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
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