eve two years ago !
One of the odd things about this park … in my opinion … was their decision to celebrate “New York New Year’s Eve” and declare the “New Year” to be at 10 PM local time. By 10:30 PM most people had left to go home. We stayed with about a dozen other people and socialized. And … I had a couple of drinks of Tennessee moonshine with peach slices in it. Made “back home” by one of the people at our table who was from Tennessee. It was pretty smooth. Well, compared to the only other moonshine I’ve had, from Fisher Branch, Manitoba, over 35 years ago. We returned to our trailer at 11:30 PM and celebrated the arrival of 2010 privately, just Joanne and me, with Bo and Sully.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Friday ; New Year’s Day ; Today was sunny and warm. I did some minor trailer interior maintenance. I restored my “magic tool box”. It takes me longer to “restore” my magic tool box than it does to perform a magic show. I went to the clubhouse shortly before noon to get some online work done. The Wi-Fi system was going to be shut down for maintenance in the afternoon. I retrieved all my year end investment and banking statements.
In the afternoon we Christmas “undecorated”. I did some minor trailer exterior maintenance. At 4 PM we joined a group from the park on a “taco run”. Every Friday afternoon a group from this park goes to a nearby “Mexican restaurant” for a late afternoon snack / early supper. A local Mexican family, on a small “farm” in the nearby rural area has established an “authentic” little Mexican open air “restaurant” in their back yard. For those who have never been to Mexico, it’s an exciting and exotic outing. We can understand that. But for those of us who have travelled extensively through Mexico by RV, this restaurant outing was … well … okay … and reasonably similar to “authentic” … right down to the long, black hair in my taco … but nothing really to write home about. The place, and food, were a bit … well … Americanized. Joanne just commented, as I’m typing this, that in Mexico that place would have been a “four star” establishment. HA HA HA ! We chatted with a couple from Vermont at our table. She’s a breast cancer survivor. He’s a retired Air Force pilot, and now a semi-retired private pilot flight instructor. Of course, we chatted about cancer and flying.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm, as usual. This morning we went to the Yuma Park & Swap, also known as the Dog Track Flea Market because it’s located behind the Greyhound Racing Track. It’s not as good as the Arizona Market Place flea market, but there’s a few things there that we can’t get at Arizona Market Place. From there we went to Pep Boys where I got some prices and information on front disc brake replacement parts to compare with the prices and information I got from Checker Auto Parts a few days ago. I’m now ready to buy the parts and make my first attempt at replacing the front brakes on Lanoire. We went to Albertsons for some groceries then returned home to Kofa Ko-op.
A few days ago I discovered a soft spot on my desk. When I probed it a bit, it was a spot about the size of a dime that was rotten. I think it was caused by the Damp Rid accident three months ago that destroyed my old laptop. I cleaned out the rotten spot, and repaired it with wood putty. Today Joanne sanded and varnished the desk top. We spent some time in the hot tub. We took Bo for his daily long walk. I followed Sully around as he explored outside for awhile. I printed all my year end investment and banking statements. After supper I reconciled the banking statements and began work on reconciling the investment statements. Well, that was interesting. A few days ago I transferred U.S.$1811.62 from my investment accounts to my U.S.$ bank account so that I could pay my MasterCard bill. The bank credited a deposit of $181,162.00 ! HAPPY NEW YEAR ! HA HA HA !
DSK
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm, as are almost all days in Yuma. I spent much of the day again working on restoring my computer. I finished downloading software, from online and using my new portable DVD/CD drive for the first time. I restored a backup copy of all my files that I had saved on my new portable hard drive before I sent the computer to HP for repairs, and before Joanne wrapped it as a Christmas gift for me. I downloaded and processed yesterday’s photos. I worked on getting caught up on a backlog of data entry, mostly credit card transactions, that accumulated while my computer was away for repairs.
In the afternoon we spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, then took Bo for a walk around the perimeter of the dog park. While Joanne did laundry I went to the clubhouse and worked online and updated my blog. After supper we watched a movie ; About Schmidt. Well … wasn’t that uplifting ? ! ? ( tongue in cheek & rolling eyes )
Sunday ; Today was another sunny, warm day. No surprise there … HA HA HA ! This morning I was asked to perform a magic show here on New Year’s Eve. With considerable reluctance I agreed. My New Year’s Eve performance here two years ago was the worst magic show experience I’ve ever had. My magic was going poorly … my fingers weren’t working well … my performance was marred by a 7 year old assistant from the audience … and a drunk a*****e heckler … and halfway through my show an audience member in the front row keeled over face first onto the floor and had to be hauled out on a stretcher into an ambulance … ! ! ! Talk about a show stopper ! ! !
This afternoon we gave Bo a bath, then Joanne went grocery shopping at Albertsons while I napped with Sully and Bo. I took Bo for an obedience session. He had not had an obedience session in a long time, and I thought he was overdue for some practice. He did exceptionally well. Good dog, Bo ! He certainly is not the unruly terror that we rescued in Alabama 5 years ago.
Late in the afternoon we went to the regular weekly Sunday ice cream social. The fellow sitting beside me was celebrating his 88th birthday. HEY … my new life goal is to be sitting here at an ice cream social in 33 years, having Happy Birthday sung to me. He and I were chatting about computers. He said he gets his computer instruction from his “computer whiz kid” daughter. She’s one year younger than me. HA HA HA !
This park is disposing of their library of VCR movies. We picked up six to watch and take back home to the library at Riverside RV Park Resort. Tonight we watched Nurse Betty. Afterwards I reconciled our December MasterCard statements.
Monday ; Today was uncharacteristically cloudy and cool. I spent some time with my new portable hard drive and its instructions manual, learning how to use the hard drive and the ins and outs of its functionality. A few days ago somebody placed a bag of foil confetti on the bargain table. I thought I might be able to incorporate the use of confetti into a couple of my magic routines so I picked it up. Today I experimented with using the confetti in my magic. I used Joanne as a test audience. I wasn’t all that impressed with the use of confetti but Joanne thought it was worthwhile. I’ll use it on New Year’s Eve and then solicit feedback from a real audience. For one thing, it makes a mess. I suppose that if I use it on New Year’s Eve I’ll have to return to the clubhouse on New Year’s Day and clean up the mess I make on the stage.
We trimmed Bo’s and Sully’s claws today. Darn … I clipped the quick in three of Bo’s nails. Just a teensy little bit, but still … ! I’ve hit the quick in a claw or two before, because he has black nails, but not in a long time, and certainly never three at one clipping ! ! ! It was partially attributable to the fact that I lost my computer calendar where I have routine tasks such as pet nail trimming scheduled. I guess it was a bit too soon after his last nail trimming, and they hadn’t grown out as much as usual. I’m sorry, Bo !
I spent some time online in the clubhouse tonight. I did some exploring of Hewlett Packard’s website. I found and downloaded the user’s manual and maintenance manual for my HP Mini. If I had found these before, when the hinge screws first came loose in my new netbook, I probably could have avoided having to send it back for warranty repairs. Why didn’t their e-mail service support link me to the maintenance manual when I first contacted them about the loose screws in the hinge assembly ? ? ? ! ! ! ? ? ? Cynically, Joanne’s answer to that question was that it’s a self serving, make work for themselves project to answer all enquiries with “send it back to us for repairs”.
The only “surprise” gift I got for Joanne for Christmas was some baking moulds to turn fresh tortillas into baked taco salad shells, so tonight for supper we had taco salad in baked shells. MMMMM ! The movie we watched tonight was “Big Business” with Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. I think they’re both such good comic actresses.
Tuesday ; I had insomnia last night. In the middle of the night, after hours of tossing and turning, I decided to get up and do something productive. The truck needs new front brakes. I got online and researched / learned how to replace front disc brake pads. The process seems within my capabilities. I think I’ll give a try at doing it myself.
Today was sunny and warm. Because I was up until 3:30 A.M. I slept very late this morning. Joanne wanted to go to the new Quechan Casino for lunch. This was the final day for their $8.95 lunch buffet “2 for 1 Tuesdays”. On the way over to the casino we diverted to Bard, California, across the Colorado River from Yuma. Bard is where all the date farms are, and where we occasionally go for date shakes. I wanted to check out the small town Post Office in Bard to see if it’s a viable alternative for where to have my mail forwarded to. The line ups at the Yuma Post Office are terrible ! If I have my mail sent to Bard once a month, we can pick up the mail there and then go for date shakes. Bo loooooves date shakes ! As do I !
From Bard we drove over to the Quechan Casino which is on the road to the Mexican border at Los Algodones. I’m not sure I would go again for the “2 for 1” lunch special. The line up was an hour long ! If I had known that before we entered the line up, I wouldn’t have ! But … after the agony of an hour long wait was over, it was a great lunch. After we had eaten for an hour, and were ready to leave, stuffed to the gills, Joanne had an inspiration ( rolling eyes ). She returned to the dessert bar, picked up a chocolate chip chocolate cookie … and coated it with melted chocolate under the chocolate fountain. SHEEEEESH … can you spell “excessive” ? ! ?
Since we were at the casino, we decided to play the slot machines. About once a year, we play penny slot machines for an hour, or until we lose $1 each, whichever comes first. Big spenders, eh ? HA HA HA ! Well, today we played penny slots for an hour. Joanne won $1.96. I won $4.83. So … applying our winnings to the cost of our lunch, we ate a humongous buffet lunch, then amused ourselves for an hour on slot machines, for a total expenditure of … wait for it … $2.16. HA HA HA !
On our way back home we stopped at Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Joanne went to PetsMart to buy Glucosamine treats for Sully, and I went to Best Buy to look at a computer accessory. Back at Kofa Ko-op we took both Bo and Sully to the dog park. Joanne walked around the perimeter with Bo, and I stayed near Sully as he ambled around sniffing dessert plants and cacti. I had an agenda. I wanted to see if a walk in the desert would cause a recurrence of the rheumy, wet eyes that Sully suffered for about a month after his first walk in the Mojave Desert, a month and a half ago. We just cleared up that problem about a week ago with the administration of antihistamine eye drops for two days. Apparently Sully is allergic to the desert.
Wednesday ; Well, that was exciting ! Big earthquake here today, magnitude 5.8 ! And it lasted a long time !
Today was sunny and warm. We spent most of the day running errands. We started by visiting three different veterinarians to get information and prices on health examinations, inoculations, and dental cleanings for Bo and Sully. One of the vets we had used before, a few years ago. But that was not whom we chose today. We went to a prosthetics store and Joanne got their certified fitter’s assistance to buy a new mastectomy bra. We went to a another prosthetic business and a specialty swim suit store and Joanne looked for another mastectomy swim suit. She didn’t find anything acceptable. I suggested we return to Palm Springs in the spring and she can shop there again for another mastectomy swim suit. Palm Springs seems to have the best selection and prices on mastectomy swim suits. We had a late, very light lunch at Rally’s. First food we had eaten in 24 hours … and we weren’t even hungry yet. Them massive casino buffet lunches last a long time ! HA HA HA ! Joanne went to Fry’s for a few items she needed to prepare her contribution to this afternoon’s “heavy appetizer social hour”. I went to Checker Auto Parts and got information and prices on front disc brake pads for Lanoire. On our way back to Kofa Ko-op we stopped at our chosen vet and made an appointment.
Back at “home” we took Bo for his daily long walk around the perimeter of the dog park, then Joanne prepared her cream cheese and mushroom stuffed puff pastry appetizers. We went to social hour, had an early supper of “heavy appetizers“, and chatted with friends and neighbours. Afterwards I took the computer to the clubhouse, got online, and paid year end bills.
The earthquake hit while I was sitting in the waiting room at Hanger Prosthetics, and Joanne was in the back with a fitter. It was surprisingly strong, and lasted a very long time, perhaps 15 seconds. I was staring at the water cooler, which was shaking so hard it almost fell over. After about a 5 second pause, the strong aftershock hit, and it too lasted a long time, about another 15 seconds. The manager of Hanger Prosthetics came out into the waiting room, and evacuated the building because their air conditioner unit was smoking. The epicentre of the earthquake was in Mexicali, Mexico, about 73 miles west of Yuma. It was felt as far west as San Diego on the Pacific coast, and east at least as far as Yuma. Earthquakes are pretty rare here in Yuma. The earthquake measured 5.8 and the very strong aftershock was 4.9 !
Thursday ; New Year’s Eve ; Today was a lovely, sunny, very warm day. And tonight there was a “Blue Moon”. Until last night, when it was explained on the TV news, we didn’t know what a “Blue Moon” was. A “Blue Moon” is when there is a full moon for the second time in a calendar month. The second night of full moon is a “Blue Moon”. It happens once every 2.72 years.
This morning I worked on the computer. I finished a spreadsheet summarizing our 2009 medical expenses for income tax purposes. I realized that my new netbook computer didn’t have Google Earth software, so I downloaded that, then got distracted and sidetracked playing with Google Earth. In the afternoon I rehearsed magic for my performance tonight. I’ve added a few new wrinkles to some of my routines. Hope it works out well ( I‘m typing this in the afternoon ). Wish me luck ! We took Bo for his daily long walk around the perimeter of the dog park. Then Sully wanted to go outside for a bit of sunshine and exploring.
At 7 PM we headed for the New Year’s Eve party at the clubhouse. After half an hour of socializing it was time for me to perform my magic show. It went reasonably well. My hands / fingers stumbled on one routine. I thought my recovery was … not too bad. Joanne thought it looked sloppy. I use her as my “professional critic”. At least no one in the audience keeled over and fell face first onto the floor, and got hauled out on a stretcher and into an ambulance … like during my performance here on New Year’s Eve two years ago !
One of the odd things about this park … in my opinion … was their decision to celebrate “New York New Year’s Eve” and declare the “New Year” to be at 10 PM local time. By 10:30 PM most people had left to go home. We stayed with about a dozen other people and socialized. And … I had a couple of drinks of Tennessee moonshine with peach slices in it. Made “back home” by one of the people at our table who was from Tennessee. It was pretty smooth. Well, compared to the only other moonshine I’ve had, from Fisher Branch, Manitoba, over 35 years ago. We returned to our trailer at 11:30 PM and celebrated the arrival of 2010 privately, just Joanne and me, with Bo and Sully.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Friday ; New Year’s Day ; Today was sunny and warm. I did some minor trailer interior maintenance. I restored my “magic tool box”. It takes me longer to “restore” my magic tool box than it does to perform a magic show. I went to the clubhouse shortly before noon to get some online work done. The Wi-Fi system was going to be shut down for maintenance in the afternoon. I retrieved all my year end investment and banking statements.
In the afternoon we Christmas “undecorated”. I did some minor trailer exterior maintenance. At 4 PM we joined a group from the park on a “taco run”. Every Friday afternoon a group from this park goes to a nearby “Mexican restaurant” for a late afternoon snack / early supper. A local Mexican family, on a small “farm” in the nearby rural area has established an “authentic” little Mexican open air “restaurant” in their back yard. For those who have never been to Mexico, it’s an exciting and exotic outing. We can understand that. But for those of us who have travelled extensively through Mexico by RV, this restaurant outing was … well … okay … and reasonably similar to “authentic” … right down to the long, black hair in my taco … but nothing really to write home about. The place, and food, were a bit … well … Americanized. Joanne just commented, as I’m typing this, that in Mexico that place would have been a “four star” establishment. HA HA HA ! We chatted with a couple from Vermont at our table. She’s a breast cancer survivor. He’s a retired Air Force pilot, and now a semi-retired private pilot flight instructor. Of course, we chatted about cancer and flying.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm, as usual. This morning we went to the Yuma Park & Swap, also known as the Dog Track Flea Market because it’s located behind the Greyhound Racing Track. It’s not as good as the Arizona Market Place flea market, but there’s a few things there that we can’t get at Arizona Market Place. From there we went to Pep Boys where I got some prices and information on front disc brake replacement parts to compare with the prices and information I got from Checker Auto Parts a few days ago. I’m now ready to buy the parts and make my first attempt at replacing the front brakes on Lanoire. We went to Albertsons for some groceries then returned home to Kofa Ko-op.
A few days ago I discovered a soft spot on my desk. When I probed it a bit, it was a spot about the size of a dime that was rotten. I think it was caused by the Damp Rid accident three months ago that destroyed my old laptop. I cleaned out the rotten spot, and repaired it with wood putty. Today Joanne sanded and varnished the desk top. We spent some time in the hot tub. We took Bo for his daily long walk. I followed Sully around as he explored outside for awhile. I printed all my year end investment and banking statements. After supper I reconciled the banking statements and began work on reconciling the investment statements. Well, that was interesting. A few days ago I transferred U.S.$1811.62 from my investment accounts to my U.S.$ bank account so that I could pay my MasterCard bill. The bank credited a deposit of $181,162.00 ! HAPPY NEW YEAR ! HA HA HA !
DSK
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