January 23 to 29, 2011
Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm, but windy.
This morning we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up Joanne’s friend Eilene for a day of shopping at Yuma Park N Swap a.k.a. Dog Track Flea Market a.k.a. Swap Meet Los Perros ( Spanish for The Dogs ). She wasn’t at home so while Joanne went looking for her I finished my project of taking photos of all the lots. Eilene was visiting Monica, a mutual friend who has just returned home after a brief stay in a hospital in Phoenix. Monica fell a week or so ago, breaking some ribs and her arm. She was taken by ambulance from Kofa Ko-op to the Yuma Regional Medical Center where it was determined that she needed to go to Phoenix for orthopaedic surgery on her arm. Another ambulance took her to the Yuma Airport, an air ambulance flew her to Phoenix, a few hundred miles away, then an ambulance took her from the Phoenix Airport to a hospital there. Her ambulance bills were … wait for it … $44,000 ! ! !
I wasn’t feeling well, so from my perspective it was a long half day at the flea market. We had an enjoyable lunch at a Mexican taco stand. The Yuma Park N Swap flea market is favoured by the Mexicans / Hispanics while the Arizona Market Place is distinctly a gringo kind of place. I bought a dash cover for the truck. It’s a sewn product using material that is almost like a thin carpet. It’s moulded to fit the top of the dashboard. It eliminates glare off the top of the dashboard, and provides a non-slip surface, so I can toss my glasses on the dash and they won’t slide off. It’s custom designed to fit each specific make and model of vehicle. The vendor had one in stock for a 2005 Dodge truck. It’s worth the asking price of $30. And I negotiated the price down to $22 so I’m pleased.
As we left the flea market two Harrier fighter jets were on final approach to the airport beside the flea market. I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road to watch them practice their vertical landing capabilities. WOW ! On the way home we bought a Sunday newspaper then dropped Eilene off at Kofa
Ko-op. At home we read the newspaper for awhile then took Bo for his daily long walk. Joanne found Eilene’s purse in the back seat of the truck < sigh >. She drove to Kofa Ko-op and returned it to Eilene.
I downloaded and processed my photos of the Kofa Ko-op lots while Joanne prepared supper. After supper we watched the movie “A Man For All Seasons”. I have bitter memories of when my class performed this play during our senior year of high school. Geeeeez … 39 years ago and I still remember my soliloquy as Cromwell. Some nightmares never end ! HA HA HA !
Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm.
This morning I did an obedience session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog. And it only took you six years to master it. HA HA HA ! Sorry, Bo, that’s not fair, nor is it really true. It only took you an entire ****ing year, at twenty minutes a day !
After lunch Joanne went shopping. She has decided that it’s more pleasant for both of us if she does most of the shopping errands ( like Wal Martin’ ) by herself. I agree ! I installed an assist handle / grab bar on the wall beside my side of the bed to help me get out of bed on those mornings when my knees hurt. Having to do things like that sure makes me feel old !
I worked on typing a couple of recipes into the computer. My sister’s daughter, my niece Andrea, is a magazine editor. One of her responsibilities is a “foodie” magazine. I’m going to send her a couple of “our” recipes ; my “hamburgesa y frijoles” recipe “created” by me while on one of our Mexican trips, and Joanne’s grapefruit pie recipe from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Tonight’s movie was The Theory Of Flight. What an odd, funny, touching movie !
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm. And … < sigh > … it was one of those days !
This morning we were supposed to meet our friends Barry and Marty at Yuma Bark Park for a doggy play date for Bo and their dog Sunny. Before we pulled out of our driveway I “thumped” the truck’s tires. Almost every day I check that the air pressure in all the tires is okay by thumping each tire with a fish bonker bat and listening for consistency of sound. Each thump should sound the same, and by deduction, all the tire pressures should be okay. So this morning … THUMP, THUMP, SPLAT … huh ? ? ? THUMP, SPLAT … what ? ? ? Okay … I pulled out the tire pressure gauge and checked the SPLAT sounding tire. < sigh > It was flat ! Which is not visually evident on a rear tire of a dually.
When a tire goes flat on our truck … either this one or our previous one … I have learned to suspect a valve extender problem before suspecting a puncture or other road hazard damage. We drove to the nearest service station … which can be cautiously done when only one of the two rear tires on each side of a dually is flat … to put air in the flat tire. Usually that will make it apparent whether the problem is the tire or some other problem like a malfunctioned valve or valve extender. As we were putting air in the tire, our cell phone rang. It was Marty. They were already at Yuma Bark Park and … < another big sigh > … it’s closed for maintenance on Tuesdays.
They decided to meet us at the service station we were at. We finished putting air in the tire and it became apparent that the problem was a cracked valve stem. I removed the valve extenders, hub cap, and wheel liner. Barry and Marty met us at the service station. We drove around looking for Purcell Tire where I wanted to have the valve replaced. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was. I led us on a bit of a two vehicle caravan wild goose chase looking for Purcell Tire, and when I was finally frustrated enough with that I drove to BIG “O” TIRES. < sigh > They didn’t have the metal screw in valve stems I wanted. Barry knew where Purcell Tire was on 4th St., so he led us there. I left the truck there to have metal screw in valve stems installed on both the rear tires on the side with the flat.
We all went in Barry and Marty’s vehicle to Bard, California for date shakes at Sun Gardens Date Farm. On the way there we stopped at the Post Office in Bard so I could buy a stamp. And … on the way there my carelessness resulted in Bo being hurt. I find it nearly impossible to forgive myself for that ! The men sat in the front, the women in the back. Bo came into the front of the vehicle and climbed on my lap to look out my window which was open slightly. Fortunately it was open only enough for his nose to stick out and not his entire head. He stuck his nose out as he stepped on the armrest of the door and … stepped on the window switch … and closed the window ! ! ! His muzzle got pinched in the closing window and he yelped loudly ! I quickly lowered the window, but … that’s somewhat like shutting the barn door after the horse is gone, isn’t it ? ? ? ! ! ! I examined him closely, and he doesn’t seem to be harmed. His muzzle doesn’t seem to be bruised enough to be tender when I touch and squeeze all over it, but … I’m very angry and displeased with myself. Sorry, Bo !
Date shakes for lunch helped sooth and calm my frazzled nerves ! Both dogs enjoyed their “lunch”. On the drive back to Yuma we stopped twice beside recently picked lettuce fields and I picked “left behind” heads of lettuce for Marty. They returned us to Purcell Tire where Lanoire was waiting with two new metal screw in valve stems. Maybe I should have done all six tires ? ? ? Oh well, too late for that now ! We shopped briefly at Lowes and Wal-Mart on the way home.
Back home at Rancho Bonitos we went to the hot tub for awhile before taking Bo for his daily long walk. Then we went to the clubhouse and signed up for a bunch of the activities at next week’s “Fun Days”, a week of indoor and outdoor games … and eating !
For the last 24 hours or so, Sully has been ill, having difficulty keeping food and water “down”. He has vomited a few times. We’re watching him closely, and will take action if his illness persists for longer than another 24 hours or so.
Tonight’s movie was The Bourne Identity. It was interesting. Wasn’t that the first of a trilogy ?
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy.
This morning I torqued the lug nuts, reinstalled the valve extenders, wheel liner, and hub cap on the passenger side rear tires of the truck before we headed off to Yuma Palms Mall to meet our friends Lynn and Micha at Olive Garden for lunch. We had a nice, leisurely lunch and a long visit with Lynn and Micha, first in the restaurant, then out in the parking lot. Just as we were about to wrap up our parking lot visiting an elderly couple in a rental car pulled up beside us looking for directions to a nearby hotel. They were lost. They were from Oliver, BC, very near to our home. They had just arrived in Yuma by air, had rented a car at the airport, and made it as far as Yuma Palms Mall before getting lost. I offered to guide them to their nearby hotel. I did that, but not as smoothly as I would have looked. We sort of took the scenic route < shrug >.
On the way home I stopped at a Chevron station to adjust the air pressure in the two truck tires that got new valve stems yesterday. < sigh > The Chevron station’s air hose was not working. I drove to Kofa Ko-op and used the air hose there. Back home at Rancho Bonitos we took Bo for his daily long walk, then found that two acquaintances of ours from Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 who own a residence here had just arrived. We chatted with them briefly.
Thursday ; Today was sunny and very warm, a bit windy in the morning, a common occurrence around Yuma. Many people seem to dislike Yuma and area because of the frequent winds. We don’t mind. Same holds true for our home in BC. Frequent winds, we don’t mind.
This morning Joanne went to water aerobics in the swimming pool. She has been going on a sporadic basis since the sessions started a couple of weeks ago. I puttered around with routine maintenance chores, enjoying working outside in the sunlight. Wind’s okay, but I gotta have my sunshine ! I’m a sun junkie.
After lunch Joanne went flea market shopping. I read … napped … read some more. One of the items Joanne bought today was a $1 plastic juicer. WOW … great little device ! I juiced enough lemons to produce a cup of lemon juice, and with that Joanne made 2 quarts / liters of fresh lemonade. Emphasis on FRESH ! We spent the hottest part of the afternoon at the swimming pool and hot tub. I “gave a piece of my mind” to a fellow whose actions I considered rude. I don’t accept that kind of s**t, and keep my mouth shut, just for the sake of being “neighbourly”. I was in the hot tub by myself. Air jets / “bubbles” off. I don’t like the air jets to be on when I’m in the hot tub. The bubbling action causes the disinfectant chemicals in the hot tub to evaporate. The rising chemical odour bothers me. This fellow ( and his extremely obese wife ) walked over, turned on the jets without so much as a word to me, and climbed in. I climbed out, and … < ahem > … expressed my displeasure ! You a*****e !
We took Bo for his daily long walk. As we were walking back home alongside a field Bo began to dig a hole in the soft sandy trail. HA HA HA … you go, Bo. We laughed … I encouraged him. Dig, Bo, dig ! We continued walking slowly. He continued digging. We looked back and called him. He continued digging. The hole was getting so deep all that was visible out of it was his hind end, tail straight up in the air … and flying dirt. HA HA HA … come on, Bo, let’s go ! Suddenly his body and head rose out of the hole … and he was shaking something furiously. OH, NO …. BO ! ! ! We ran back, hollering at him. He finished shaking, then dropped … wait for it … a rotting Desert Rat carcass. Oh, Bo … you’ve been waiting for that your entire Terrier life, haven’t you ? ? ? ! ! ! HA HA HA … good dog, Bo … that’s exactly what you were bred for. HA HA HA … how the hell was I supposed to know there was a dead Desert Rat buried that deeply under the sand ? ? ? I guess I shouldn’t encourage him to dig any more, should I ? ? ? ! ! !
We picked about a dozen oranges and half a dozen grapefruits from the trees lining the long driveway into our RV park. I used the new juicer to produce about 2 quarts / liters of fresh orange & grapefruit juice … with pulp ! Oh, boy … < smacking lips >. And I didn’t even use up all the fruit we had picked.
Tonight’s movie was Starship Troopers. Geeeeezzzzz … how do movies that bad even get made ? We couldn’t even tell whether that was meant to be satire or serious ? ! ?
Friday ; Joanne’s 57th Birthday
Happy Birthday, my love !
Today was sunny and hot. Late this morning we drove to Historic Downtown Yuma where I dropped Joanne off at Yuma School Of Beauty for her “day at the spa”. I continued on to Lowe’s where I used a discount coupon to buy a very expensive, high quality garden hose for home at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos. From there I went to Bank of America for “stage 2” of a new money management scheme I’m trying. After waiting a very long time in a very long line I was told by the teller that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do without producing both my BC driver’s license and my passport for identification. < sigh > I didn’t have my passport with me. I tried to do a much smaller transaction at the ATM, to get enough money to pay our lot rent, but the ATM wanted to charge me a service charge of $3. Oh, **** that ! I went to Wal-Mart where I bought a birthday cake for Joanne. I asked the little blond bimbo at the bakery counter if she could “write” on the cake I had picked out of the bakery cooler. Sure ! But … she didn’t mention that she was illiterate ! ! ! Hey, sweetheart … can you spell “bimbo” correctly ? ! ?
I returned to Yuma School of Beauty late in the afternoon to pick up Joanne. WOW … she’s gorgeous ! We headed for “The Big Curve” where I dropped her off at Fry’s to buy some groceries and I went to Bank of America for my second attempt at my “new financial scheme”. This time I had my passport and everything went smoothly. I returned to Fry’s to pick up Joanne.
Back at home we took Bo for his daily long walk. He certainly was interested in that spot where he found the dead rat yesterday ! Leave it, Bo … good dog !
Tonight’s movie was Batman Forever with Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones. Well … I preferred the earlier Batman with Keaton and Nicholson.
Saturday ; Yuma to Quartzsite and return
WHEW … what a long and exhausting day of shopping in Quartzsite. And we had an “up close and personal” experience with one of the desert’s weather phenomena. Here in the “Desert Southwest”, the night time low and day time high temperature spread is often about 50 degrees. As it was today ! Which made dressing for a long day in Quartzsite somewhat difficult. When we left home this morning at 7 AM the temperature was 34 degrees. BRRRRR ! But by mid afternoon it was about 50 degrees warmer than that.
We caught the Buffalo Bus Tours bus to Quartzsite this morning at 7:30 AM in The Foothills. It took us to Quartzsite, about an hour and a half north of Yuma, to attend the 28th Annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show a.k.a. The Big Tent Show. We arrived about 9 AM and spent 7½ hours browsing and shopping. And walking and walking and walking ! My knees can’t tolerate walking that much and for that long. They HURT tonight ! We bought a lot of stuff. Tools and hardware and bathroom and kitchen gadgets. It’s been said that “if you can’t find it at Quartzsite it doesn’t exist / you don’t need it”. Every time we go to Quartzsite we find stuff that we didn’t know existed, but once having found it, can’t live without it. Today’s “big find” was a very expensive plumbing conversion system that converts a regular toilet to a toilet with built in bidet. We had a bidet in our last “brix & stix” home, and I miss it. But … when we arrived home tonight I took a quick glance at the design of our RV toilet and I don’t think this conversion system is going to fit. Darn ! I’m too exhausted tonight to check it thoroughly enough to know for certain. I’ll do that tomorrow.
We caught the return bus at 4:30 and were back in Yuma at 6 PM, home by 6:30. I know that the early wake up and long day affect my outlook on life, but gee whiz, a busload of old people can be obnoxious ! You’d think that by the time you reach old age and are living this lifestyle you’d develop some class and / or wisdom ! Being on a bus full of 70 year olds is as bad as being on a bus full of 17 year olds ! ! !
DSK
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
January 16 to 22, 2011
January 16 to 22, 2011
Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. AHHHHHH ! ! !
This morning I did a long obedience session with Bo. I have not done any obedience work with him for quite awhile. He did great today ! Good dog, Bo, well done ! A number of neighbours saw me working with him, and were very impressed with his performance.
This afternoon Joanne went shopping to Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market, and then to Fry’s for some groceries. I spent most of the afternoon on the roof of the trailer. I removed the kitchen roof vent’s MaxxAir cover to clean the Fantastic Fan from above, and its roof vent cover. Then … < sigh > … I removed the air conditioner’s shroud and cleaned out hundreds and hundreds of acorns stuffed underneath there by squirrels and / or Acorn Woodpeckers at Park of the Sierras a couple of months ago. It was an afternoon of tough work made pleasant by the lovely weather.
We took Bo for his daily long walk right at sunset. What beautiful sunsets Yuma has ! In the evening we watched Homeward Bound, a Disney animal movie. As a bedtime snack, I’ve just had toast with my first taste of Joanne’s home made marmalade made with freshly picked lemons, oranges, and grapefruits. WOW … EXCELLENT ! ! !
Monday ; Happy 12th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
She’s twelve already ? ! ? ! ?
Today was sunny and hot … almost very hot !
This morning I degreased and cleaned the MaxxAir roof vent cover that I removed from the kitchen roof vent yesterday. While I was working on the roof yesterday I found a few spots that needed to be repaired / patched. This morning I got back up on the roof with my can of rubber roof compound and did the necessary patching.
After lunch I drove to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 71 to 105. Joanne did laundry. During the hottest part of the afternoon we headed to the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! After floating around on one of our pool noodle chairs for awhile, I felt thirsty. I climbed out of the pool, reached over the fence, picked a fresh orange off a tree, and ate it. Very refreshing ! HA HA HA ! Sure beats unloading 40 pound bags of cat litter and dog food in the freezing rain. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Four or five hours of intense sunlight, heat, and low humidity were enough to dry the roof repairs. I climbed back up on the roof and reinstalled the MaxxAir roof vent cover. We took Bo for a long walk. We drove to Albertsons to buy a barbecued chicken for supper. Albertsons has a Monday Cheap Chicken Special. Barbecued chickens are $4.99 ! That’s cheaper than buying a raw chicken.
In the evening we watched the movie “Kansas City”. Boy, those Robert Altman films are sure tough to follow !
Tuesday ; Today was … wonderfully … sunny and hot again !
This morning Joanne went to join a water aerobics group, sessions held in the swimming pool four mornings a week, weather permitting. When she returned we did the weekly pet dental care then set off for some errands.
We went to RV Connection, a local RV parts supply business, looking for a couple of items, neither of which they had. Maybe we’ll be able to find them in Quartzsite in a couple of weeks ? We went to Arby’s for an early lunch. Joanne had found a good discount coupon and wanted to give Arby’s a second chance. The first chance was a visit to Arby’s about … < thinking > … maybe 30 years ago ? She didn’t like Arby’s then. HA HA HA … and you thought I held a grudge ? ! ? After lunch I refilled Lanoire with diesel. HMPH … price went up ! We drove to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Yuma School Of Beauty, where I bought Joanne a makeover package as a birthday gift. It takes an entire afternoon and includes a shampoo, deep conditioning treatment, scalp massage, hair styling, facial, makeup, and manicure. Like “a day at the spa” I guess.
From “downtown” we headed out to Bard, California, for the “main event” of our outing. Date shakes ! At Sun Gardens Date Farm. Bo loooooves date shakes ! HA HA HA … as do we all ! Just before we arrived at Sun Gardens we passed a lettuce field the likes of which we have never seen before. It was a field of “mixed greens” lettuce. In each “row” there were eight different types of lettuce. How unusual ! And pretty ! I stopped to take a picture. We enjoyed our date shakes sitting at a picnic table under the shade of date trees.
On the way home we passed a lettuce field that had just been harvested today or yesterday perhaps. When a field is picked, the pickers leave behind anything that is not “perfect” ; too large, too small, somehow cosmetically imperfect. It’s commonly understood in this area that the “left behinds” can be picked for free by anyone passing by. I parked, took my pocket knife out of the truck console, and walked into the field. It was a field of “red” lettuce, and I picked a head that was obviously left because it was too large. I thought it was a gorgeous head of lettuce ! Much bigger and nicer than anything we’ve ever bought in a store ! Joanne thought it was a bit “dusty”.
We decided that instead of going straight home we would drive to Arizona Sands RV Park and see if our friends Marty and Barry and their dog Sunny were there. They had arrived in Yuma a few days ago from their home in San Felipe, Mexico, for some medical matters for Barry. We found their rig, but they weren’t home. Oh, well !
As soon as we got home Joanne put the large head of red lettuce in a sink full of cold water to rinse off the desert dust and we headed for the swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon. AHHHHH ! When we got home, and the lettuce had been soaking for awhile, well … ! The dust was rinsed off, and since she had placed it with the freshly cut bottom down in the water, it had absorbed some water and perked right up ! WOW … now that’s a lovely head of lettuce ! And looks like it might be enough to feed an army. And it don’t get any fresher than that !
We took Bo for his daily long walk. I helped Joanne prepare for the barbecue an idea I had. Since we have a virtually unlimited supply of fresh lemons I wanted to cook some fish in a packet of aluminum foil with onions and lots of freshly sliced lemons. After supper we watched a funny, irreverent movie ; Dogma. HA HA HA HA HA … Alanis Morisette as God !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm, pretty close to a perfect weather day.
This morning I did some chores and then we began giving Bo a haircut. My goodness … his hair was very long ! His haircut was overdue by about two months, I guess. We cut half his hair then took a break for lunch. HA HA HA … you look pretty funny like that, Bo, with half a haircut. In the afternoon we completed the job. Now you look good, Bo !
We went to the swimming pool for awhile, then I drove to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. When I returned home there was about an hour of daylight left, so we took Bo for his daily long walk. It was such nice weather we decided to take an exceptionally long walk and explore the neighbourhood a bit, so to speak. We walked about four miles through this area which is a mix of suburban and agricultural. By the time we returned home at dusk, we were all tired.
In the evening we watched a movie ; “Don’t Talk To Strangers”. Weak plot !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy.
This morning I headed out for my 10 AM appointment at Fisher Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Or in the new lingo of the car world … Fisher CDJ. I have been to Fisher CDJ before. And prior to that I used to take Dee-Dee to Fisher Chevrolet GMC. There are a lot of car dealerships in Yuma, and it seems as if they’re all owned by either Fisher or Alexander. And some of the many RV dealers as well ! But I digress !
Fisher CDJ replaced the leaking pinion seal at the rear differential. They were quick and efficient. I was impressed. And I’m rarely impressed by an automobile dealership service department. This was likely the last repair that I won’t have to pay for. Lanoire’s warranty expires very soon. I vowed when we bought her that as soon as the warranty expired I was going to trade her in on a new one. Well … now I don’t think so ! She has been extremely trouble free … up to her current age of 5½ years and ( soon ) 160,000 km. / 100,000 miles ! On the way home I went to Interstate Batteries to get information on new batteries for the truck. I will probably replace Lanoire’s two batteries before we start heading north in April. Although I might hold off until we’re in Oregon where there’s no sales tax.
I was home in time for a late lunch followed by a brief nap with Sully. Then Joanne and I went to the hot tub for awhile. The wind made it seem a bit too cool for the swimming pool. We took Bo for his daily long walk. Not as long a walk as yesterday. Joanne’s legs are sore today from yesterday’s walk.
Tonight’s movie was … Pale Rider. I looooove old Clint Eastwood westerns !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm.
This morning we headed out for a couple of hours of errands before meeting our friends Barry and Marty for a very late lunch at Hometown Buffet. Our first stop was Arizona Market Place, the nearby huge flea market. We didn’t go in ! Until recently admission to Arizona Market Place was free on Thursdays and Fridays, pay on Saturdays and Sundays. Now it’s free only on Thursdays. Okay … see you next Thursday. There’s nothing from there that we need badly enough to justify paying admission. Next stop was the water and propane refill place to refill a water jug. Then over to the Wally’s World store for some hardware items. Wally’s World is one of the larger hardware / “guy stuff” stores at the two local flea markets. And now they have a retail storefront location. Today we bought everything at their storefront location that we were going to the Arizona Market Place for. So there ! Stuff your admission fee where the sun don’t shine !
On the way to Hometown Buffet we stopped at Michael’s to buy an advertised special. Fourteen foam paint brushes for a dollar. HMPH … guess I won’t be trying to wash out them little foam paint brushes anymore after using them ! We spent a long afternoon at Hometown Buffet eating and visiting with Barry and Marty. We haven’t seen them in a few years. We made a “doggy play date” with them for next week, with Bo and their dog Sunny at Yuma Bark Park.
On the way home we stopped at Kofa Ko-op to make a Yuma Park N Swap shopping date with Joanne’s friend Eilene. The sun was too low in the sky to allow me to finish my project of taking photos of each and every lot at Kofa. And our friends Robert and Sharon were not home either. They came by our place this morning but we missed them. They left a note advising us that they were headed to Los Algodones today for their fourth visit this week to a dentist. And they’re leaving Yuma tomorrow morning. Guess we won’t see them until the next Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally. There was a note on the bulletin board about the sudden death last night … after she attended the weekly Thursday evening poker game … of a resident at Kofa Ko-op. Gee … I said “hello” to her as she walked by me when I was there two days ago taking photos. She was an elderly German Jewish woman with … < long pause > … numbers tattooed on her forearm !
We got home with just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk. In the evening I reconciled the January MasterCard statements which I had downloaded this morning.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. This afternoon and evening was Rancho Bonitos’s “Western” party. We didn’t attend. The dinner offering was incompatible with my colitis. And … we’re both really not fans of “Western / Country” music.
This morning was taken up with routine chores and maintenance. One of the daily chores here in the desert is cleaning the very fine layer of desert dust off the truck using a “California Duster”. A few days ago while dusting the truck I was feeling a but crabby about this daily chore, then shifted my perspective. Now I dust the truck on a daily basis, out in the warm sunlight, with a smile on my face, thinking … “I surely am glad that I don’t have to scrape frost off the truck windows every morning”. Today while dusting the truck a hornet / wasp was buzzing in my face, irritating me. I smacked it away with the California Duster. HA … solved that problem ! For about five seconds … until the ****ing thing stung me on the back, between the shoulder blades !
In the afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping to Albertsons. I napped with Sully and Bo then did some computer work. After Joanne returned she got the laundry started and we went to the pool and hot tub. We had them all to ourselves because the “Western” party had already started. When the laundry was done and we were finished in the pool and hot tub we took Bo for his daily long walk.
< sigh > Since we are staying for three ( plus ) months in Yuma, our daily lives have become somewhat routine … and lacking in “adventure”. Which is okay … I guess … but I wonder if keeping a daily journal is justified ? Time to change my approach, I suppose, somewhat like I do during the summers.
Tonight’s movie was “A Beautiful Mind”. < shrug >
DSK
Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. AHHHHHH ! ! !
This morning I did a long obedience session with Bo. I have not done any obedience work with him for quite awhile. He did great today ! Good dog, Bo, well done ! A number of neighbours saw me working with him, and were very impressed with his performance.
This afternoon Joanne went shopping to Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market, and then to Fry’s for some groceries. I spent most of the afternoon on the roof of the trailer. I removed the kitchen roof vent’s MaxxAir cover to clean the Fantastic Fan from above, and its roof vent cover. Then … < sigh > … I removed the air conditioner’s shroud and cleaned out hundreds and hundreds of acorns stuffed underneath there by squirrels and / or Acorn Woodpeckers at Park of the Sierras a couple of months ago. It was an afternoon of tough work made pleasant by the lovely weather.
We took Bo for his daily long walk right at sunset. What beautiful sunsets Yuma has ! In the evening we watched Homeward Bound, a Disney animal movie. As a bedtime snack, I’ve just had toast with my first taste of Joanne’s home made marmalade made with freshly picked lemons, oranges, and grapefruits. WOW … EXCELLENT ! ! !
Monday ; Happy 12th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
She’s twelve already ? ! ? ! ?
Today was sunny and hot … almost very hot !
This morning I degreased and cleaned the MaxxAir roof vent cover that I removed from the kitchen roof vent yesterday. While I was working on the roof yesterday I found a few spots that needed to be repaired / patched. This morning I got back up on the roof with my can of rubber roof compound and did the necessary patching.
After lunch I drove to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 71 to 105. Joanne did laundry. During the hottest part of the afternoon we headed to the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! After floating around on one of our pool noodle chairs for awhile, I felt thirsty. I climbed out of the pool, reached over the fence, picked a fresh orange off a tree, and ate it. Very refreshing ! HA HA HA ! Sure beats unloading 40 pound bags of cat litter and dog food in the freezing rain. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Four or five hours of intense sunlight, heat, and low humidity were enough to dry the roof repairs. I climbed back up on the roof and reinstalled the MaxxAir roof vent cover. We took Bo for a long walk. We drove to Albertsons to buy a barbecued chicken for supper. Albertsons has a Monday Cheap Chicken Special. Barbecued chickens are $4.99 ! That’s cheaper than buying a raw chicken.
In the evening we watched the movie “Kansas City”. Boy, those Robert Altman films are sure tough to follow !
Tuesday ; Today was … wonderfully … sunny and hot again !
This morning Joanne went to join a water aerobics group, sessions held in the swimming pool four mornings a week, weather permitting. When she returned we did the weekly pet dental care then set off for some errands.
We went to RV Connection, a local RV parts supply business, looking for a couple of items, neither of which they had. Maybe we’ll be able to find them in Quartzsite in a couple of weeks ? We went to Arby’s for an early lunch. Joanne had found a good discount coupon and wanted to give Arby’s a second chance. The first chance was a visit to Arby’s about … < thinking > … maybe 30 years ago ? She didn’t like Arby’s then. HA HA HA … and you thought I held a grudge ? ! ? After lunch I refilled Lanoire with diesel. HMPH … price went up ! We drove to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Yuma School Of Beauty, where I bought Joanne a makeover package as a birthday gift. It takes an entire afternoon and includes a shampoo, deep conditioning treatment, scalp massage, hair styling, facial, makeup, and manicure. Like “a day at the spa” I guess.
From “downtown” we headed out to Bard, California, for the “main event” of our outing. Date shakes ! At Sun Gardens Date Farm. Bo loooooves date shakes ! HA HA HA … as do we all ! Just before we arrived at Sun Gardens we passed a lettuce field the likes of which we have never seen before. It was a field of “mixed greens” lettuce. In each “row” there were eight different types of lettuce. How unusual ! And pretty ! I stopped to take a picture. We enjoyed our date shakes sitting at a picnic table under the shade of date trees.
On the way home we passed a lettuce field that had just been harvested today or yesterday perhaps. When a field is picked, the pickers leave behind anything that is not “perfect” ; too large, too small, somehow cosmetically imperfect. It’s commonly understood in this area that the “left behinds” can be picked for free by anyone passing by. I parked, took my pocket knife out of the truck console, and walked into the field. It was a field of “red” lettuce, and I picked a head that was obviously left because it was too large. I thought it was a gorgeous head of lettuce ! Much bigger and nicer than anything we’ve ever bought in a store ! Joanne thought it was a bit “dusty”.
We decided that instead of going straight home we would drive to Arizona Sands RV Park and see if our friends Marty and Barry and their dog Sunny were there. They had arrived in Yuma a few days ago from their home in San Felipe, Mexico, for some medical matters for Barry. We found their rig, but they weren’t home. Oh, well !
As soon as we got home Joanne put the large head of red lettuce in a sink full of cold water to rinse off the desert dust and we headed for the swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon. AHHHHH ! When we got home, and the lettuce had been soaking for awhile, well … ! The dust was rinsed off, and since she had placed it with the freshly cut bottom down in the water, it had absorbed some water and perked right up ! WOW … now that’s a lovely head of lettuce ! And looks like it might be enough to feed an army. And it don’t get any fresher than that !
We took Bo for his daily long walk. I helped Joanne prepare for the barbecue an idea I had. Since we have a virtually unlimited supply of fresh lemons I wanted to cook some fish in a packet of aluminum foil with onions and lots of freshly sliced lemons. After supper we watched a funny, irreverent movie ; Dogma. HA HA HA HA HA … Alanis Morisette as God !
This morning I did some chores and then we began giving Bo a haircut. My goodness … his hair was very long ! His haircut was overdue by about two months, I guess. We cut half his hair then took a break for lunch. HA HA HA … you look pretty funny like that, Bo, with half a haircut. In the afternoon we completed the job. Now you look good, Bo !
We went to the swimming pool for awhile, then I drove to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. When I returned home there was about an hour of daylight left, so we took Bo for his daily long walk. It was such nice weather we decided to take an exceptionally long walk and explore the neighbourhood a bit, so to speak. We walked about four miles through this area which is a mix of suburban and agricultural. By the time we returned home at dusk, we were all tired.
In the evening we watched a movie ; “Don’t Talk To Strangers”. Weak plot !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy.
This morning I headed out for my 10 AM appointment at Fisher Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Or in the new lingo of the car world … Fisher CDJ. I have been to Fisher CDJ before. And prior to that I used to take Dee-Dee to Fisher Chevrolet GMC. There are a lot of car dealerships in Yuma, and it seems as if they’re all owned by either Fisher or Alexander. And some of the many RV dealers as well ! But I digress !
Fisher CDJ replaced the leaking pinion seal at the rear differential. They were quick and efficient. I was impressed. And I’m rarely impressed by an automobile dealership service department. This was likely the last repair that I won’t have to pay for. Lanoire’s warranty expires very soon. I vowed when we bought her that as soon as the warranty expired I was going to trade her in on a new one. Well … now I don’t think so ! She has been extremely trouble free … up to her current age of 5½ years and ( soon ) 160,000 km. / 100,000 miles ! On the way home I went to Interstate Batteries to get information on new batteries for the truck. I will probably replace Lanoire’s two batteries before we start heading north in April. Although I might hold off until we’re in Oregon where there’s no sales tax.
I was home in time for a late lunch followed by a brief nap with Sully. Then Joanne and I went to the hot tub for awhile. The wind made it seem a bit too cool for the swimming pool. We took Bo for his daily long walk. Not as long a walk as yesterday. Joanne’s legs are sore today from yesterday’s walk.
Tonight’s movie was … Pale Rider. I looooove old Clint Eastwood westerns !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm.
This morning we headed out for a couple of hours of errands before meeting our friends Barry and Marty for a very late lunch at Hometown Buffet. Our first stop was Arizona Market Place, the nearby huge flea market. We didn’t go in ! Until recently admission to Arizona Market Place was free on Thursdays and Fridays, pay on Saturdays and Sundays. Now it’s free only on Thursdays. Okay … see you next Thursday. There’s nothing from there that we need badly enough to justify paying admission. Next stop was the water and propane refill place to refill a water jug. Then over to the Wally’s World store for some hardware items. Wally’s World is one of the larger hardware / “guy stuff” stores at the two local flea markets. And now they have a retail storefront location. Today we bought everything at their storefront location that we were going to the Arizona Market Place for. So there ! Stuff your admission fee where the sun don’t shine !
On the way to Hometown Buffet we stopped at Michael’s to buy an advertised special. Fourteen foam paint brushes for a dollar. HMPH … guess I won’t be trying to wash out them little foam paint brushes anymore after using them ! We spent a long afternoon at Hometown Buffet eating and visiting with Barry and Marty. We haven’t seen them in a few years. We made a “doggy play date” with them for next week, with Bo and their dog Sunny at Yuma Bark Park.
On the way home we stopped at Kofa Ko-op to make a Yuma Park N Swap shopping date with Joanne’s friend Eilene. The sun was too low in the sky to allow me to finish my project of taking photos of each and every lot at Kofa. And our friends Robert and Sharon were not home either. They came by our place this morning but we missed them. They left a note advising us that they were headed to Los Algodones today for their fourth visit this week to a dentist. And they’re leaving Yuma tomorrow morning. Guess we won’t see them until the next Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally. There was a note on the bulletin board about the sudden death last night … after she attended the weekly Thursday evening poker game … of a resident at Kofa Ko-op. Gee … I said “hello” to her as she walked by me when I was there two days ago taking photos. She was an elderly German Jewish woman with … < long pause > … numbers tattooed on her forearm !
We got home with just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk. In the evening I reconciled the January MasterCard statements which I had downloaded this morning.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. This afternoon and evening was Rancho Bonitos’s “Western” party. We didn’t attend. The dinner offering was incompatible with my colitis. And … we’re both really not fans of “Western / Country” music.
This morning was taken up with routine chores and maintenance. One of the daily chores here in the desert is cleaning the very fine layer of desert dust off the truck using a “California Duster”. A few days ago while dusting the truck I was feeling a but crabby about this daily chore, then shifted my perspective. Now I dust the truck on a daily basis, out in the warm sunlight, with a smile on my face, thinking … “I surely am glad that I don’t have to scrape frost off the truck windows every morning”. Today while dusting the truck a hornet / wasp was buzzing in my face, irritating me. I smacked it away with the California Duster. HA … solved that problem ! For about five seconds … until the ****ing thing stung me on the back, between the shoulder blades !
In the afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping to Albertsons. I napped with Sully and Bo then did some computer work. After Joanne returned she got the laundry started and we went to the pool and hot tub. We had them all to ourselves because the “Western” party had already started. When the laundry was done and we were finished in the pool and hot tub we took Bo for his daily long walk.
< sigh > Since we are staying for three ( plus ) months in Yuma, our daily lives have become somewhat routine … and lacking in “adventure”. Which is okay … I guess … but I wonder if keeping a daily journal is justified ? Time to change my approach, I suppose, somewhat like I do during the summers.
Tonight’s movie was “A Beautiful Mind”. < shrug >
DSK
Sunday, January 16, 2011
January 9 to 15, 2011
January 9 to 15, 2011
Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I repaired Sully’s 12V heated blanket … his “heater blankie”. This is the second heater blankie we’ve had, and the last ! The workmanship and design quality are poor.
This afternoon I did some online work including posting my weekly journal to my blog. I reconciled my December investment statements. HMPH … more year end fees than I remember ! I reviewed the U.S. IRS form 8840. This is a form that I recently became aware of. It’s a form that the United States Internal Revenue Service requires to be filled out by “aliens” who spend significant periods of time in the U.S. each year … like us “Snowbirds”. It establishes that we are exempt from treatment as U.S. residents by the IRS on the basis of a “closer connection” to a country other than the United States. I would suggest that almost all “Snowbirds” are unaware of this form. However, since we are likely to become U.S. “property owners”
( lifetime leaseholders, actually ) in 2011, I think I had better begin submitting this form annually, starting with the 2010 taxation year.
In the evening we went to the monthly birthday social, followed by the weekly card bingo games.
Monday ; Today was sunny and mild.
It wasn’t until this morning that we heard about the incident “down the road” in Tucson on Saturday. Six dead, fourteen more wounded … at a ****ing Safeway grocery store ! ! ! ? ? ? ! ! ! “There but for the grace of God go I” ! ! ! I should refrain from typing any more about this incident, because I’m feeling in a pretty foul mood right now about God blessed America’s constitutional right to bear arms ! ! !
This afternoon we drove to The Foothills ( east side of Yuma ) to buy two tickets at Buffalo Bus Tours for a day trip to Quartzsite. We are going to Quartzsite on Saturday, January 29, the day after Joanne’s birthday, and the second last day of the massively huge 28th annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. We’ve been to Quartzsite a few times before, but never during the “big show”. And the price of two tickets on the bus trip is less than the cost of gas for the truck if we drove there ourselves. After buying the bus trip tickets we went shopping for sandals for me at Foothills Shoes. They carry the SAS line of shoes that I favour. We spent more time there than I would have liked. I chose a pair of sandals but did not buy them today. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the Wal-Mart in The Foothills.
When we returned home we took Bo for his daily long walk, then picked grapefruits. This park has many grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees, providing residents with an unlimited supply of fresh fruit. We’ve been eating grapefruits for breakfast. Joanne has made fruit salads. Today she made a grapefruit pie, a recipe she learned in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. I’m eagerly awaiting the marmalade she said she would make for me.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and cold.
This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM appointment with Dra. Camacho. When we arrived at the dentists’ office, we were immediately advised that my appointment would have to be rescheduled because neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today. HMPH … right … this is Mexico … it would be too much to expect that the office would phone the patient before they left home ! ! ! The Camacho dentists were not in today because they were in the hospital in San Luis Rio Colorado, a nearby border town. Their teenaged son required some manner of emergency surgery. My oral surgery appointment was rescheduled for Saturday morning.
We went shopping for some special “hocus pocus” health teas at the health food store in Los Algodones before heading back across the border. I had read an article about magnesium chloride and wanted to buy some. I thought it was available as a tea. It wasn’t. We bought magnesium chloride powder and fennel tea. The fennel tea tastes … bad. The magnesium chloride, mixed in water to the correct dosage, tastes … awful ! I suppose I’ll try it for a few days, but after one taste today I doubt that I can tolerate it as a daily habit.
This afternoon we gave Bo a bath, brushed his teeth, trimmed his dew claws, and brushed Sully’s teeth. So there … you’re both done ! Sheesh ! They both acted like we were torturing them ! In the evening I calculated the days in each country … Canada, United States, Mexico … for the last seven calendar years, data I require to complete the U.S. IRS 8840 form < sigh >. As if completing our Canadian income tax forms on an annual basis isn’t tedious enough !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning after a brief but “enthusiastic” squabble, Joanne and I went our separate ways today, trying to give each other some time and space to cool down. I headed out to run errands.
I refilled a propane tank at nearby Fruit Growers Supply Company. A neighbour recently advised me that propane was available there. From there I went to the Wal-Mart mall on Pacific, refilled a water jug at one of the outdoor water refill kiosks, then went into Wal-Mart to buy cat food. They were out of stock of Sully’s food. Okay … over to PetsMart at Yuma Palms. WOO-HOO … Bo loves going to PetsMart. I bought cat food and dog food at PetsMart. I forgot that we needed pet toothpaste ! Back to “The Big Curve” where I activated our new debit cards in the ATM at the Bank of America. Then over to Sears to see if the Auto Center Manager had resolved my “dually tire rotation” issue. He wasn’t there, but I left a message for him and he phoned me a few minutes later as I was driving home. YES … having purchased six tires at Sears … for a dually … I was entitled to free tire rotations for life … at any Sears store in the United States. There’s no difference between spending $1000 to buy 4 tires for a car and getting free rotations, and spending $1500 to buy 6 tires for a dually and getting free rotations … which are probably 50% more difficult on a dually, but … I spent 50% more, didn’t I ? ! ? Now I’m going to be eagerly awaiting an apology from the manager of the Sears Auto Center in Fresno, California.
Back at home I had lunch then napped briefly with Sully. Joanne went out. I polished shoes. I sharpened knives. I took Bo for a long walk in the warm afternoon sunshine. I did some accounting. I wrote this journal entry. I worked on the IRS 8840 form. I spent the evening working online. It took a long time to accomplish not that large an amount of work due to network congestion, a seemingly common problem in California and southwest Arizona !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. This is the second day that Joanne and I have kept our distance from one another, and that seems like a good idea at the moment !
This morning I discovered that the pinion seal at the rear differential of the truck is leaking … again ! I had the pinion seal replaced about two months ago in Fresno, California. For it to be leaking this soon after replacement suggests to me that the replacement was not done correctly. Yes, yes, apparently it’s still hard to get good help < fume > ! I took the barbecue’s little propane tank to be refilled. Bo enjoyed the drivey. I made an appointment with Fisher Chrysler to have the pinion seal replaced in a week. I took Bo for a long walk in the desert. WHEW … hotter than I thought it was ! Had to take my shirt off ! That’s okay … it’s about time I get some sunlight on my poor white skin. I look so … Canadian ! I went to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 1 to 35. I want to have photos of all the lots in the park so that when we get offered a lot, I can look at a photo of it and know what we’re getting. Our Kofa Ko-op friend Ronnie ( actually Reynald, but nobody here can properly pronounce a French Canadian name like that ) is in the hospital with double pneumonia. < sigh > Could that be an unintended result of the aggressive radiation therapy he’s currently undergoing for a malignant growth on his lip ? I think we’ll go visit him tomorrow.
In the evening I watched a movie ; Con Air. Oh, please … get real !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm but quite windy. A depressing day of continued “relationship angst”, illness, and visiting a very sick old friend in the hospital.
A few days ago I began to take a new mineral supplement I bought in Mexico. And … at the same time, I began “experimenting” with the dosages of my regular medications. Well, the result was … I became very ill this afternoon. I don’t know which was the cause of me becoming so sick, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I suppose I should discard the mineral supplement, and return to my regular dosages of medications. What the hell was I thinking ? ! ?
And after three days of difficulties, Joanne and I made some progress today … but not much … and not without a lot of turmoil.
This evening I went to the hospital to visit our friend Reynald / “Ronnie”. He was born in Quebec, but left when he was a child. He’s 84 years old now, is battling cancer, was undergoing an aggressive regimen of radiation therapy until a few days ago, and now has double pneumonia. He doesn’t look good ! I hope he recovers.
Well … ! ! ! ! ! And to put a nice finish to this day, I have just retrieved e-mail ( at 10:30 PM ) to discover that an Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friend has died.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot … finally ! This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM dentist appointment, rescheduled from Tuesday. Upon arrival at the dentists’ office we were advised that neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today … again !
In Mexico, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s not unusual for guns to be fired into the air. And … it’s not unusual for people to be injured by the bullets falling back to earth. The teenaged son of Dr. and Dra. Camacho was struck in the leg by a bullet on New Year’s Eve. And they were unaware of that for ten days. He thought he had been slightly injured by a firecracker. After ten days of the injury becoming worse and worse, they took him to the hospital where an x-ray revealed the bullet. He had surgery to remove the bullet, and then the family decided they needed to take a short holiday for him to recuperate. Dr. And Dra. Camacho and their family are currently vacationing in Guadalajara.
Before leaving, Dra. Camacho arranged for my appointment today to be handled by Dra. Esther Estolano, a periodontist from nearby San Luis Rio Colorado. In addition to her periodontal practice in San Luis Rio Colorado, Dra. Estolano is in Los Algodones on Wednesdays and Saturdays, providing “mobile” periodontal services / consultations at other “generalist” dentists’ offices. That’s fairly common in Los Algodones for the dental specialists such as periodontists and orthodontists. Dra. Estolano examined me, took a slightly different approach than Dra. Camacho to my required oral surgery, then scheduled me for two oral surgeries, one in three weeks and one in four weeks. After that she wants Dra. Camacho to remove and replace a crown that I have had for twenty years that has become troublesome from a periodontal perspective.
As if my mood wasn’t foul enough … when we crossed the border back into the United States, the primary Customs and Border Patrol Agent pulled me aside for a secondary “inspection”. Apparently he didn’t like the tone of my voice, or the many pockets in my cargo pants, or whatever criteria these brilliant professionals use to make their decisions ! The secondary agent had me empty all the pouches on my fanny pack and all the pockets on my pants, and asked even more stupid questions than the first agent did, then sent me on my way. Keep up the good work, fellas ! Keep your Homeland Secure from them fat, old, fat wallet Canadians coming back from dental appointments in Mexico ! ! ! < mumbling under my breath > You jack wagons !
This afternoon we took Bo for his daily long walk then went to spend time in the pool and hot tub. Around 4 PM I headed to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. As I was taking a photo of lot 67 … HEY ! Our friends Robert and Sharon from Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 were pulling into the lot. I accepted their invitation to have a beer, and visited with them for awhile. They’re here in Yuma for a week. I hope we can get together while they’re here.
While at Kofa Ko-op I learned that our friend Monica fell yesterday and broke her arm so severely that she had to be flown to Phoenix for surgery. Sheesh !
HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! While I’m typing this Joanne is making marmalade with lemons, oranges and grapefruits freshly picked from the fruit trees around this RV park. Bo is begging for fruit. Bo loooooves fruit ! She just gave him a chunk of lemon. HA HA HA HA HA … Bo has never had lemon before. Not quite what you had expected, was it Bo ? ! ?
DSK
Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I repaired Sully’s 12V heated blanket … his “heater blankie”. This is the second heater blankie we’ve had, and the last ! The workmanship and design quality are poor.
This afternoon I did some online work including posting my weekly journal to my blog. I reconciled my December investment statements. HMPH … more year end fees than I remember ! I reviewed the U.S. IRS form 8840. This is a form that I recently became aware of. It’s a form that the United States Internal Revenue Service requires to be filled out by “aliens” who spend significant periods of time in the U.S. each year … like us “Snowbirds”. It establishes that we are exempt from treatment as U.S. residents by the IRS on the basis of a “closer connection” to a country other than the United States. I would suggest that almost all “Snowbirds” are unaware of this form. However, since we are likely to become U.S. “property owners”
( lifetime leaseholders, actually ) in 2011, I think I had better begin submitting this form annually, starting with the 2010 taxation year.
In the evening we went to the monthly birthday social, followed by the weekly card bingo games.
Monday ; Today was sunny and mild.
It wasn’t until this morning that we heard about the incident “down the road” in Tucson on Saturday. Six dead, fourteen more wounded … at a ****ing Safeway grocery store ! ! ! ? ? ? ! ! ! “There but for the grace of God go I” ! ! ! I should refrain from typing any more about this incident, because I’m feeling in a pretty foul mood right now about God blessed America’s constitutional right to bear arms ! ! !
This afternoon we drove to The Foothills ( east side of Yuma ) to buy two tickets at Buffalo Bus Tours for a day trip to Quartzsite. We are going to Quartzsite on Saturday, January 29, the day after Joanne’s birthday, and the second last day of the massively huge 28th annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. We’ve been to Quartzsite a few times before, but never during the “big show”. And the price of two tickets on the bus trip is less than the cost of gas for the truck if we drove there ourselves. After buying the bus trip tickets we went shopping for sandals for me at Foothills Shoes. They carry the SAS line of shoes that I favour. We spent more time there than I would have liked. I chose a pair of sandals but did not buy them today. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the Wal-Mart in The Foothills.
When we returned home we took Bo for his daily long walk, then picked grapefruits. This park has many grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees, providing residents with an unlimited supply of fresh fruit. We’ve been eating grapefruits for breakfast. Joanne has made fruit salads. Today she made a grapefruit pie, a recipe she learned in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. I’m eagerly awaiting the marmalade she said she would make for me.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and cold.
This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM appointment with Dra. Camacho. When we arrived at the dentists’ office, we were immediately advised that my appointment would have to be rescheduled because neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today. HMPH … right … this is Mexico … it would be too much to expect that the office would phone the patient before they left home ! ! ! The Camacho dentists were not in today because they were in the hospital in San Luis Rio Colorado, a nearby border town. Their teenaged son required some manner of emergency surgery. My oral surgery appointment was rescheduled for Saturday morning.
We went shopping for some special “hocus pocus” health teas at the health food store in Los Algodones before heading back across the border. I had read an article about magnesium chloride and wanted to buy some. I thought it was available as a tea. It wasn’t. We bought magnesium chloride powder and fennel tea. The fennel tea tastes … bad. The magnesium chloride, mixed in water to the correct dosage, tastes … awful ! I suppose I’ll try it for a few days, but after one taste today I doubt that I can tolerate it as a daily habit.
This afternoon we gave Bo a bath, brushed his teeth, trimmed his dew claws, and brushed Sully’s teeth. So there … you’re both done ! Sheesh ! They both acted like we were torturing them ! In the evening I calculated the days in each country … Canada, United States, Mexico … for the last seven calendar years, data I require to complete the U.S. IRS 8840 form < sigh >. As if completing our Canadian income tax forms on an annual basis isn’t tedious enough !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning after a brief but “enthusiastic” squabble, Joanne and I went our separate ways today, trying to give each other some time and space to cool down. I headed out to run errands.
I refilled a propane tank at nearby Fruit Growers Supply Company. A neighbour recently advised me that propane was available there. From there I went to the Wal-Mart mall on Pacific, refilled a water jug at one of the outdoor water refill kiosks, then went into Wal-Mart to buy cat food. They were out of stock of Sully’s food. Okay … over to PetsMart at Yuma Palms. WOO-HOO … Bo loves going to PetsMart. I bought cat food and dog food at PetsMart. I forgot that we needed pet toothpaste ! Back to “The Big Curve” where I activated our new debit cards in the ATM at the Bank of America. Then over to Sears to see if the Auto Center Manager had resolved my “dually tire rotation” issue. He wasn’t there, but I left a message for him and he phoned me a few minutes later as I was driving home. YES … having purchased six tires at Sears … for a dually … I was entitled to free tire rotations for life … at any Sears store in the United States. There’s no difference between spending $1000 to buy 4 tires for a car and getting free rotations, and spending $1500 to buy 6 tires for a dually and getting free rotations … which are probably 50% more difficult on a dually, but … I spent 50% more, didn’t I ? ! ? Now I’m going to be eagerly awaiting an apology from the manager of the Sears Auto Center in Fresno, California.
Back at home I had lunch then napped briefly with Sully. Joanne went out. I polished shoes. I sharpened knives. I took Bo for a long walk in the warm afternoon sunshine. I did some accounting. I wrote this journal entry. I worked on the IRS 8840 form. I spent the evening working online. It took a long time to accomplish not that large an amount of work due to network congestion, a seemingly common problem in California and southwest Arizona !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. This is the second day that Joanne and I have kept our distance from one another, and that seems like a good idea at the moment !
This morning I discovered that the pinion seal at the rear differential of the truck is leaking … again ! I had the pinion seal replaced about two months ago in Fresno, California. For it to be leaking this soon after replacement suggests to me that the replacement was not done correctly. Yes, yes, apparently it’s still hard to get good help < fume > ! I took the barbecue’s little propane tank to be refilled. Bo enjoyed the drivey. I made an appointment with Fisher Chrysler to have the pinion seal replaced in a week. I took Bo for a long walk in the desert. WHEW … hotter than I thought it was ! Had to take my shirt off ! That’s okay … it’s about time I get some sunlight on my poor white skin. I look so … Canadian ! I went to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 1 to 35. I want to have photos of all the lots in the park so that when we get offered a lot, I can look at a photo of it and know what we’re getting. Our Kofa Ko-op friend Ronnie ( actually Reynald, but nobody here can properly pronounce a French Canadian name like that ) is in the hospital with double pneumonia. < sigh > Could that be an unintended result of the aggressive radiation therapy he’s currently undergoing for a malignant growth on his lip ? I think we’ll go visit him tomorrow.
In the evening I watched a movie ; Con Air. Oh, please … get real !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm but quite windy. A depressing day of continued “relationship angst”, illness, and visiting a very sick old friend in the hospital.
A few days ago I began to take a new mineral supplement I bought in Mexico. And … at the same time, I began “experimenting” with the dosages of my regular medications. Well, the result was … I became very ill this afternoon. I don’t know which was the cause of me becoming so sick, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I suppose I should discard the mineral supplement, and return to my regular dosages of medications. What the hell was I thinking ? ! ?
And after three days of difficulties, Joanne and I made some progress today … but not much … and not without a lot of turmoil.
This evening I went to the hospital to visit our friend Reynald / “Ronnie”. He was born in Quebec, but left when he was a child. He’s 84 years old now, is battling cancer, was undergoing an aggressive regimen of radiation therapy until a few days ago, and now has double pneumonia. He doesn’t look good ! I hope he recovers.
Well … ! ! ! ! ! And to put a nice finish to this day, I have just retrieved e-mail ( at 10:30 PM ) to discover that an Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friend has died.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot … finally ! This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM dentist appointment, rescheduled from Tuesday. Upon arrival at the dentists’ office we were advised that neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today … again !
In Mexico, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s not unusual for guns to be fired into the air. And … it’s not unusual for people to be injured by the bullets falling back to earth. The teenaged son of Dr. and Dra. Camacho was struck in the leg by a bullet on New Year’s Eve. And they were unaware of that for ten days. He thought he had been slightly injured by a firecracker. After ten days of the injury becoming worse and worse, they took him to the hospital where an x-ray revealed the bullet. He had surgery to remove the bullet, and then the family decided they needed to take a short holiday for him to recuperate. Dr. And Dra. Camacho and their family are currently vacationing in Guadalajara.
Before leaving, Dra. Camacho arranged for my appointment today to be handled by Dra. Esther Estolano, a periodontist from nearby San Luis Rio Colorado. In addition to her periodontal practice in San Luis Rio Colorado, Dra. Estolano is in Los Algodones on Wednesdays and Saturdays, providing “mobile” periodontal services / consultations at other “generalist” dentists’ offices. That’s fairly common in Los Algodones for the dental specialists such as periodontists and orthodontists. Dra. Estolano examined me, took a slightly different approach than Dra. Camacho to my required oral surgery, then scheduled me for two oral surgeries, one in three weeks and one in four weeks. After that she wants Dra. Camacho to remove and replace a crown that I have had for twenty years that has become troublesome from a periodontal perspective.
As if my mood wasn’t foul enough … when we crossed the border back into the United States, the primary Customs and Border Patrol Agent pulled me aside for a secondary “inspection”. Apparently he didn’t like the tone of my voice, or the many pockets in my cargo pants, or whatever criteria these brilliant professionals use to make their decisions ! The secondary agent had me empty all the pouches on my fanny pack and all the pockets on my pants, and asked even more stupid questions than the first agent did, then sent me on my way. Keep up the good work, fellas ! Keep your Homeland Secure from them fat, old, fat wallet Canadians coming back from dental appointments in Mexico ! ! ! < mumbling under my breath > You jack wagons !
This afternoon we took Bo for his daily long walk then went to spend time in the pool and hot tub. Around 4 PM I headed to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. As I was taking a photo of lot 67 … HEY ! Our friends Robert and Sharon from Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 were pulling into the lot. I accepted their invitation to have a beer, and visited with them for awhile. They’re here in Yuma for a week. I hope we can get together while they’re here.
While at Kofa Ko-op I learned that our friend Monica fell yesterday and broke her arm so severely that she had to be flown to Phoenix for surgery. Sheesh !
HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! While I’m typing this Joanne is making marmalade with lemons, oranges and grapefruits freshly picked from the fruit trees around this RV park. Bo is begging for fruit. Bo loooooves fruit ! She just gave him a chunk of lemon. HA HA HA HA HA … Bo has never had lemon before. Not quite what you had expected, was it Bo ? ! ?
DSK
Sunday, January 9, 2011
January 2 to 8, 2011
January 2 to 8, 2011
Sunday ; This morning was sunny and cold, warming throughout the day. The weather has been like that for a couple of days, and is expected to be like that for the next week or so.
This morning I did some chores and Joanne did laundry. After lunch we went to Yuma Park N Swap, also known as the Dog Track Flea Market because it’s behind the old Greyhound racing track. I don’t think they race Greyhounds there any more, but I’m not sure.
At 6 PM we went to the Rancho Bonitos monthly “birthday social” at the clubhouse, not sure what to expect. What we found was … a dark, empty clubhouse ! Okay … I guess our events calendar is out of date ? ! We browsed VCR tapes in the library and selected some movies to watch. I’ve had enough of Mexican soap operas !
At 7 PM we returned to the clubhouse to play card bingo. We didn’t know what that was, but we thought we should get to know more of our
“neighbours” by attending some of the planned social activities. Oh boy, I won a game. My winnings were 90 cents … in nickels !
We returned home and had a “movie date”. We watched “In The Line Of Fire” starring Clint Eastwood. I looooove Clint Eastwood movies. Ever since “Play Misty For Me” in 1971 !
Monday ; Well, it is now 10 PM and I have been working for 5½ hours on configuring my new Qwest modem / router, and getting connected to the Internet. That was supposed to be an eleven minute process ! ! !
I configured the modem / router in 3½ hours … or so I thought … and for the last 2 hours I have been trying to get connected to the Internet. Which I seem to be able to do for a few minutes at a time, and then things go wonky. I think Qwest is having problems tonight, but I can’t be sure. It might be my computer, or perhaps the new modem / router. In any case, I’m pretty frustrated with it all !
Today was sunny and cool. This morning we drove to Wal-Mart, I dropped Joanne off, then I went with Bo to Yuma Bark Park behind Wal-Mart. Bo and I spent an hour in Bark Park then we went back to Wal-Mart to pick up Joanne. On the way home we refilled a water jug and a propane tank, and we stopped at a hardware store to look for a few items. At the hardware store we bumped into a neighbour from back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
In the afternoon I worked on monthly computer maintenance chores ; disk cleanup, disk defragment, virus scan, malware scan, backups, that sort of stuff. And then < huge sigh > I began to work on configuring the new modem. By the time we had returned from shopping, a Qwest technician had left a note on our door advising that the installation of our DSL line was complete, so I could proceed with configuring the modem. Right ! ! !
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, México
This morning we headed to Los Algodones for our 11 AM appointments for dental cleanings and examinations. I’m extremely irritated that Dr. & Dra. Camacho have lost their ability or willingness to stay on schedule. However, they seem to be the only two dentists ( we can find ) in Los Algodones that don’t engage in a lot of “up sell” ( would you like fries with that ? ). While the Alamo Dental Clinic wanted to do over $5000 worth of root canals, implants, and crowns on me, Dra. ( Mrs. ) Camacho wants to replace one old cavity at a cost of $60 and do deep cleaning / deep scaling / gum surgery on me at a cost of $250. Dr. ( Mr. ) Camacho wants to do nothing more to Joanne after her cleaning today. But … the hour and a quarter “behind schedule” really irritates me.
We didn’t linger in Mexico, crossing the border back into the U.S. immediately after finishing at the dentists. We stopped at Family Dollar to buy an advertised special, then went to Historic Downtown Yuma to pick up some tickets at the box office of Historic Yuma Theater. There was a Farmer’s Market downtown so we bought some fresh vegetables.
I was eager to get back home and resume working on my Qwest modem / router configuration. It went so badly yesterday that I convinced myself that I had done something wrong. So … I reset the modem back to its default state and started over. Using a neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet port and a CD / DVD drive, I reconfigured the modem / router, hard wired to the neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet cable, using the installation CD that came with the modem … as instructed. Then … I reconfigured my netbook to the modem / router online using Wi-Fi … as instructed. Then … for about 3 hours I recorded on a spreadsheet each time the router automatically reset itself because it lost connectivity to the Internet, and how long it maintained connectivity after each reset. The longest duration of connectivity was 22 minutes. There were some one minute and three minute durations. There were many zero minute durations of connectivity. My computer was working just fine. And the modem / router seemed to be working just fine. I can only conclude that Qwest’s DSL lines are that severely overloaded. Which apparently doesn’t stop their sales people from continuing to sell their services ! I will be returning their hardware to them tomorrow ! And telling them where to shove their billing ! And then I’ll be trying to figure out what am I going to do about Internet service for the next three months ? ! ?
Joanne became suddenly and severely ill this evening. Seemed likely to be food poisoning. And … it can’t be blamed on Mexico, we didn’t eat there today.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning we headed out to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to return the Qwest modem / router to the Qwest store. There wasn’t really a problem with returning it and cancelling the service, but at the same time there wasn’t much concern with my dissatisfaction either. I guess their attitude is “ya win some, ya lose some” ! We crossed the mall over to Best Buy where we did some research … in the store and online using one of their Internet connected computers … on USB modems / “air cards”. We decided to buy a Virgin Mobile “Broadband 2 Go” USB modem / air card, but not at Best Buy. It was $20 cheaper online from Virgin Mobile.
We drove to Family Dollar to buy some advertised specials, then headed towards “The Big Curve” … where 32nd Street curves around to become 4th Avenue. We do a lot of our shopping in the vicinity of “The Big Curve”. We stopped at Rally’s and had lunch. Joanne was no longer ill this morning, but still wasn’t feeling great, so she wasn’t “up“ to a Big Buford. I was ! We decided to check whether CVS Pharmacy and / or Walgreens had the Virgin Mobile Broadband 2 Go stick. Neither did, but Walgreens had a “clone”, and it was on sale this week. I bought the ReadyBroadband USB modem and a $25 top-up card, hoping for the best !
We returned home and I began the somewhat onerous task of installing and configuring the ReadyBroadband device. It didn’t go particularly smoothly, but eventually I succeeded. At last … I have Internet in the trailer ! The ReadyBroadband device uses the Sprint network, and while the Sprint coverage map shows our location as having 3G coverage, the speed of the connection would suggest that it’s probably only 2G coverage. The staff at Best Buy warned me that the Sprint coverage map is notoriously inaccurate. Oh well, it’s a bit slow, but I’m happy to finally have Internet in the trailer.
We took Bo for a long walk at sunset. While Joanne prepared supper I began working on a backlog of online work I had to do. I spent much of the evening online getting caught up.
Thursday ; Today was sunny and mild, a bit windy early in the day. Our new USB modem is a “pay as you go” way to access the Internet. Usage is “metered”. Yesterday and today we gobbled up much more “usage” than I would like. I’m going to have to learn how to “conserve” Internet usage.
This morning Joanne did some Internet research. One of the things she wanted more information on was a day trip outing by bus to the Indio Date Festival. Indio is a suburb of Palm Springs, California. So … Happy Birthday, my dear … as a birthday gift for her upcoming 57th birthday I reserved two bus tickets to the Indio Date Festival. Leave Yuma early in the morning, return very late the same night, leave the driving to somebody else ! Gee … I used to give her trips to Rome and Paris for her birthdays. Now … < sigh > … I’m giving her bus trips to Indio !
We were advised by Joanne’s brother-in-law Doug of the death a couple of days ago of a high school classmate of ours. She was a “jock”, the epitome of good health and physical fitness. She died of cancer. < sigh > There’s something strangely ( and perhaps bitterly, from some perspectives ! ) ironic about the fat smoker ( me … although now an ex-smoker ) outliving my “jock” contemporaries !
This afternoon we took Bo and Sully to the veterinarian for their annual examinations and inoculations. Everything was routine, the bill seemed a bit high, but I guess it always does ! We stopped at Peanut Patch and bought some fresh < pleasant sigh > peanut butter. We went to Kofa Ko-op to finalize pick up arrangements with Joanne’s friend Eilene who is joining us on an outing tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on setting up our dental and eye care records in the computer.
Friday ; Today was once again sunny and mild, getting warmer each day. This morning I woke up feeling … well, you know < blush … giggle >.
< insert musical interlude here > Afterwards I completed our 2010 medical expenses spreadsheet for income tax purposes and calculated our 2011 Pharmacare deductible and co-pay amounts. After lunch we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up Joanne’s friend Eilene.
We went to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Historic Yuma Theater, to attend the Popovich Comedy Pet Show, the kick off to Petsapalooza, this weekend’s pet festival in Yuma. Gregory Popovich is a Russian juggler / comedian / animal trainer with a show lasting over an hour featuring about a dozen dogs and at least that many cats, as well as a parrot and a trio of ducks. The “tricks” that the dogs do are great. The “tricks” that the cats do are astounding ! ! ! Cats are not that easy to train. I know ! ! ! Most of his animals are adopted from shelters. He and his animals put on a great show.
When we came out of the theatre we walked over to Tour West America to buy two tickets for the bus trip to the Indio Date Festival, my birthday gift to Joanne. Well, three tickets, actually … Eilene is going to join us on that trip. On the way home we refilled with diesel and drove Eilene back home to Kofa Ko-op. Joanne went in to visit with Eilene for an hour while I worked online in the clubhouse using Wi-Fi. We got home to Rancho Bonitos with just enough daylight left to take Bo for his daily long walk. BRRRRR … it gets cool very rapidly out here in the desert as soon as the sun goes down. We made a great supper of barbecued beef roast with a spinach and barbecued potato salad. MMMMM !
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm … finally !
This morning we took care of a few chores then headed out for a day of shopping. First stop was Big 5 Sporting Goods, looking for a 1½ inch parachute buckle to replace the broken buckle on my fanny pack. I have looked everywhere for a 1½ inch parachute buckle ! Big 5 Sporting Goods did not have one ! Next stop was the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. It was “50% off everything” day. We bought some clothing. Then it was over to the Indoor Flea Market, new this year, located in a huge space that was previously a large department store. I gave up on my search for a 1½ inch parachute buckle and just bought a new fanny pack.
Next week I am going to have oral surgery. Joanne wanted to go to Hometown Buffet before that to use some discount coupons that expire soon, figuring that I won’t want to go to a buffet soon after oral surgery. So … we went to Hometown Buffet for a very large, late lunch. Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon at a parking lot RV sale at Las Palmillas Mall. We browsed through all of the fifth wheel trailers on display, then browsed through some Class A motorhomes and Class C motorhomes. There wasn’t much we liked ! I guess 6½ years of full time RV’ing has made us pretty picky about the features that we want in an RV. We chatted for quite awhile with a couple from Missouri when we went back to take a second look at the only fifth wheel ( of a dozen or so ) that we liked. Like us, they have a 2005 Dodge one ton diesel dually and a Cardinal fifth wheel trailer, although their trailer is newer than ours.
We returned home just at sunset, just in time to take Bo for a walk. In the evening we watched a movie ; Lorenzo’s Oil. Wow ! ! !
DSK
Sunday ; This morning was sunny and cold, warming throughout the day. The weather has been like that for a couple of days, and is expected to be like that for the next week or so.
This morning I did some chores and Joanne did laundry. After lunch we went to Yuma Park N Swap, also known as the Dog Track Flea Market because it’s behind the old Greyhound racing track. I don’t think they race Greyhounds there any more, but I’m not sure.
At 6 PM we went to the Rancho Bonitos monthly “birthday social” at the clubhouse, not sure what to expect. What we found was … a dark, empty clubhouse ! Okay … I guess our events calendar is out of date ? ! We browsed VCR tapes in the library and selected some movies to watch. I’ve had enough of Mexican soap operas !
At 7 PM we returned to the clubhouse to play card bingo. We didn’t know what that was, but we thought we should get to know more of our
“neighbours” by attending some of the planned social activities. Oh boy, I won a game. My winnings were 90 cents … in nickels !
We returned home and had a “movie date”. We watched “In The Line Of Fire” starring Clint Eastwood. I looooove Clint Eastwood movies. Ever since “Play Misty For Me” in 1971 !
Monday ; Well, it is now 10 PM and I have been working for 5½ hours on configuring my new Qwest modem / router, and getting connected to the Internet. That was supposed to be an eleven minute process ! ! !
I configured the modem / router in 3½ hours … or so I thought … and for the last 2 hours I have been trying to get connected to the Internet. Which I seem to be able to do for a few minutes at a time, and then things go wonky. I think Qwest is having problems tonight, but I can’t be sure. It might be my computer, or perhaps the new modem / router. In any case, I’m pretty frustrated with it all !
Today was sunny and cool. This morning we drove to Wal-Mart, I dropped Joanne off, then I went with Bo to Yuma Bark Park behind Wal-Mart. Bo and I spent an hour in Bark Park then we went back to Wal-Mart to pick up Joanne. On the way home we refilled a water jug and a propane tank, and we stopped at a hardware store to look for a few items. At the hardware store we bumped into a neighbour from back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
In the afternoon I worked on monthly computer maintenance chores ; disk cleanup, disk defragment, virus scan, malware scan, backups, that sort of stuff. And then < huge sigh > I began to work on configuring the new modem. By the time we had returned from shopping, a Qwest technician had left a note on our door advising that the installation of our DSL line was complete, so I could proceed with configuring the modem. Right ! ! !
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, México
This morning we headed to Los Algodones for our 11 AM appointments for dental cleanings and examinations. I’m extremely irritated that Dr. & Dra. Camacho have lost their ability or willingness to stay on schedule. However, they seem to be the only two dentists ( we can find ) in Los Algodones that don’t engage in a lot of “up sell” ( would you like fries with that ? ). While the Alamo Dental Clinic wanted to do over $5000 worth of root canals, implants, and crowns on me, Dra. ( Mrs. ) Camacho wants to replace one old cavity at a cost of $60 and do deep cleaning / deep scaling / gum surgery on me at a cost of $250. Dr. ( Mr. ) Camacho wants to do nothing more to Joanne after her cleaning today. But … the hour and a quarter “behind schedule” really irritates me.
We didn’t linger in Mexico, crossing the border back into the U.S. immediately after finishing at the dentists. We stopped at Family Dollar to buy an advertised special, then went to Historic Downtown Yuma to pick up some tickets at the box office of Historic Yuma Theater. There was a Farmer’s Market downtown so we bought some fresh vegetables.
I was eager to get back home and resume working on my Qwest modem / router configuration. It went so badly yesterday that I convinced myself that I had done something wrong. So … I reset the modem back to its default state and started over. Using a neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet port and a CD / DVD drive, I reconfigured the modem / router, hard wired to the neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet cable, using the installation CD that came with the modem … as instructed. Then … I reconfigured my netbook to the modem / router online using Wi-Fi … as instructed. Then … for about 3 hours I recorded on a spreadsheet each time the router automatically reset itself because it lost connectivity to the Internet, and how long it maintained connectivity after each reset. The longest duration of connectivity was 22 minutes. There were some one minute and three minute durations. There were many zero minute durations of connectivity. My computer was working just fine. And the modem / router seemed to be working just fine. I can only conclude that Qwest’s DSL lines are that severely overloaded. Which apparently doesn’t stop their sales people from continuing to sell their services ! I will be returning their hardware to them tomorrow ! And telling them where to shove their billing ! And then I’ll be trying to figure out what am I going to do about Internet service for the next three months ? ! ?
Joanne became suddenly and severely ill this evening. Seemed likely to be food poisoning. And … it can’t be blamed on Mexico, we didn’t eat there today.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning we headed out to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to return the Qwest modem / router to the Qwest store. There wasn’t really a problem with returning it and cancelling the service, but at the same time there wasn’t much concern with my dissatisfaction either. I guess their attitude is “ya win some, ya lose some” ! We crossed the mall over to Best Buy where we did some research … in the store and online using one of their Internet connected computers … on USB modems / “air cards”. We decided to buy a Virgin Mobile “Broadband 2 Go” USB modem / air card, but not at Best Buy. It was $20 cheaper online from Virgin Mobile.
We drove to Family Dollar to buy some advertised specials, then headed towards “The Big Curve” … where 32nd Street curves around to become 4th Avenue. We do a lot of our shopping in the vicinity of “The Big Curve”. We stopped at Rally’s and had lunch. Joanne was no longer ill this morning, but still wasn’t feeling great, so she wasn’t “up“ to a Big Buford. I was ! We decided to check whether CVS Pharmacy and / or Walgreens had the Virgin Mobile Broadband 2 Go stick. Neither did, but Walgreens had a “clone”, and it was on sale this week. I bought the ReadyBroadband USB modem and a $25 top-up card, hoping for the best !
We returned home and I began the somewhat onerous task of installing and configuring the ReadyBroadband device. It didn’t go particularly smoothly, but eventually I succeeded. At last … I have Internet in the trailer ! The ReadyBroadband device uses the Sprint network, and while the Sprint coverage map shows our location as having 3G coverage, the speed of the connection would suggest that it’s probably only 2G coverage. The staff at Best Buy warned me that the Sprint coverage map is notoriously inaccurate. Oh well, it’s a bit slow, but I’m happy to finally have Internet in the trailer.
We took Bo for a long walk at sunset. While Joanne prepared supper I began working on a backlog of online work I had to do. I spent much of the evening online getting caught up.
Thursday ; Today was sunny and mild, a bit windy early in the day. Our new USB modem is a “pay as you go” way to access the Internet. Usage is “metered”. Yesterday and today we gobbled up much more “usage” than I would like. I’m going to have to learn how to “conserve” Internet usage.
This morning Joanne did some Internet research. One of the things she wanted more information on was a day trip outing by bus to the Indio Date Festival. Indio is a suburb of Palm Springs, California. So … Happy Birthday, my dear … as a birthday gift for her upcoming 57th birthday I reserved two bus tickets to the Indio Date Festival. Leave Yuma early in the morning, return very late the same night, leave the driving to somebody else ! Gee … I used to give her trips to Rome and Paris for her birthdays. Now … < sigh > … I’m giving her bus trips to Indio !
We were advised by Joanne’s brother-in-law Doug of the death a couple of days ago of a high school classmate of ours. She was a “jock”, the epitome of good health and physical fitness. She died of cancer. < sigh > There’s something strangely ( and perhaps bitterly, from some perspectives ! ) ironic about the fat smoker ( me … although now an ex-smoker ) outliving my “jock” contemporaries !
This afternoon we took Bo and Sully to the veterinarian for their annual examinations and inoculations. Everything was routine, the bill seemed a bit high, but I guess it always does ! We stopped at Peanut Patch and bought some fresh < pleasant sigh > peanut butter. We went to Kofa Ko-op to finalize pick up arrangements with Joanne’s friend Eilene who is joining us on an outing tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on setting up our dental and eye care records in the computer.
Friday ; Today was once again sunny and mild, getting warmer each day. This morning I woke up feeling … well, you know < blush … giggle >.
< insert musical interlude here > Afterwards I completed our 2010 medical expenses spreadsheet for income tax purposes and calculated our 2011 Pharmacare deductible and co-pay amounts. After lunch we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up Joanne’s friend Eilene.
We went to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Historic Yuma Theater, to attend the Popovich Comedy Pet Show, the kick off to Petsapalooza, this weekend’s pet festival in Yuma. Gregory Popovich is a Russian juggler / comedian / animal trainer with a show lasting over an hour featuring about a dozen dogs and at least that many cats, as well as a parrot and a trio of ducks. The “tricks” that the dogs do are great. The “tricks” that the cats do are astounding ! ! ! Cats are not that easy to train. I know ! ! ! Most of his animals are adopted from shelters. He and his animals put on a great show.
When we came out of the theatre we walked over to Tour West America to buy two tickets for the bus trip to the Indio Date Festival, my birthday gift to Joanne. Well, three tickets, actually … Eilene is going to join us on that trip. On the way home we refilled with diesel and drove Eilene back home to Kofa Ko-op. Joanne went in to visit with Eilene for an hour while I worked online in the clubhouse using Wi-Fi. We got home to Rancho Bonitos with just enough daylight left to take Bo for his daily long walk. BRRRRR … it gets cool very rapidly out here in the desert as soon as the sun goes down. We made a great supper of barbecued beef roast with a spinach and barbecued potato salad. MMMMM !
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm … finally !
This morning we took care of a few chores then headed out for a day of shopping. First stop was Big 5 Sporting Goods, looking for a 1½ inch parachute buckle to replace the broken buckle on my fanny pack. I have looked everywhere for a 1½ inch parachute buckle ! Big 5 Sporting Goods did not have one ! Next stop was the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. It was “50% off everything” day. We bought some clothing. Then it was over to the Indoor Flea Market, new this year, located in a huge space that was previously a large department store. I gave up on my search for a 1½ inch parachute buckle and just bought a new fanny pack.
Next week I am going to have oral surgery. Joanne wanted to go to Hometown Buffet before that to use some discount coupons that expire soon, figuring that I won’t want to go to a buffet soon after oral surgery. So … we went to Hometown Buffet for a very large, late lunch. Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon at a parking lot RV sale at Las Palmillas Mall. We browsed through all of the fifth wheel trailers on display, then browsed through some Class A motorhomes and Class C motorhomes. There wasn’t much we liked ! I guess 6½ years of full time RV’ing has made us pretty picky about the features that we want in an RV. We chatted for quite awhile with a couple from Missouri when we went back to take a second look at the only fifth wheel ( of a dozen or so ) that we liked. Like us, they have a 2005 Dodge one ton diesel dually and a Cardinal fifth wheel trailer, although their trailer is newer than ours.
We returned home just at sunset, just in time to take Bo for a walk. In the evening we watched a movie ; Lorenzo’s Oil. Wow ! ! !
DSK
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
December 26, 2010 to January 1, 2011
December 26, 2010 to January 1, 2011
Sunday ; Today was partially cloudy and mild. This morning I made the Kirby family’s traditional Christmas brunch of Belgian waffles served with a layer of strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream. WOO-HOO ! Well, that’s not how Joanne eats waffles. Or my brother-in-law Bud. I guess it’s just the Kirby family that slathers jam and ice cream on their waffles. Joanne was satisfied with the waffles I made on my new waffle iron. I wasn’t. I guess there’s a bit of a learning curve with a new waffle iron.
After brunch we went to do a bit of shopping. A local mattress and bedding business had advertised a Boxing Day Sale with all sizes of sheet sets on sale for $16.99. Well, we drove halfway across town to find out that they meant all sizes except short / RV Queen size. That really pissed me off !
I dropped Joanne and Bo off at home then continued on to Kofa Ko-op to use their excellent Wi-Fi signal in the clubhouse to upload my weekly blog entry, and to make a very long phone call to my sister.
Back at home I did some minor maintenance chores then we took Bo for a long walk beside the agricultural fields adjacent to the RV park. We’re all going to miss Kofa Ko-op’s dog park. We chatted with some French Canadian residents of the park / neighbours who have lived in both BC and Ottawa.
One of the Christmas gifts I gave Joanne was mulling spices, so at bedtime I made us hot mulled apple cider.
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning we headed down to Mexico. I had an appointment at 11 AM for an examination and consultation with a periodontist at Alamo Dental Clinic. Well … what a thorough and professional examination and consultation. It took about an hour and a half ! It involved a full mouth series of x-rays, a full mouth series of digital photographs, an upper and lower set of moulds, and a tooth by tooth examination and documentation. The equipment used was very “high tech”. The x-rays were transmitted to and displayed on the computer in the exam room, as were the enlarged photographs of all my teeth, from the front and behind. The female dentist and her female assistant were both very personable and spoke English well. And the cost was … wait for it … < insert drum roll here, please > … absolutely nothing ! ! !
WOW ! ! ! But … her approach to my dental “requirements” resulted in an estimate of $5236 ! Which is probably something in the range of $21,000 worth of work at a Canadian ( or American ) dentist. Her “suggested” work would result in me having the most perfect mouthful of teeth you could possibly imagine. Her definition of “necessary” and mine are quite a bit different, I think. So … after all that, I decided the smartest thing to do would be to return to Dr. Camacho, whom we have been seeing for about the last six years or so, and have him do a cleaning and examination. His definition of what is “necessary” dental work is far closer to our definition. I’m not going to be surprised if his estimate of what dental work I “need” is no more than a couple of hundred bucks !
By the way, the Doctora’s ( female doctor’s ) first name was Yuri. With the Spanish “Y” sounding like an English “J”, and a heavily rolled “R”, the pronunciation sounds like “Judy”.
Joanne went to make two appointments with Dr. Camacho for next week while I went to get a much needed haircut. A $3 haircut ! And a damn fine one at that ! My hairstylist today was a young lady named Fabiola Carrera. Then we went for lunch to a small restaurant that is a favourite of ours. MMMMM … each of us had tres tacos ; uno taco carne asada, uno taco pollo, uno taco pescado por Joanne, y uno taco camarón por mÃ. A buck a taco !
After lunch we crossed the street to Mini Mercado San Valentin to buy 2 litres of Yomi-Lala, Joanne’s beloved Mexican chocolate milk. Next door at the paleteria y nueveria ( frozen desserts shop ) Joanne bought a chocolate and shredded coconut coated frozen banana for dessert < rolling my eyes >. We went into a health food store … Centro Botanico “El Chicural” … to look at different teas and buy a jar of Arnica ointment. Then … WOO-HOO … the panaderia for some pan dulce. The line up to cross back into the United States was as long as ever, but thanks to last year’s redesign of the border crossing building and process, we were across in less than thirty minutes. As opposed to previous years’ 1½ to 2 hours !
On the way home we stopped to shop for a few items at Family Dollar. We arrived home shortly after 4 PM and headed for the pool and hot tub. It seemed a bit too late in the day for the pool, but the hot tub was great ! When we were finished, there was just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.
Our priority task for today was to open a bank account here in Yuma. We will need to have a bank account here to transact a real estate deal some time within the next year. So this morning we headed out for an appointment we had to open an account at Bank of America. We were a bit early so I made a stop at Pep Boys Auto to shop for a couple of items.
It took over an hour to get our bank account established. It’s a bit complicated for a “foreign visitor” to open a bank account in the United States. And likely much more so since 9/11. Fair enough ! From Bank of America we went to Walgreen’s for some advertised specials then Albertson’s for some groceries.
Back at home we had a very late lunch, I napped with Sully, Joanne prepared to do laundry, and we headed to the park’s laundromat adjacent to the pool area. While the laundry washed we lounged around the pool and hot tub. And lay on deck chairs soaking up the warm desert sun. AHHHHH !
I need sunshine ! While the laundry dried we took Bo for a long walk. We have established a daily routine of going for a long walk along a sandy trail beside some agricultural fields and citrus groves adjacent to the RV park. While Joanne finished the laundry I took Sully outside for a “walk” in the warm afternoon sun. Sully’s “walks” don’t cover a lot of ground !
Wednesday ; Today was cold, cloudy, windy, and rainy. A pretty crappy weather day !
This morning I went to Rancho Bonitos’ weekly coffee social to introduce myself, meet the “neighbours”, and ask questions about Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable TV. Afterwards I packed up my little netbook computer and some paperwork, and drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use the excellent
Wi-Fi signal in their clubhouse. I phoned Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable. I decided to subscribe to Qwest Internet but not Time Warner Cable TV. I will have to go pick up a modem / router at Qwest’s retail store in the Yuma Palms Shopping Center, and a service technician will come out to Rancho Bonitos on Monday to set up my service. I will have to borrow a computer from a neighbour on Monday to configure the modem / router. It requires connection to a computer via an Ethernet cable to download the configuration for my site / account and my little netbook doesn’t have an Ethernet port. Once the modem is configured, it becomes a router and transmits a wireless Wi-Fi signal.
I phoned our local veterinarian and set up appointments for examinations and inoculations for Bo and Sully next week. I signed onto the Bank of America online banking website and completed the setup of my online banking account. I returned to Rancho Bonitos and went to see Ron, the caretaker and son of our lot owner, to get the key to our site’s mailbox and to ask for his help on Monday with configuring my Qwest modem / router. Our mailbox had a lot of junk mail in it. And a letter from our veterinarian addressed to last year’s renter of our lot. I will return the letter to them when we take Bo and Sully in next week.
It was too cold and windy this afternoon, even though the rain had stopped, to wash the truck which was our plan. Joanne spent much of the afternoon cleaning in the trailer with an awesome cleaner that she discovered last year at the Arizona Market Place flea market. It’s called … wait for it …
“Awesome”. We bought a bottle last Thursday and today she did a lot of cleaning with it. Guess we’re going to have to soon buy more ! We took Bo for his daily long walk.
Since arriving at Rancho Bonitos the only TV we have been able to watch are the four stations we can receive “free over air” using the trailer’s antenna. One station is English language religious programming. The other three are Mexican stations. We are slowly improving our Spanish language skills. Every evening I watch the news in Spanish, then Joanne watches Mexican soap operas. HA HA HA … the Mexicans / Hispanics certainly do love their drama ! The most educational are the commercials. HA HA HA … VENTE PERCENTO DESCUENTO ! ! ! SOLAMENTE HASTA TRES ENERO ! ! !
Thursday ; Today was sunny, cool, and windy. We slept late so accomplished almost nothing this morning, but had an extremely productive afternoon.
After lunch we washed the truck. Washing the truck in Yuma is always more work than washing it anywhere else. There are so many minerals in the water, mostly salt I think, that the entire truck must be dried with towels. Letting Yuma’s water evaporate off a vehicle after washing it leaves the vehicle horribly streaked and spotted. Yeah … been there, done that ! And … BRRRRR … it was a bit cold for truck washing today ! After finishing the truck we took Bo for his daily long walk, then I decided to start another job. I needed to rewire the fridge to a dedicated 12 volt circuit. During all that new fridge drama I discovered that it was a voltage problem for the new fridge to share a circuit with the lights in the kitchen, one of which is fluorescent. So … since the installation of the new fridge we have not been able to use the fluorescent light over the sink. That’s a bit of a problem for cooking and washing dishes.
I started … and finished … the job. I rewired the fridge so that the kitchen lights have a circuit to themselves, and the fridge is all by itself on a new circuit. That was possible because the new converter / charger has more circuits available than the old converter. Well done, Daniel !
Friday ; New Year’s Eve ; Today was sunny and cold again. BRRRRR … hope the warm weather returns soon !
This morning we headed to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to run some shopping errands. Bo came along for a “drivey”. On the way there we passed a field full of sheep. I pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down the window, and let Bo bark ferociously at them until they stampeded away. HA HA HA … hundreds of sheep running away from Bo’s barking. He loooooves to make sheep and cattle stampede like that. Bad Daniel !
As we arrived at Yuma Palms Bo got very excited. Darn … he recognized that we were in the PetsMart mall. I went to the Qwest store to pick up the modem / router for the Qwest Internet service I have subscribed to and which will be installed at our site on Monday. And then we went to PetsMart. Not to buy anything, just to wander around the store for a few minutes so that Bo could “shop”. Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart. Joanne wanted to look for an item at Target, and I wanted to look for an item at a fabric store. There was one next door to Target. She found what she was looking for. I didn’t ! We drove to Albertsons for some groceries, then home. WHEW … what a lot of shoppers on New Year’s Eve !
This evening we attended the Rancho Bonitos Casino Night / New Year’s Eve party. It was an evening of casino games with a break on an hourly basis for an auction and door prize drawing. We each started the evening with 6000 purchased “Bonitos Bucks”, used for gambling and bidding on auction items. At the end of the evening I had 7300 Bonitos Bucks. Joanne had zero ! And we won door prizes, first a large can of mixed nuts at 8 PM then a bottle of red wine from Argentina at 11 PM. Too bad we don’t drink red wine ! We were surprised, although we shouldn’t have been, when it was spontaneously and impulsively decided that the festivities ended after the 11 PM door prize draw and auction. Most RV parks that we have been in on New Year’s Eve are filled with old folks who can’t stay up until midnight. The one notable exception was Saguaro Co-op, the SKP park in Benson, Arizona. Now those folks know how to party !
We returned to the trailer, made mulled apple cider, and watched the New Year arrive on Mexican TV … Celebrando Año Nuevo En Vivo !
FELIZ AÑO NUEVO / HAPPY NEW YEAR
Saturday ; New Year’s Day ; Today was sunny and cool.
For much of last year I held onto a dream of passing from the old year into the new while standing in the dark with a glass of wine in my hand in the warm waters of the South Pacific Ocean at Villas Onac Resort in Teacapán, Mexico. Oh well, another dream dashed !
After a late morning brunch I drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use their Wi-Fi signal. I retrieved year end banking and investment statements. I purchased … I hope … two tickets to an event next Friday. I used a Canadian bank issued U.S.$ MasterCard to buy the tickets online. As has happened in the past, my MasterCard number may have confused the computer that was processing my order. Maybe the transaction was completed successfully … maybe not !
Back at home at Rancho Bonitos I napped with Sully, we took Bo for a long walk, I printed the banking and investment statements, reconciled the bank statements, then began updating my investment files with year end data. From an investment perspective, 2010 was a “good” year, I suppose.
DSK
Sunday ; Today was partially cloudy and mild. This morning I made the Kirby family’s traditional Christmas brunch of Belgian waffles served with a layer of strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream. WOO-HOO ! Well, that’s not how Joanne eats waffles. Or my brother-in-law Bud. I guess it’s just the Kirby family that slathers jam and ice cream on their waffles. Joanne was satisfied with the waffles I made on my new waffle iron. I wasn’t. I guess there’s a bit of a learning curve with a new waffle iron.
After brunch we went to do a bit of shopping. A local mattress and bedding business had advertised a Boxing Day Sale with all sizes of sheet sets on sale for $16.99. Well, we drove halfway across town to find out that they meant all sizes except short / RV Queen size. That really pissed me off !
I dropped Joanne and Bo off at home then continued on to Kofa Ko-op to use their excellent Wi-Fi signal in the clubhouse to upload my weekly blog entry, and to make a very long phone call to my sister.
Back at home I did some minor maintenance chores then we took Bo for a long walk beside the agricultural fields adjacent to the RV park. We’re all going to miss Kofa Ko-op’s dog park. We chatted with some French Canadian residents of the park / neighbours who have lived in both BC and Ottawa.
One of the Christmas gifts I gave Joanne was mulling spices, so at bedtime I made us hot mulled apple cider.
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning we headed down to Mexico. I had an appointment at 11 AM for an examination and consultation with a periodontist at Alamo Dental Clinic. Well … what a thorough and professional examination and consultation. It took about an hour and a half ! It involved a full mouth series of x-rays, a full mouth series of digital photographs, an upper and lower set of moulds, and a tooth by tooth examination and documentation. The equipment used was very “high tech”. The x-rays were transmitted to and displayed on the computer in the exam room, as were the enlarged photographs of all my teeth, from the front and behind. The female dentist and her female assistant were both very personable and spoke English well. And the cost was … wait for it … < insert drum roll here, please > … absolutely nothing ! ! !
WOW ! ! ! But … her approach to my dental “requirements” resulted in an estimate of $5236 ! Which is probably something in the range of $21,000 worth of work at a Canadian ( or American ) dentist. Her “suggested” work would result in me having the most perfect mouthful of teeth you could possibly imagine. Her definition of “necessary” and mine are quite a bit different, I think. So … after all that, I decided the smartest thing to do would be to return to Dr. Camacho, whom we have been seeing for about the last six years or so, and have him do a cleaning and examination. His definition of what is “necessary” dental work is far closer to our definition. I’m not going to be surprised if his estimate of what dental work I “need” is no more than a couple of hundred bucks !
By the way, the Doctora’s ( female doctor’s ) first name was Yuri. With the Spanish “Y” sounding like an English “J”, and a heavily rolled “R”, the pronunciation sounds like “Judy”.
Joanne went to make two appointments with Dr. Camacho for next week while I went to get a much needed haircut. A $3 haircut ! And a damn fine one at that ! My hairstylist today was a young lady named Fabiola Carrera. Then we went for lunch to a small restaurant that is a favourite of ours. MMMMM … each of us had tres tacos ; uno taco carne asada, uno taco pollo, uno taco pescado por Joanne, y uno taco camarón por mÃ. A buck a taco !
After lunch we crossed the street to Mini Mercado San Valentin to buy 2 litres of Yomi-Lala, Joanne’s beloved Mexican chocolate milk. Next door at the paleteria y nueveria ( frozen desserts shop ) Joanne bought a chocolate and shredded coconut coated frozen banana for dessert < rolling my eyes >. We went into a health food store … Centro Botanico “El Chicural” … to look at different teas and buy a jar of Arnica ointment. Then … WOO-HOO … the panaderia for some pan dulce. The line up to cross back into the United States was as long as ever, but thanks to last year’s redesign of the border crossing building and process, we were across in less than thirty minutes. As opposed to previous years’ 1½ to 2 hours !
On the way home we stopped to shop for a few items at Family Dollar. We arrived home shortly after 4 PM and headed for the pool and hot tub. It seemed a bit too late in the day for the pool, but the hot tub was great ! When we were finished, there was just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.
Our priority task for today was to open a bank account here in Yuma. We will need to have a bank account here to transact a real estate deal some time within the next year. So this morning we headed out for an appointment we had to open an account at Bank of America. We were a bit early so I made a stop at Pep Boys Auto to shop for a couple of items.
It took over an hour to get our bank account established. It’s a bit complicated for a “foreign visitor” to open a bank account in the United States. And likely much more so since 9/11. Fair enough ! From Bank of America we went to Walgreen’s for some advertised specials then Albertson’s for some groceries.
Back at home we had a very late lunch, I napped with Sully, Joanne prepared to do laundry, and we headed to the park’s laundromat adjacent to the pool area. While the laundry washed we lounged around the pool and hot tub. And lay on deck chairs soaking up the warm desert sun. AHHHHH !
I need sunshine ! While the laundry dried we took Bo for a long walk. We have established a daily routine of going for a long walk along a sandy trail beside some agricultural fields and citrus groves adjacent to the RV park. While Joanne finished the laundry I took Sully outside for a “walk” in the warm afternoon sun. Sully’s “walks” don’t cover a lot of ground !
Wednesday ; Today was cold, cloudy, windy, and rainy. A pretty crappy weather day !
This morning I went to Rancho Bonitos’ weekly coffee social to introduce myself, meet the “neighbours”, and ask questions about Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable TV. Afterwards I packed up my little netbook computer and some paperwork, and drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use the excellent
Wi-Fi signal in their clubhouse. I phoned Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable. I decided to subscribe to Qwest Internet but not Time Warner Cable TV. I will have to go pick up a modem / router at Qwest’s retail store in the Yuma Palms Shopping Center, and a service technician will come out to Rancho Bonitos on Monday to set up my service. I will have to borrow a computer from a neighbour on Monday to configure the modem / router. It requires connection to a computer via an Ethernet cable to download the configuration for my site / account and my little netbook doesn’t have an Ethernet port. Once the modem is configured, it becomes a router and transmits a wireless Wi-Fi signal.
I phoned our local veterinarian and set up appointments for examinations and inoculations for Bo and Sully next week. I signed onto the Bank of America online banking website and completed the setup of my online banking account. I returned to Rancho Bonitos and went to see Ron, the caretaker and son of our lot owner, to get the key to our site’s mailbox and to ask for his help on Monday with configuring my Qwest modem / router. Our mailbox had a lot of junk mail in it. And a letter from our veterinarian addressed to last year’s renter of our lot. I will return the letter to them when we take Bo and Sully in next week.
It was too cold and windy this afternoon, even though the rain had stopped, to wash the truck which was our plan. Joanne spent much of the afternoon cleaning in the trailer with an awesome cleaner that she discovered last year at the Arizona Market Place flea market. It’s called … wait for it …
“Awesome”. We bought a bottle last Thursday and today she did a lot of cleaning with it. Guess we’re going to have to soon buy more ! We took Bo for his daily long walk.
Since arriving at Rancho Bonitos the only TV we have been able to watch are the four stations we can receive “free over air” using the trailer’s antenna. One station is English language religious programming. The other three are Mexican stations. We are slowly improving our Spanish language skills. Every evening I watch the news in Spanish, then Joanne watches Mexican soap operas. HA HA HA … the Mexicans / Hispanics certainly do love their drama ! The most educational are the commercials. HA HA HA … VENTE PERCENTO DESCUENTO ! ! ! SOLAMENTE HASTA TRES ENERO ! ! !
Thursday ; Today was sunny, cool, and windy. We slept late so accomplished almost nothing this morning, but had an extremely productive afternoon.
After lunch we washed the truck. Washing the truck in Yuma is always more work than washing it anywhere else. There are so many minerals in the water, mostly salt I think, that the entire truck must be dried with towels. Letting Yuma’s water evaporate off a vehicle after washing it leaves the vehicle horribly streaked and spotted. Yeah … been there, done that ! And … BRRRRR … it was a bit cold for truck washing today ! After finishing the truck we took Bo for his daily long walk, then I decided to start another job. I needed to rewire the fridge to a dedicated 12 volt circuit. During all that new fridge drama I discovered that it was a voltage problem for the new fridge to share a circuit with the lights in the kitchen, one of which is fluorescent. So … since the installation of the new fridge we have not been able to use the fluorescent light over the sink. That’s a bit of a problem for cooking and washing dishes.
I started … and finished … the job. I rewired the fridge so that the kitchen lights have a circuit to themselves, and the fridge is all by itself on a new circuit. That was possible because the new converter / charger has more circuits available than the old converter. Well done, Daniel !
Friday ; New Year’s Eve ; Today was sunny and cold again. BRRRRR … hope the warm weather returns soon !
This morning we headed to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to run some shopping errands. Bo came along for a “drivey”. On the way there we passed a field full of sheep. I pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down the window, and let Bo bark ferociously at them until they stampeded away. HA HA HA … hundreds of sheep running away from Bo’s barking. He loooooves to make sheep and cattle stampede like that. Bad Daniel !
As we arrived at Yuma Palms Bo got very excited. Darn … he recognized that we were in the PetsMart mall. I went to the Qwest store to pick up the modem / router for the Qwest Internet service I have subscribed to and which will be installed at our site on Monday. And then we went to PetsMart. Not to buy anything, just to wander around the store for a few minutes so that Bo could “shop”. Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart. Joanne wanted to look for an item at Target, and I wanted to look for an item at a fabric store. There was one next door to Target. She found what she was looking for. I didn’t ! We drove to Albertsons for some groceries, then home. WHEW … what a lot of shoppers on New Year’s Eve !
This evening we attended the Rancho Bonitos Casino Night / New Year’s Eve party. It was an evening of casino games with a break on an hourly basis for an auction and door prize drawing. We each started the evening with 6000 purchased “Bonitos Bucks”, used for gambling and bidding on auction items. At the end of the evening I had 7300 Bonitos Bucks. Joanne had zero ! And we won door prizes, first a large can of mixed nuts at 8 PM then a bottle of red wine from Argentina at 11 PM. Too bad we don’t drink red wine ! We were surprised, although we shouldn’t have been, when it was spontaneously and impulsively decided that the festivities ended after the 11 PM door prize draw and auction. Most RV parks that we have been in on New Year’s Eve are filled with old folks who can’t stay up until midnight. The one notable exception was Saguaro Co-op, the SKP park in Benson, Arizona. Now those folks know how to party !
We returned to the trailer, made mulled apple cider, and watched the New Year arrive on Mexican TV … Celebrando Año Nuevo En Vivo !
FELIZ AÑO NUEVO / HAPPY NEW YEAR
Saturday ; New Year’s Day ; Today was sunny and cool.
For much of last year I held onto a dream of passing from the old year into the new while standing in the dark with a glass of wine in my hand in the warm waters of the South Pacific Ocean at Villas Onac Resort in Teacapán, Mexico. Oh well, another dream dashed !
After a late morning brunch I drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use their Wi-Fi signal. I retrieved year end banking and investment statements. I purchased … I hope … two tickets to an event next Friday. I used a Canadian bank issued U.S.$ MasterCard to buy the tickets online. As has happened in the past, my MasterCard number may have confused the computer that was processing my order. Maybe the transaction was completed successfully … maybe not !
Back at home at Rancho Bonitos I napped with Sully, we took Bo for a long walk, I printed the banking and investment statements, reconciled the bank statements, then began updating my investment files with year end data. From an investment perspective, 2010 was a “good” year, I suppose.
DSK
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