February 7 to 13, 2010

February 7 to 13, 2010 ; Yuma to Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona


Sunday ; This morning I bought a Sunday newspaper, something I haven’t done in a long time. And then … we pretty much blew off the rest of the day lounging around, lazily reading the newspaper. Until we fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. HA HA HA !

We got up in time to attend the weekly ice cream social. My good deed for the day was to solve a dilemma amongst two people at our table. A woman at our table had a photo in her camera that a man at our table wanted a copy of to send by e-mail. They didn’t know how to get the photo from her camera to his computer. Well, DUH ! I got my computer, downloaded the photo from her camera, then sent it to him by e-mail. Problem solved ! Many of the “older” crowd that we hang with lack basic computer skills. Speaking of “hanging with the older crowd” … today at the ice cream social Joanne discovered that her new friend Dorothy has grandchildren that are only five years younger than us. HA HA HA ! We gotta get us some younger friends !

After the ice cream social, which was very poorly attended because of the Super Bowl, I watched the last quarter of the Super Bowl, then we watched the premiere episode of Undercover Boss. WOW … that promises to be a great series.

Monday ; This morning after routine chores I spent quite awhile playing my Arpa Magica / Magic Harp from Mexico. Just like when I was a child, playing the accordion, I procrastinate a lot getting started practicing my musical instrument, and then when I finally get started I really enjoy it. We took Bo for his daily long walk around the dog park. We brushed Sully and administered his daily blood pressure medication. I’m looking forward to when we have the right dosage ascertained, so I can prepare the mixture concentration differently, and we won’t have to administer as much fluid as we do now ; two syringes full !

This afternoon we took Sully to the veterinarian again to have his blood pressure checked. Finally … his blood pressure is lowered to an appropriate level so his medication dosage is correct. We bought enough medication to last about 6 months. Another $46 vet bill bringing our total expenditure on veterinarian services to about $1000 in the last month ! And that’s U.S. dollars !

Back home at Kofa Ko-op we went to the dog park to fly my kite, but there was no wind. So … we went and spent the rest of the afternoon in the swimming pool. “Chatting” with three Americans about politics and religion ! And the “war” in Iraq and Afghanistan ! Suffice to say that Canadians’ views are different than Americans on all those intertwined issues ! Geeeeez, can you spell … no … I’d better stifle myself !

For supper we decided to have a pizza, using a discount coupon at Pizza Hut. We took Bo for a “drivey”, and went to Pizza Hut to pick up a take out pizza. Bo has been confused and envious about why we have been taking Sully for “driveys” and Bo hasn’t been allowed to come along.

Tuesday ; Happy 6th birthday to Bo

This morning I used my relatively new netbook computer, relatively new portable CD / DVD drive, and new software that I hadn’t used before to copy a water aerobics CD for Joanne. New hardware and new software resulted in me stumbling around a bit, but I eventually got it done. I did some online research to educate myself on the differences between different format types of CD’s and DVD’s. I sent birthday greetings to my sister. I did an online survey that took longer than I had expected. I should know better ! I did some accounting and downloaded some Windows updates. And there went the morning !

This afternoon I read and napped while Joanne went to Wal-Mart. I took Bo to the dog park. We walked around the perimeter of the dog park and then I flew my kite for awhile. Great kite flying day ! I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to create sheet music for my Arpa Magica for a tune that Joanne likes, Greensleeves. It was a slow, tedious process. I’ll finish tomorrow. I had to learn to play sections of the tune “by ear”, then record the notes, then copy them onto sheet music. And the “sheet music” for the Arpa Magica is not “regular” sheet music. I had to cut and line the music sheet by hand, part of why it was slow and tedious.

We spent the evening watching a 1939 movie, The Roaring Twenties, starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.

Wednesday ; Happy 61st birthday to my sister Sharon

In the middle of the night we had a thunderstorm, with lightning, heavy rain, and hail. Bo and Sully were afraid. Bo burrowed under the covers. Sully cuddled into my armpit. It was our plan to go to Mexico today for a bit of shopping. But this morning the sky was cloudy, threatening more rain, and the temperature was cool. And I wasn’t feeling well, with a bit of a colitis flare up. So we decided to postpone our trip to Los Algodones.

We had a quiet, lazy day. I played around on the computer a bit. I read and napped. Late in the afternoon we went to the regular Wednesday afternoon heavy appetizers potluck social hour. My palate must have been off. None of the food seemed very appealing to me. I brought home a few large lemons. Kofa Ko-op is surrounded by lemon groves. A local farmer dropped off a large bin of lemons at the park. They were rejects because they were too large. Joanne commented that down here lemons are like zucchinis back home. You can’t give them away fast enough. After Happy Hour we went for a slow walk around the dog park with Bo. The sky had begun to clear by late afternoon.

Every Wednesday evening Kofa Ko-op transmits a movie on the park’s TV cable system. Tonight we watched Snow Dogs, a family comedy movie about dog sled racing in Alaska. It held a bit of special interest for us because two of the Malamutes in the film were from a kennel in our neighbourhood when we lived in Cumberland, just outside Ottawa.

Thursday ; This morning we headed to Mexico for a day of shopping. First priority in Los Algodones was to stock up on some medications. We went to the four farmacias that I know from experience will have the best prices, and I got prices at each for the medications I wanted. One farmacia had the best price on three of the four medications I wanted and they agreed to price match on the fourth. Next purchase was a couple of cartons of cigarettes, duty free, of course.

We went for lunch to our favourite little outdoor taco restaurant. I had uno taco camarón y uno taco carne asada. Joanne had the plato de pollo asado ( grilled chicken plate ). I had one of her three pieces of chicken. We have had pollo asado before in Mexico and always liked it. Pollo asado is chicken cooked on a barbecue, it’s red coloured, and has a unique spicy flavour. While we were eating lunch the restaurant owner came out of the kitchen with a large bucket of chicken in a marinade, to put more chicken on the half barrel barbecue in front of the restaurant. I didn’t realize that pollo asado was marinated before barbecuing. I asked the friendly restaurant owner what was in the marinade bucket. He said it was pineapple juice, orange juice, peach juice, and achiotte ( ashee YAH tay ). I didn’t know what achiotte was. He told me I could buy it at the nearby mercado ( grocery store ). We walked over to the mercado and found achiotte in small boxes and large boxes. It was a red powder, resembling paprika. The small box said there was enough of the red powder inside to season 10 pounds of meat. The price sticker said $8.50. That seemed like a lot to pay for a small box of seasoning, but … spices are expensive, I supposed. When I got to the checkout I realized this small mercado’s prices were in pesos, not American dollars. The price was eight pesos and fifty centavos, about seventy cents.

When we got home I Googled achiotte. Achiotte powder, what we bought, is the ground up seeds of the achiotte tree, found in Central and South America. So … mix up some achiotte powder in the three fruit juices, marinade the chicken overnight, barbecue slowly, and … pollo asado ! So … that’s how the Mexicans do it !

Joanne wanted a new backpack purse. So we browsed through Los Algodones looking for the perfect backpack purse. When Joanne found what she wanted, I kicked into negotiation mode. I wanted to get rid of some leftover Mexican money, so the price I negotiated for Joanne’s purse was … twenty American dollars, eight pesos, and fifty centavos. HA HA HA ! Got rid of the last of our Mexican money, I thought. When we got home, Joanne found two pesos ( about 15 cents ) at the bottom of her purse. Oh, for crying out loud ! ! !

On our way back to the border crossing we stopped at The Purple Store to buy Yomi Lala, Nugs, and Coconugs. They were out of stock of all ! Had to console ourselves by settling for a large tub of Creminos. HA HA HA ! The very long line up to return to the United States, which in previous years would have been a 2½ hour line up, took only 35 minutes today thanks to the new Customs & Border Patrol building.

On our way home we stopped at Yuma Palms Shopping Center to buy some Glucosamine treats for Sully at PetsMart, then refilled Lanoire with diesel at Baron Fuels. At home we took Bo and Sully to the dog park, then spent the last little bit of the afternoon in the swimming pool. This evening we watched the 2 hour season premiere of Survivor.

We recently bought 25 of the pills that Sully requires to lower his blood pressure from the veterinarian. We wanted to buy more today in Mexico to avoid running out next summer and having to incur more veterinarian charges in Penticton. The pills were available in Mexico in bottles of 100. So let’s see … we now have 125 pills, each pill makes eight daily doses, so … we have about a 3 year supply. Sully, you’d damn well better live for 3 more years ! HA HA HA !

Friday ; We are leaving tomorrow to spend 10 days exploring State and National Parks in Southern Arizona before they close most Arizona State Parks later this month due to budget shortfalls. This morning we headed out to do some shopping in preparation for leaving Yuma. First stop was Arizona Market Place for Joanne to buy some produce. Then over to Walgreens to buy some advertised specials. Last stop was Albertsons to stock up on some groceries.

After lunch and a brief nap with Sully and Bo ( Sully certainly loves napping with me in the afternoon ) we began to prepare for departure tomorrow morning, putting things back into their travel storage spots. I took a bottle of Summerland Sweets Apricot Syrup ( from near our home in the Okanagan Valley in BC ) to our next door neighbour to thank him for the use of his computer when we first got here, and the loan of some tools when I was changing the truck’s brakes. I went to the library and replenished my inventory of “dime store” adventure mystery novels to read. We spent the hottest part of the afternoon floating around in the swimming pool. We took Bo for his final walk of this season around the perimeter of Kofa Ko-op’s dog park. He met and played with a new arrival, Domino, a ten week old female Boston Terrier puppy.

We hitched Harvey to Lanoire, then Joanne went to do some laundry while I finished up some pre-departure chores then worked on my computer until it was time to begin watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on TV.

Saturday ; Yuma to Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

Well, after eight very pleasant weeks we left Kofa Ko-op this morning. After four years on the list we are now no. 34 on their waiting list for a lot. It will probably be three or four more years before we get a lot there. We’re looking forward to that being our “permanent” winter home. Bo was ecstatic about leaving. In Bo’s mind the best parts about our travelling lifestyle are arriving and leaving. HA HA HA !

We headed east on Interstate 8. Just before noon we reached Dateland, Arizona. WOO-HOO … the best date shakes anywhere ! After reading my blog recently my sister sent me an e-mail admonishing me for only giving Bo a yogurt, peanut butter, and banana parfait for his birthday. She felt that for a birthday he should get a date shake. Okay, Sharon … today Bo got a belated birthday date shake. And not just any old date shake. A Dateland date shake ! ! ! They don’t get any better than that ! Bo was very pleased with his date shake. As were we with ours. HA HA HA !

We continued east on Interstate 8. At Casa Grande I-8 merged with, and ended, at Interstate 10. At Eloy we stopped at Flying J to refill with diesel. Lowest price on diesel so far this winter season. Shortly after that we reached our objective for the day, Picacho Peak State Park. The serviced loops of the campground were full, and there were only a few sites left in the unserviced loop. Shortly after our arrival the last few sites in the unserviced loop were filled, and the entire campground was full. With the State Park campgrounds being so full, I wonder why they have to close them due to budget shortfalls ? ! ? We got set up in a site just in time to join a Ranger led guided hike to learn about Saguaro Cacti. We took Bo on the hike. He thought it was boring. Too much standing around listening to the Ranger explain things.

We got back to our trailer just a few minutes before sunset. We rushed to change the trailer house battery before it got dark, removing the old battery and installing the spare we had. It became obvious yesterday evening and this morning as we were preparing for departure that the trailer house battery was on its last legs and wouldn’t hold a charge any more. Not surprising because it’s two years old, and that seems to be the life of the trailer house battery, in our experience. The spare was given to us by a neighbour back home at Riverside RV Park Resort. It was slightly used, and we don’t know its age. But it’s obviously in much better condition than the one that we removed. The one we removed has a two year warranty. Of course, that warranty expires in six days ! Obviously there’s not much point in returning it to Wal-Mart and making a warranty claim. The warranty allowance would probably be something like fifty cents.

DSK