February 28 to March 6 ; Yuma, Arizona
Sunday ; WOO-HOO … CANADA WON THE HOCKEY GAME ! ! !
We have just returned home at 6 PM after a day in Mexico attending a rodeo, and have found out that Canada won the gold medal in men’s hockey ! As a Canadian, I’m very pleased with and proud of Canada’s medal tally, particularly the 14 gold medals, more than any other country.
The nearby border town of Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico was given its modern “rebirth” 30 or so years ago when four young dentists established dental practices there to cater to “snowbirds” wintering in Yuma. One of the four dentists was Dr. Juan Camacho, our dentist. One of the others was Dr. Magaña. Like the others, Dr. Magaña is now older, successful, and wealthy. He’s a rodeo fan. He owns a lovely ranch south of town. He has developed a rodeo “fairground” on his ranch, and annually hosts a rodeo. Today we attended the Gran Mexican Rodeo Charreada at Rancho Magaña. This morning we drove down to the border, parked, walked across, and lined up with the crowd in front of Dr. Magaña’s dental office waiting to catch a chartered bus to take us to the rodeo at Rancho Magaña about a 20 minute bus ride south of town.
The rodeo was very different from the rodeos we’ve attended in Keremeos. We were disappointed. The skills of the vaqueros ( cowboys ) were … surprisingly low. My guess is that most ten to twelve year old Alberta ranch raised kids would probably have equal rodeo skills to the vaqueros we saw today. And … the animals were in poor condition. In Canada, the rodeo animals are healthy and robust. Today we saw animals that were certainly in less than peak condition. And they were treated in a fashion that would be considered cruel and inhumane in Canada, and would not be permitted. But … it was an interesting difference that none of the activities / events was “competitive”. Everything was … just an exhibition … just for fun.
While at the rodeo we bumped into Patsy and Gary, a couple that were part of the Baja Winters caravan group that we travelled with down the Baja California peninsula of Mexico two years ago.
When the rodeo was over we caught the bus back to Los Algodones and bought a couple of cartons of cigarettes before crossing back into the United States. No line up at the border crossing today ! When we got home, we rushed to get a few chores done while we still had daylight. First we trimmed Bo’s and Sully’s nails. Gee, Sully can be crabby when he’s been left home alone all day. We cleaned up a mess I made around the barbecue yesterday when I spilled quite a bit of the fruit juices and achiotte powder marinade when I was putting the pollo asado on the grill. Then I turned on the TV and … WOO-HOO ! ! !
In the evening we watched Amazing Race and Undercover Boss, then the Olympics closing ceremonies. I was
not very impressed that NBC ceased coverage of the closing ceremonies before they were finished in order to broadcast the preview of Gerry Seinfeld’s really crappy new show ! Then again … I really didn’t want to see Nickelback … or Avril Lavigne!
Monday ; This morning we changed a trailer tire. I wanted to put the brand new spare tire on the trailer, and take the worst of the two old trailer tires in for replacement. The contractors working on the construction of the house next door to our site began to build a brick fence around the next door property today. They dug a trench right along the property line, half on our site, right up against the side of our trailer. And when we got home from shopping this afternoon, there were concrete blocks and bricks all along the side of our site, including underneath our slides and all around our utility hookups, water hose, sewer line, etc.! That’s going to prevent us from being able to wash that side of the trailer tomorrow, and Tuesdays are the only days that vehicle washing is permitted. Guess we’re only washing three sides of the trailer tomorrow !
After lunch we headed out for an afternoon of running errands. First we went to Purcell Tire. I asked them to evaluate the old trailer tire which had worn unevenly. They determined that it had a manufacturing defect and allowed me a 75% warranty credit. I thought that was pretty good for a three year old tire. I bought a new tire for 25% of the price. I find it very unusual that two of the four trailer tires I bought three years ago at Camping World in Albuquerque, New Mexico had manufacturing defects. I left the old tire and wheel at Purcell Tire planning to pick up the mounted new tire in a few hours. Next stop was Napa Auto Parts to buy two tickets for Midnight At The Oasis this weekend. Then over to Lowe’s to buy a hasp lock for the trailer’s cutlery drawer. From Lowe’s I walked over to Pep Boys for some automotive supplies. They didn’t have what I need. We went to Albertsons for some grocery shopping. We filled the small gas can with fuel for the generator at Barney‘s, then picked up the mounted new trailer tire at Purcell Tire. On the way home to The Palms we passed by RV World and saw that they had truck campers for sale. We stopped to browse the truck campers. In a few years we hope to buy a truck camper and travel through Central America.
Back at home I did some monthly accounting and online banking and investment work. After supper I printed February’s monthly banking and investment statements, then reconciled the banking statements.
Tuesday ; What great weather we’re having ! This morning I trimmed my beard, then did some routine maintenance on the fridge. We got a phone call from Kolly and Paul, neighbours of ours back home at Riverside RV Park Resort. They are here in Yuma and invited us over for a visit next week.
This afternoon we washed three sides of the trailer, then washed the truck. WHEW … the sun is so intense here. It’s exhausting to work outdoors in the sun for that long. We couldn’t wash the street side of the trailer because of the trench and concrete blocks all along that side. The contractors next door poured concrete and laid a foundation layer of concrete blocks for the fence along the back of the next door property, but they didn’t work on the side yard today. I hope that trench and concrete blocks don’t stay alongside our trailer for too much longer. While trying to get a hose connected to the water spigot on that side of the trailer so that we could wash the trailer and truck I stepped alongside the trench, the trench side wall collapsed, and my foot fell into the trench, twisting my ankle slightly.
We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in the pool. As we were leaving for the pool, a new neighbour pulled into the site beside us. They are now from Calgary, Alberta, but used to live in Penticton, BC, just a bit north of our summer home in Keremeos. In the pool we met a couple who had just arrived here yesterday. They are from Sorel, near Montreal, Quebec. We chatted with them while we floated around the pool for a couple of hours. We also met a man from near Vancouver who is a friend of some neighbours of ours back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
After barbecuing a thick, juicy steak for supper I cuddled on the sofa with Sully and worked on updating my investment files.
Wednesday ; I slept very late so didn’t accomplish much this morning. This afternoon we went to visit our friends Lynn and Micha ( and their dog Gypsy ) who have just purchased a home and lot in The Foothills. The Foothills is an unusual suburban development on the east side of Yuma. Developed twenty or so years ago, each lot is surrounded by a low Mexican brick wall, and was originally set up with RV services for two RV’s, one on each side of each large lot. Over the years many changes have taken place, park models have been added, etc., but the basics have remained the same. Micha’s and Lynn’s lot has an old mobile home in the middle of the lot with a narrow RV spot with full hookups on each side of the mobile home.
We spent the afternoon visiting with Micha and Lynn, and Gypsy. We walked around their lovely neighbourhood with the dogs. We sat outside on their sun porch, known down here as Arizona rooms. On the way back to The Palms we ( sigh ) went Wal-Martin’. We had a late, light supper, then I spent some time working on the computer while sitting on the sofa, so that Sully could have some cuddle time. He’s been a bit crabby lately about not getting enough afternoon naps and / or evening sofa cuddle time. I went to the park’s library to get online. The Wi-Fi signal that I was receiving at the trailer for the last few days seems to have hitched up and left. HA HA HA !
Thursday ; This morning we went to Arizona Market Place to buy produce, then The Peanut Patch for freshly made peanut butter, and finally ( sigh ) to Wal-Mart on Pacific Avenue for some items that the Wal-Mart in The Foothills didn’t have yesterday.
After lunch and a nap with Sully I worked on downloading and processing the photos I took on Sunday at the rodeo in Mexico. While doing that my photo software froze. I spent much of the rest of the day trying to resolve that problem. I was unsuccessful. I removed and reinstalled the software repeatedly, to no avail. I’m frustrated and will leave the problem for another day. I purchased a subscription to Skype, intending to use it as our home phone service. A Skype subscription allows us to use the computer to make outgoing calls to any phone number.
We watched Survivor while eating supper. After being frustrated by the photo software problem, my frustration increased when I had problems trying to purchase a Skype phone number to enable us to receive incoming phone calls on the computer. Maybe tomorrow I will succeed in getting my photo software working again, and / or succeed in getting an online phone number for incoming calls ( sigh ).
Friday ; I was up half the night trying to restore my photo software. I removed it and reinstalled it about half a dozen times. I scanned for viruses and malware. I did a system restore to an earlier date. I could not get it to work. The manufacturer stopped selling that software a couple of years ago. They stopped supporting it a year ago. The only conclusion I could reach was that the software contained date stamped coding that rendered the software dysfunctional on yesterday’s date. Finally I downloaded other photo software that I have used before, but do not like as much, and finished processing my rodeo photos.
I spent much of the morning trying to resolve a payment problem with Skype. Yesterday I subscribed to Skype, enabling us to make outgoing phone calls to any phone using our computer. I paid for that Skype subscription using PayPal, because Skype’s computers rejected my Canadian credit card number. The second part of the service I’m trying to purchase from Skype is a phone number, allowing incoming calls through the computer. I am turning Skype on the computer into our home phone service. I was unable to pay for that second part of the subscription using PayPal. I spent much of the morning communicating with Skype by e-mail and PayPal by phone. The payment problem is not yet resolved, but at least I was able to test the outgoing phone call functionality of the new Skype subscription. Using a headset with a boom microphone that I purchased a couple of months ago, the computer works very well as a phone.
This afternoon I worked on installing gutter spouts on the trailer’s top drip rail moulding. I installed two of four gutter spouts, front and rear on one side. I’ll install the other two on the other side in a few days. I also installed a locking hasp on the cutlery drawer to prevent it from opening when we’re travelling, a problem mostly confined to travel in Newfoundland and Mexico. HA HA HA ! After I finished working and getting cleaned up I noticed that our friend Julie was online on Skype. I Skype video called her and we chatted for awhile. Her dog Triscuit has been very ill for the last couple of weeks. And her mother, who is recovering well from recent surgery, arrived yesterday from Pennsylvania to visit Julie at her California State Park WorkCamping job and travel with her soon to her next WorkCamping job at a National Wildlife Refuge on the Northern Oregon coast.
This evening we went to Desert Sun Stadium to see Beatlemania, a Beatle tribute band whose regular gig is a large casino show in Las Vegas. They were the first evening’s entertainment at Midnight At The Oasis, the annual huge classic car show in Yuma. It was a nice evening out, just like an old fashioned date. Even went for burgers afterwards.
Saturday ; I spent the morning trying to resolve the difficulty I was having paying Skype for a phone number. After much effort I finally got Skype paid … no thanks whatsoever to PayPal and their useless Call Centre in India. So … now we are set up with the ability to use the computer to make outgoing phone calls and receive incoming phone calls. The computer is now our home phone service.
After lunch we headed out to see Midnight At The Oasis, the classic car show at Desert Sun Stadium. On the way we stopped at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop to browse for a few items we hope to find at a thrift shop. Today was half price on everything at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. They didn’t have what we were looking for today. We didn’t buy anything. Midnight At The Oasis featured hundreds of classic cars, most from the fifties, some from the forties and sixties, a few from the thirties and earlier. We wandered around for a couple of hours. On the way home we shopped for Mexican specialty groceries at Food City which is the local Mexican supermarket.
We had supper at home then headed back to Desert Sun Stadium for the Midnight At The Oasis headline concert event. AMERICA … one of my favourite rock bands from the seventies. Ventura Highway … Sister Golden Hair … A Horse With No Name … now that’s classic rock ! But … ( sniffle ) … they didn’t perform Muskrat Love.
DSK
