Sunday ; What a lovely day ! This morning I puttered around with some outdoor chores while Joanne slept late. She wasn’t feeling well today. I took Bo and Sully outdoors to enjoy the fine weather. I went to the clubhouse to do some online work because the Wi-Fi system in the park will be down for maintenance tomorrow. I retrieved month end investment and banking data, and paid the MasterCard bill. I updated my blog.
After lunch I started reading “99 Days To Panama”, the book I bought for Joanne as a birthday gift. She was not yet ready to start reading it, so I’m going to read it before she does. It’s a fascinating story, the journal of a couple who travelled with their dog in their RV all the way from Texas to Panama through Mexico and Central America. Joanne wasn’t feeling well enough to want to walk around the dog park or go to the swimming pool. Alas, I had no choice but to take a long nap with Sully and Bo. HA HA HA !
We went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social, then back at the trailer we watched a DVD movie on the computer. Flight Of The Phoenix was the last of the DVD movies we had received as a Christmas gift from my sister a few years ago. We only had a few days left before the 60 day free trial period of our DVD movie player software expires. I’m a bit perturbed that the portable CD / DVD drive that I bought requires software at additional cost to function as a DVD movie player.
Monday ; Well … I’m reluctant to declare a competent medical professional incorrect, but … Sully is not blind ! I will concede that his pupils are always fully dilated and unresponsive, but … Sully is not blind ! We have watched his actions closely for the last couple of weeks, and … Sully is not blind.
This morning we headed out for some shopping errands. Bo came along. I dropped Joanne off at Wal-Mart and continued on to Yuma Palms Shopping Centre. First stop was Best Buy where I took my computer in to have a “geek” look at the VGA expansion port and advise me what cable I would need to connect the computer to the TV. The expansion port on my computer mates only with a Hewlett Packard “dock” which has a regular VGA port as well as a couple of additional USB ports. Remind me never to buy a Hewlett Packard product again ! From Best Buy it was across the mall to PetsMart. WOO-HOO … Bo loooooves shopping ! After buying dog food and a cat slicker brush we headed back towards Wal-Mart, stopping at Baron Fuels to refill Lanoire with diesel. At Wal-Mart I went inside to buy the double sided tape I need for the TV installation, check my blood pressure, and find Joanne. Then home for lunch.
After lunch I read more of “99 Days To Panama”. I napped. We went to the dog park with Bo. Joanne did some Mexico map and guide book research. She had pulled out the map and guide book to find Bucerias where our Winnipeg friends Shirley and Darcy had recently vacationed. I continued, but did not finish, working on the installation of “ travel restraints” for the TV. Sully was ecstatic about being brushed with his new slicker brush. Makes me believe he probably had been regularly groomed with a slicker brush by his previous owner, and misses it.
In the evening I printed our bank statements and investment account updates and reconciled our bank statements. I’ll work on the investment updates tomorrow.
Tuesday ; The temperature is getting hot. It seems as if spring is arriving. As a result of work done yesterday there is now a strong Wi-Fi signal that reaches our trailer. Previously the signal was good only at the clubhouse. With a strong signal at the trailer I spent quite a bit of time online today. I trimmed my beard which took longer than usual. I was using a new ( to me ) Remington trimmer with multiple attachments that I picked up recently from the bargain table. The results were very good. Last night while barbecuing supper the barbecue’s propane tank ran out. Today I took the little tank to the park’s propane refill station. I glue repaired one of my shoes. And I completed the installation of my television travel restraint system. It should be more than adequate for travel in Canada and the United States. I’m not sure if any TV restraint system in an RV is adequate for Mexico’s roads. Maybe next winter we’ll find out.
I continued reading “99 Days To Panama”. I’m captivated by this journal of RV travel through Central America. And then, of course, I napped. Because we had Wi-Fi in the trailer Joanne got caught up on reading and sending e-mail. We spent time outdoors with Bo and Sully. Sully enjoys wandering around our site on warm, sunny days. That pretty much means he enjoys wandering around outside any day. HA HA HA ! We took Bo for his regular daily walk around the dog park, but we went too early. We usually go late in the afternoon, as the sun is setting. Today we went in mid-afternoon, and the desert sun was just too intense ! I did research on satellite Internet systems for RV’s. Joanne experimented with an idea she had for her contribution to tomorrow’s heavy appetizer social hour.
I spent the evening updating my investment files. What the hell happened to the stock markets in the last few weeks ? ! ?
Wednesday ; This morning I phoned about an ad in The White Pages advertising a used Hughes Satellite Internet system. I’ve been contemplating buying an Internet satellite system. But after having a discussion with the seller … no, I don’t think so ! Today we did the second weekly application of Bo’s and Sully’s OraVet plaque prevention gel. Seems to be working okay so far. I took Bo for an obedience training session, something I’m not doing nearly often enough. Nevertheless he did very well. Good dog, Bo.
This afternoon we took Sully back to the veterinarian to have his blood pressure checked now that he has been on medication for a couple of weeks. ( sigh) His blood pressure is still too high, and the dosage will have to be increased. Followed by another visit to the vet in a couple of days for another BP check. At 32 bucks per visit, I hope we don’t have to repeat this “trial and error” process too often !
We went to the Wednesday afternoon heavy appetizer social hour. Joanne made an interesting appetizer. She cut fresh tortillas into 6 little triangles each and baked them in muffin pans into little baked “taco shells” then filled them with our Riverside RV Park Resort neighbour Betty’s homemade pickle and tomato relish. They were a big hit. After the social hour we took Bo and Sully to the dog park.
( scratch scratch ) Gee, I trimmed my beard too short yesterday.
Thursday ; We got up early this morning and headed out for El Centro, California, about an hour west of Yuma on Interstate 8. Our RV park had arranged a “Farm Smart Tour” at the Desert Research and Extension Center, an agricultural research farm operated by the University of California.
Once at the farm we received welcoming greetings then set off for a guided tour around the farm. As a group we drove around the farm sitting on hay bales on large wagons pulled by tractors. The farm, and the research done by Master’s and PhD candidates, was very interesting and educational. We learned, among other things, that the farm is growing a type of Durham wheat for Canadian Wheat Growers in Alberta. The research of this type of wheat would take seven growing cycles, seven years in Canada. But with the assistance of this research facility the research time is cut in half to 3½ years. Canadian Wheat Growers grows a crop in Alberta during the summer. They ship the seeds down here in the fall and the research farm down here grows a crop during the winter, then sends the seeds back to Canada in the spring. One of the things that the research farm has done that I found very interesting was … they have developed the ability to produce carrots in 5 different colours. HA HA HA … for no reason other than there is a demand for more colour in salads. HA HA HA HA HA … God Bless America !
We stopped at a large field of assorted vegetables, were each given a large bag … the size of a “green garbage bag” … told to go out into the field and … pick whatever we wanted ! WOW … we picked cauliflower, Romaine lettuce, Iceberg lettuce, beets, Swiss Chard, scallions, broccoli, radishes, cabbage, and Daikon radishes. We returned to the farm’s main buildings for a wonderful, incredibly fresh salad lunch. The huge fresh salad was dressed with a freshly made onion dressing created by the farm. After lunch we went to another building for an afternoon of audio-visual presentations on farming in the Imperial Valley. Before we left the farm they served us ice cream in special plastic drinking glasses that change colour when cold. The glasses, with the farm’s logo on them, were for us to keep.
Joanne and I drove to Holtville, the next town over from El Centro. We always take the opportunity to stop in Holtville to buy wonderful pan dulce at the panaderia in town, and great, huge burritos at Holtville Taco Shop. Once back at Kofa Ko-op we took Bo for a walk around the dog park, then Joanne started sorting, cleaning, and packaging our two huge bags of vegetables before preparing another huge fresh salad for us to have with our burritos for supper.
Friday ; This morning I slept late then puttered around with miscellaneous routine chores and errands including doing a small repair on the floor in the trailer.
This afternoon we took Sully back to the veterinarian to have his blood pressure checked … again ! It’s lower, but still needs to be lower. We’re going to have to adjust his medication dosage and take him back next week to check his blood pressure again !
This evening we went downtown to the Mardi Gras Block Party. Joanne invited her water aerobics friend Eileen to join us. Eileen is pretty interesting. She has travelled all over the world, both with her husband and as a widow. She’s been to Estonia, Norway, Egypt, India …. Antarctica two years ago at the age of 86 ! ! ! We’re not sure why today was the Mardi Gras Block Party since Mardi Gras isn’t for another few weeks. The event was a bit disappointing, but that’s okay, we were only there to eat some Louisiana food for supper. HA HA HA ! We each had a bowl of gumbo. I also had a bowl of jambalaya, then we shared a serving of three beignets.
Saturday ; It rained lightly and intermittently today.
WOO-HOO … Bo loooooves dog parties ! This morning we headed off to find Yuma Bark Park where the 2010 Yuma Pet Expo was being held. Well … Bark Park is right behind Wal-Mart on Pacific Avenue. From now on, instead of having to endure the agony of shopping at Wal-Mart, I’ll just take Bo to Bark Park while Joanne does the Wal-Martin’. Bark Park is a large municipal park that has been designated an off leash dog park. Today leashes were required because of Pet Expo. There were quite a few vendors of pet products. We bought Bo a new bandanna for his upcoming 6th birthday. And we told him ( snicker ) that the Pet Expo was his birthday party. HA HA HA ! The Humane Society of Yuma had animals from their shelter available for adoption. The City of Yuma was selling dog licenses and offering low cost vaccinations. It was good to see many people lined up to buy licenses and get their dogs vaccinated. We visited a booth from Arizona Game & Fish where an older gentleman was exhibiting a Gopher Snake. We have Gopher Snakes back home in Riverside RV Park Resort and it was interesting to learn about them. The female snake he was exhibiting was about 6 years old, and quite large. In the wild they don’t usually get to live that long. Large birds, like the Bald Eagles around our RV park at home, eat them. That probably explains why the Gopher Snakes at home are never more than a couple of feet long. The snake on exhibition today was accustomed to humans, and curious. While she was sniffing / tasting the back of my hand with her long, darting tongue, a nearby little girl about 8 years old or so was recoiling in wide eyed horror. HA HA HA ! Bark Park had an agility tunnel and an agility hurdle. Bo certainly showed up a lot of other dogs whose owners were trying to convince them to either jump the hurdle or go through the tunnel. BO … OVER … zoom ! BO … TUNNEL … zoom ! Good dog, Bo, well done !
After the Pet Expo we went to Albertsons for a few groceries then the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. Today was a 50% off sale on clothing. I bought a great pair of cargo pants for $2. After lunch, I read and napped with Sully and Bo. While I was napping Joanne’s friend Eileen brought over a plate of freshly made date cookies to express her appreciation for being invited to the Mardi Gras Block Party last night. Joanne did laundry. I finished the minor repair to the trailer floor that I started yesterday. I fixed the broken zipper on Joanne’s purse.
While I was sitting at my desk working on the computer there was a very loud “BOOM” outside. My first thought was that a trailer’s propane tank had exploded. I rushed outside, looked around, and saw a puff of smoke over the dog park. OMIGAWD … my next thought was that it must have been a misguided shot from the nearby military firing range where they explode things, blowing up the desert. I rushed through a neighbour’s yard to the dog park fence but couldn’t see anything except a dissipating puff of smoke. One of the neighbours said he thought he saw someone toss a huge firecracker into the dog park. Firecracker ? ! ? More likely a stick of dynamite !
WOW ! ! ! I just stepped outside, at sunset, after a few minutes of light rain, and there was a spectacular double rainbow over the dog park. On the “main” rainbow the full arch was visible, from ground to ground. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a “full” rainbow before. Certainly have never seen a rainbow over the desert before !
DSK
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