February 20 to 26, 2011

February 20 to 26, 2011


Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy early in the day.

This morning we headed out to run errands. First stop was Barney’s to refill with diesel and buy a Sunday newspaper. Gee, the price of fuel has increased a lot in the last month or so. Next stop was Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market / Swap Meet Los Perros. Take your pick of names !
I didn’t find all the hardware items I was looking for. Joanne did not find all the produce items she was looking for. Artichokes are not yet in the market this year. HMPH … I want a big, fresh artichoke soon ! We drove to Lowe’s where I bought the items I couldn’t find at the flea market. HMPH … paid about four times as much !

Early this afternoon we drove to Kofa Ko-op where our friend Eilene was hosting an appreciation luncheon for her friends. She’s a widow, doesn’t drive anymore, and relies on friends to take her where she needs or wants to go. So today was her “thank you”. Her luncheon was held in Kofa Ko-op’s lovely, large gazebo. We had lunch and socialized. While we were at Kofa Ko-op we took the opportunity to join Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 and sign up for Chapter 7’s upcoming luncheon. We had been planning to join Chapter 7 next winter when we become lot owners at Kofa Ko-op, but we decided to do it now so that we could attend the upcoming luncheon. Roadrunners Chapter 7 is the Yuma area Escapees chapter. So … Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 will be our summer chapter and Roadrunners Chapter 7 will be our winter chapter.

When we returned home I was eager to attempt to remove some of the sutures in my mouth. It has been eight days since my lower gum surgery and some of the sutures were really becoming irritated and irritating. A week after my upper gum surgery, my periodontist removed the sutures from the upper gums before operating on the lower gums. But the sutures in the lower gums were supposed to remain until they dissolve. I couldn’t wait. It was too uncomfortable. So, with considerable difficulty … OUCH … I cut and removed two of the sutures. I’m not sure if there are four or five sutures in there, but the first and the last were bothering me. AHHHHH … what relief, that feels better !

Since we were so intrigued by watching a Stanley Kubrick film last night
( Dr. Strangelove ) we decided to watch another one tonight. “2001 : a space odyssey”. Even allowing for the fact that it was made 43 years ago … how pretentious … and tedious !

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. And today was like … “The Day Of The Freebie”.

Passport America is having a rally here in Yuma this week, at the Yuma County Fairgrounds. We are Passport America members, and while we didn’t want to haul the trailer to the fairgrounds and attend the entire rally, we were interested in finding out if we could attend some of the rally activities / events as guests / day visitors. This morning we headed to the Yuma County Fairgrounds. We got the information we were looking for, and decided we would like to attend a couple of the rally’s scheduled information seminars, one today and one tomorrow. As Passport America members we could attend any of the rally’s seminars for free. Today’s seminar was more than an hour away, so we thought we had time to go for lunch and maybe run one other errand before returning for the seminar.

We went to Burger King for lunch. Joanne … a.k.a. the Queen of Coupons … had a BOGO ( buy one, get one free ) coupon for a Whopper. We had an excellent lunch at Burger King ( somewhat to my surprise … salad instead of fries, small sized “senior” drinks ), then went to Walgreens to buy some advertised specials. There was a big red motorhome parked in Walgreens parking lot. It was a health screening unit, offering a variety of health tests, sponsored by Walgreens and AARP ( American Association of Retired Persons ). The tests were free … paid for by Walgreens and AARP … and apparently had a value of $140. I didn’t think the tests offered were worth that much, but … I’m Canadian and really have no good idea of what health care costs are in the United States. We wanted to go to the Passport America rally seminar, and ascertained that the health screening was available until
5 PM so we could return after the seminar.

We drove back to Yuma County Fairgrounds and attended the seminar. The seminar topic was “cleaning the exterior of your fiberglass trailer / motorhome”. That’s a big concern in our “world”. Fiberglass oxidizes, and it’s difficult to keep it looking good for more than about five years. We learned a thing or two that justified the expenditure of an hour of our time. We returned to Walgreens and had our free heath tests. Except for a few extra pounds on Joanne and a whole lot more than a few extra pounds on me, all the tests indicated levels about where they should be.

Tonight’s movie was “Down With Love”. Another bad movie !

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm.

This morning I started a project of replacing the under hood sound and heat insulation liner on the truck. The existing under hood liner was heavily damaged by mice and / or pack rats chewing it up to use the fibers for nesting material. And this is the second one to be destroyed in 5 years, so I’m averaging one every 2½ years. So I don’t want to buy another one from a Dodge dealer at a cost of over $150 knowing that it‘s likely to be destroyed by rodents again. So … I’m going to try to make one myself using some insulation material I bought at the flea market on Sunday. Today I removed the old chewed up one from underneath the truck hood. WOW … what a lot of damage ! That must have made a lot of mice and pack rat nests !

After an early lunch I headed to the Yuma County Fairgrounds to attend another educational seminar at the Passport America rally. When I arrived I found that the seminar had been cancelled and replaced with another seminar that was of no interest to me. DARN ! I returned home.

Tonight’s movie was The Secret Agent. Not a good movie. And most puzzling … why was Robin Williams not listed in the credits when he had a fairly substantial supporting role ? ! ? As I’m typing this immediately after watching the movie Joanne is asking … “are you typing "there goes two hours of our lives that we’ll never get back ?"” HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; Another lovely day, as usual in Yuma.

AHHHHH … relief ! This morning I cut and removed the remaining sutures in my lower gums. They were bothering me and I wanted them out. It was a tough job, but hey … somebody had to do it !

This morning I worked on cleaning the barbecue. A few days ago I barbecued a chicken that I had injected with a lot of marinade. It sort of made a mess in the barbecue. But … it certainly was a great barbecued chicken !

This afternoon I fabricated and installed a new under hood liner for the truck. And what a great job I did ! I traced the outline of the chewed up factory hood liner onto a three foot by six foot piece of insulation material I bought at the flea market. I carefully cut it. I carefully punched holes in it where the retainer clips were to go, again using the original hood liner as a template. And finally, I installed it using new retainer clips I bought at the flea market. You know, the retainer clips that cost about $2.50 each at the Dodge dealer but that cost 25¢ each at the flea market ! WOW … excellent results, Daniel !
And the insulation material that I used will hopefully not be attractive to rodents. The cost of the factory hood liner and retainer clips at a Dodge dealer is about $180. I spent $13.50 on materials at the flea market. Joanne did some experimentation with cleaning products and techniques on the trailer’s fiberglass exterior based on what she learned at the seminar at the Passport America rally a couple of days ago. WOW … lots of oxidation on the fiberglass.

I recently read an article about old women saving their husbands’ lives because they knew CPR. Given my family history … I asked Joanne to take a CPR course … again. I took a CPR course … about 25 or 30 years ago. And Joanne took a CPR course twice. The first time about the same time as me, and the second time about 15 to 20 years ago as a refresher after having to actually perform CPR … for real. < whispering > The guy died ! But, hey … that wasn’t her fault. It was a successful suicide. But I digress !

Tonight we both attended a training course for CCO-CPR. Chest Compression Only CPR is the “new” CPR. It’s simpler and it’s more effective. It was developed here in Arizona by two professors of cardiology medicine at the University Of Arizona in Tucson. Tonight’s training seminar on CCO-CPR was conducted by one of the two developers. The training course also included training in the use of an AED, an Automated External Defibrillator. Not much training required there. The machine talks the user through the process. Like “Defibrillation For Dummies”. Tonight’s training certainly proved to me that I had forgotten most of what I had learned in a “traditional” CPR training course many years ago. CCO-CPR is simple enough that one should remember enough of it to be useful “forever”. Sure hope Joanne remembers enough of it for when I have an “unexpected, unresponsive collapse”.

Tonight’s movie was “SPEED 2 / Cruise Control”. I guess that proves that sequels can’t live up to the original !

Thursday ; Today was sunny and mild.

This morning I puttered around with some outdoor chores while Joanne went to her water aerobics class. Immediately after an early lunch we headed out to The Foothills to run some errands. First stop was Wally’s World for some hardware, then Al’s RV Service & Supply for some RV parts. From The Foothills we got onto I-8 heading west into California. Destination ; Bard ! Objective ; date shakes ! WOO-HOO ! ! ! Bo loooooves date shakes ! Well … so do we ! We had date shakes at Sun Gardens then returned to Yuma. We went to Wal-Mart. I went in with Joanne to help select a few items that needed my input, then I returned to the truck and took Bo to Bark Park behind Wal-Mart while Joanne continued shopping. Bo played and romped with a lot of dogs until he was tired. I watched Marine rookie pilots practice flying circuits in Harriers, flying lower and slower each time around, practicing hovers and vertical landings, which are pretty amazing manoeuvres in a fighter jet ! The MCAS runway’s final approach is just about over Wal-Mart and Bark Park. We were waiting for Joanne to join us in Bark Park after she finished the Wal-Martin’, but we got tired before she arrived. We walked back to the truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot, arriving there at the same time as Joanne.

Tonight’s movie was The War At Home. 1996. Good movie, emotionally tough to watch !

Friday ; Another sunny, warm day in Yuma. What can I say ? ! ?

We were planning to go to Hometown Buffet for a late lunch today. Of course, Joanne had a coupon. But … at the last minute I decided I wasn’t feeling quite healthy enough for an ETYS buffet lunch. At my insistence, Joanne incorporated a teensy bit of Serrano chile peppers into last night’s supper. I deluded myself into believing that my colitis would tolerate it. I’m the gastrointestinal version of the schizophrenic who believes that because he feels so well, as a result of faithfully taking his medications, that he no longer needs his medications. HA HA HA !

We went shopping to RV Connection, a local RV parts dealer with a 10% off everything sale today. I bought a couple of items I needed. One cheap, one expensive. Routine wear and tear maintenance items. I installed them both this afternoon. While Joanne and Sully napped, I might add ! After lunch I lay down for a brief nap with Sully and Bo, underneath the new heated blanket we bought yesterday. Sully and I were going to road test it. Joanne lay down beside us and began to work on crosswords. When I woke up an hour later, Joanne and Sully were snuggled underneath the new “heater blankie”, fast asleep. Where they remained for the next four hours !

Tonight’s movie … selected by Joanne … was Going Overboard, an early Adam Sandler film. It now holds the title of “worse movie we’ve ever seen”. I couldn’t even last the duration. About halfway through I went to the bedroom to read.

Saturday ; Today started out sunny and mild, but it became cloudy this afternoon and briefly it rained lightly.

We spent the afternoon attending a cancer prevention seminar presented by the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson. Each of three doctors made a one hour presentation. One was on breast cancer, of interest to Joanne. One was on colorectal cancer, of interest to me. The principal sponsor of this event here in Yuma was a local life insurance agent. We wondered why a life insurance agent would spend big bucks to host this expensive seminar, offered to the public for free. One of the secondary sponsors was a young physician with the same last name, his son we assumed. Throughout the very informative presentations we couldn’t help but notice the “for profit” aspects of health care here in the United States, a concept that is foreign and very odd to us.

Tonight’s movie was The Adventures Of Milo And Otis, an enjoyable, light hearted “fluff” movie made in Japan about a kitten and puppy.

DSK

February 13 to 19, 2011

February 13 to 19, 2011


Sunday ; Today started out a little cool, but quickly warmed up to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day.

Today was the final day of the week long 64th annual Carrot Festival in Holtville, California, about an hour west of Yuma on Interstate 8. In previous years I have wanted to attend the Carrot Festival but one thing or another prevented it. When I woke up this morning the discomfort from yesterday’s periodontal surgery wasn’t too bad so I decided we were going to Holtville. Joanne phoned her friend Eilene at Kofa Ko-op and invited her to join us. We picked up Eilene and headed west on I-8. About halfway to Holtville Lanoire reached 160,000 km. ( 100,000 miles ) and so ended her warranty. Given our experiences with Dee-Dee, that last piece of shit truck that we had, I have anxiety about no warranty.

We like Holtville. We usually go there once a year just to buy burritos
( EXCELLENT ! ) and pan dulce ( also EXCELLENT ). Like any and every town in Mexico, Holtville has a lovely one square block “town square” park. The Carrot Festival was in Holt Park. There were a variety of vendors selling arts and crafts … and typical junk. But most importantly, today was the Carrot Festival’s Family Day and “Cook-Off” Competition. So, for lunch we bought and munched on a lot of “family favourite recipe” small quantity dishes from the competitors. All were Mexican dishes, even though one or two of the competitors were gringos. I wasn’t about to let a bit of mouth pain get in the way of an eating adventure. The food was wonderful ! Especially the carne con papas and the quesadillas. The quesadillas were really more like queso empanadas. But … I did hurt myself eating. Sometimes a man’s just gotta do what a man’s gotta do ! Although … I suppose it’s hard to justify eating until one’s mouth bleeds. HA HA HA ! Hope my periodontist isn’t reading this !

After eating and wandering around the park looking at the vendors’ wares, listening to the music, enjoying the nice weather, we went to our favourite panaderia in town and bought some pan dulce. I was sorely tempted to go to Holtville Taco Shop to buy some burritos to bring home for supper, but I knew that I had already violated what was sensible to eat a day after surgery on my gums. Last week on Sunday, the day after my first periodontal surgery, all I ate was soup, and two soft boiled eggs late in the evening. So … < sigh > … no burritos !

We drove back to Yuma, dropped Eilene off at home at Kofa Ko-op, and returned home. I promptly took some painkillers and went to nap. I had been a bad boy ! Late in the afternoon we returned to Kofa Ko-op to attend their Sunday afternoon ice cream social, specifically to ask some friends there if they would look after Bo on Friday when we go on a bus trip to Palm Springs for the day. < sigh > Our friends weren’t there. We ate ice cream anyway. HA HA HA !

Monday ; Happy Valentine’s Day

Today was sunny and warm. This afternoon we attended the Canadian Snowbirds Association show at the Yuma Civic Center. It was an afternoon of entertainment and useful information for us Canadian Snowbirds. Every year the CSA holds a couple of shows in Canada during the summer season, usually one in Toronto and one in Vancouver, then a few shows in the winter in the popular Snowbird destinations in Florida, Arizona, and California. As we were leaving the Civic Center after the show we bumped into Ed and Lori, friends of ours from the Escapees B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33.

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm, another really lovely day. This morning Bo and I headed out to run some errands. First stop was Wally’s World, a local hardware / flea market type store. They didn’t have the spray paint I was looking for. Next it was over to The Foothills where I went to the RV blind repair business to buy a day / night shade restring / repair kit. Good insurance ! The few times that we’ve needed to have a day / night shade restrung it has always been difficult to find a place that can do it. So … next time … I’ll do it myself … I hope !

I drove from The Foothills to Kofa Ko-op. I wanted to ask some friends there if they would take care of Bo on Friday. But … when I arrived there at 1:15 PM the annual general meeting was still underway. YIKES … long meeting. I thought it was going to be finished by noon. I left a note on our friends’ door and headed home.

While I set up a table and chairs on our patio Joanne prepared fresh guacamole. Our friends Barry and Marty and their Cocker Spaniel Sunny came over for a Happy Hour visit. We spent a pleasant afternoon chatting, drinking beer, eating guacamole and tortilla chips. I couldn’t eat the tortilla chips ! I am having as much problems … maybe even a bit more … with my upper gums ( surgery 10 days ago ) than I am with my lower gums ( surgery 3 days ago ).

Tonight’s movie was “Shine”. Good movie !

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot … no shirt required ! This morning I did a “home improvement” project in the trailer, relocating a couple of light fixtures. This afternoon I went out into the farm field beside the RV park and flew my kite. AHHHHH … I find kite flying to be relaxing. Joanne went grocery shopping. I took Bo for a long walk. As we walked by a lemon grove, I looked up into a lemon tree and spotted a mutant / deformed lemon. HA HA HA … it made me think of a recent news article we saw while watching news in Spanish on TV. A crowd of Mexicans gathered around a tree with a huge blemish on the bark … which appeared to them to be an image of the Virgin Mary. They were praying and crying and chanting and touching the blemished bark. I picked the lemon, photographed it, and named it my Virgin Mary lemon. HA HA HA HA HA !

As Joanne was bringing the groceries in from the truck, she tore her reusable Trader Joe’s shopping bag. Apparently her “favourite” reusable shopping bag. She asked if I could repair it ? No, dear … people in our
socio-economic class don’t use duct taped shopping bags ! Sheesh !

Tonight’s movie was The Untouchables. I liked it !

Thursday ; Today was sunny and very warm. This morning I decided, on impulse, to do some body work on the truck, repairing and painting a bit of a crunch I made on the truck bed rail a couple of months ago. This afternoon Joanne did some exterior cleaning work on the trailer. She’s been finding a lot of cleaning inspiration since discovering “Awesome”, a cleaner that truly lives up to its name. And we prepared for tomorrow’s long day trip by bus to the Indio Date Festival and Riverside County Fair in Palm Springs. Bo will be spending the day, and overnight, with his Yorkshire Terrier buddy Gypsy, at Kofa Ko-op.

Tonight’s movie was “Breathless”. 1983. Richard Gere. Pretty crappy !

Friday ; Yuma, Arizona to Palm Springs, California and return

Today was partially sunny and warm, partially cloudy and cool, and for awhile, it rained heavily.

We woke early this morning, departed from home at 8 AM, drove to
Kofa Ko-op, dropped Bo off at Mike’s and Sharon’s to be “babysat”, picked up Eilene, and headed for the Sears Mall where we caught a bus at 9 AM for our day trip to Palm Springs for the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival in Indio. I was a bit unhappy, and felt a bit unsafe, with the speeding of our bus driver. He was passing everything on the road, and for most of the time was driving in the outside / passing / “fast” lane ! And made it from Yuma to Palm Springs in three hours, including a rest stop in El Centro. And the return trip took about the same time, even though it was dark and raining !

The National Date Festival is held concurrently with the Riverside County Fair at the Fairgrounds in Indio, an eastern suburb of Palm Springs. Although it was hard to really see any evidence of the “National Date Festival”. There were some date vendors and a date recipe cooking show in the “food exhibits” building, but that was about all. Otherwise, it was a really large “county fair”, similar to the Navan Fair we used to attend annually just outside Ottawa, but a lot bigger. A large midway with rides and games. Lots of food vendors. Animal shows and displays. Food shows and displays. Arts and crafts shows and displays. Children’s arts and crafts shows and displays. All of everything in “competition”.

We arrived around noon, wandered around displays, watched the pig races, had lunch, wandered around more displays, then headed for the afternoon “highlight”, the ostrich and camel races. When we arrived in the large arena around 3 PM it was sunny and warm but over the next hour or so the temperature plummeted as clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. As the ostrich and zebra races ended and the emu races were about to begin it began to rain. I left Joanne and Eilene in the arena and hiked back to where our tour bus was parked to get our sweaters and jackets and blankets. By the time I returned the emu and camel races were over. DARN … I missed the camel races !

It rained lightly for the rest of the afternoon. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around from building to building, viewing exhibits and avoiding the cold rain. As the sun set, it began to rain heavily. And the main show of the evening was a musical pageant on an outdoor stage. We wandered toward the main stage getting cold and soaked, debating whether or not to stay. When we arrived at the main stage, there were only a few people waiting for the show to begin, it was cold, and it was raining heavily. We headed for the bus ! We were in the bus for only a few minutes when the last of our group arrived back at the bus. The show had been postponed for half an hour, with a probability that at that time it would be cancelled due to rain. The bus left, heading back to Yuma.

When we stopped for a rest break in El Centro the rain had stopped, although it had been raining in El Centro. There was no evidence of rain when we arrived back in Yuma. The bus arrived back in Yuma about 11 PM, we dropped Eilene off at Kofa Ko-op at 11:30 PM, and headed back home to Rancho Bonitos. It was too late to pick up Bo. We left him to have a “sleepover” with Gypsy.

 Saturday ; Today started out cold and raining, but cleared and warmed in the afternoon. The weather that was in Palm Springs yesterday evening reached Yuma early this morning. Our priority this morning was to go pick up Bo. He had been a good dog yesterday and overnight, getting along well with Gypsy, and generally behaving himself. Except for escaping from Mike’s and Sharon’s yard yesterday afternoon ! Although all he did was run over to the dog park and wait at the gate to be let in. Bo loooooves the Kofa Ko-op dog park. It’s seven acres of desert enclosed by fencing and Mexican brick wall.

Tonight’s movie was the 1963 Stanley Kubrick production “Dr. Strangelove”. Forty-eight years later and one has to wonder if its lessons have been learned ? ! ?

DSK

February 6 to 12, 2011

February 6 to 12, 2011


Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm, a lovely day. The good weather has returned to Yuma.

When I woke this morning the swelling in my upper lip and lower nose had diminished somewhat, as had the pain from the surgery, but I had a headache. And I’m hungry ! Today is the second day that all I can eat are fluids. I’m getting tired of tomato soup ! Since I’m going to be having more periodontal surgery in a week, before this first one has even healed, barbecued beef ribs look like a long way off for me !

This afternoon I mustered up enough energy to remove the valance from the trailer’s largest window, then removed the day / night shade. It could benefit from some refurbishment / repair. I recently discovered that … not surprisingly … there is an RV day / night shade repair specialty business here in Yuma. I’ll take the blind there within the next few days. Joanne went shopping by herself this afternoon. No, no … I don’t do Wal-Martin’ on the weekends ! And I don’t intend to until I am granted a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and a license to kill ! Although … this is Arizona … one of the few states where a permit is not required to carry a concealed weapon. Ya never know when one of them wetbacks is gonna jump up and attack you with one of them heads of lettuce he just picked ! ! !

But I digress, don’t I ? ! ? Take some more painkiller drugs, Daniel ! While every one else in the park hosted or attended Super Bowl parties, I worked on the computer. When Joanne returned from shopping we took Bo for a long walk as the sun set. Yuma has pretty pink sky sunsets.

I wanted to verify that the DVD Player software I downloaded a few days ago was working properly, so tonight we watched a DVD movie “double feature” ; The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery and Jail Bait. Why would movies that stunk to high heaven when they were made over 50 years ago be released on DVD ? ? ?

I was so hungry by late in the evening that I cooked two soft boiled eggs, mashed them up, and ate them by tilting my head back, dropping a spoon full of mashed egg to the back of my throat and swallowing. Joanne said it reminded her of stick feeding orphan baby birds. She asked if I wanted her to stick feed me ? HA HA HA !

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot. This morning while Joanne went to water aerobics I made some phone calls, including phoning the vendor from whom we bought the Bidematic in Quartzsite. It doesn’t fit our RV toilet and will have to be returned for a refund. I sent them an e-mail a week ago and they did not respond. This morning I phoned them and got an answering machine. Uh-oh … I hope there’s not going to be a problem. No response to e-mail, no one answering the phone … could be a fly by night scam sort of outfit. Wish me luck. I did an obedience session with Bo. EXCELLENT … well done, Bo, good dog ! I ended our session by putting him into a “sit, stay, leave it”, walking away and repeating the “leave it” command as his Dachshund buddy walked by. Bo never took his eyes off me. After the other dog passed by him, I gave the “come” command. EXCELLENT … well done, Bo, good dog !

As I was typing the paragraph above the phone rang. It was the Bidematic vendor returning my call. All is well ! This afternoon we went to The Foothills to run some errands. We dropped off the window shade to be repaired. We went to a bakery to buy an advertised special. We went to The UPS Store to send the Bidematic back to the vendor for refund. Joanne had an idea for an alternate route to get back home.

We headed south on Ave. 10E. It soon became gravel … then a dusty sand trail across the desert. Rather than turn back I decided … perhaps unwisely … to just keep driving across the desert until we came to a paved road, either to the south or to the west. I shifted Lanoire to 4WD and away we went. Well, we soon learned that one doesn’t have to go far to experience real off roadin’ around Yuma. We came across a parked pickup truck … and a bunch of Mexicans with guns having “target practice” in the desert. The trail got softer and deeper and bumpier. I shifted Lanoire to 4WD LO. Eventually we bogged right down in the soft sand and got stuck. I was able to back out, and find a less soft trail. As long as we kept heading south or west hitting a paved road within a few miles was inevitable. Or … we would end up on the military firing range and Lanoire would become target practice for fighter jets and tanks. HA HA HA ! “Harrier 4 to MCAS base … black Canadian pickup truck bogey splashed”. HA HA HA !

The bumpy ride off road hurt me. By the time we reached a paved road my mouth was hurting. When we got home I took a couple of painkillers and went to sleep. Joanne dusted the truck, feeling a bit guilty about her suggested alternate route home.

As we were preparing to take Bo for his daily long walk, Sully wanted to go outside with us. So … I put him in one of our “over the shoulder” cat sling carriers and off we went, hiking through the desert. Joanne thought it was a bad idea, expecting that Sully would start protesting before too long, but he rode along peacefully for the entire time. He seemed to particularly like when we were headed back and the setting sun was in his face.

Tonight for supper I was able to eat some pasta and sauce by just swallowing, no chewing. Tonight’s “movie” was “The Best Of John Belushi”. The 1975 to 1979 era of Saturday Night Live was comic genius !

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm, but windy. This morning I attempted to eat a toasted English muffin for breakfast. Biting pieces off with my front teeth hurt … a lot … although chewing with my back teeth was okay.

This morning I started a project to repaint the truck’s fifth wheel hitch saddle. I removed the hitch from the truck, then using a wire bristle brush attachment on a power drill I ground off all the old paint and rust.

This afternoon we headed back to The Foothills. The RV blind repair business had called. Our day / night shade was already repaired and ready for pickup. WOW … one day service. I’m impressed ! On the way to The Foothills we stopped at Wally’s World so I could buy a couple of hardware items I needed. I dropped Joanne off at Fry’s to buy some groceries while I went to pick up the blind.

Tonight’s movie was Punch-Drunk Love. Geeeeezzzzz … it seems as if each movie we pick up in the clubhouse library is worse than the one before ! How much worse can they get ? ! ?

Wednesday ; Happy 7th Birthday to Bo

Is he that old already ?

Today was sunny and warm. This morning I continued working on my hitch painting project. I cleaned the hitch saddle with solvent, then masking taped in preparation for painting. I painted it with a filler / primer paint.

This afternoon we went to Yuma Bark Park. It was our birthday treat to Bo. We had arranged to meet our friends Barry and Marty and their Cocker Spaniel Sunny there for a doggy play date. It was their first time to Yuma Bark Park. We spent about an hour there. Bo and Sunny had a great time ! And both were tired by the time we left. On the way to Bark Park we refilled Lanoire with diesel. HMPH … the price of diesel has increased a lot recently.

Thursday ; Happy 62nd Birthday to my sister Sharon

Is she that old already ? < snicker >

Today was sunny and warm, but windy. This morning we worked on some “home improvement” projects in the trailer. This afternoon we gave Bo a bath. We both worked on reviewing the very large batch of forwarded mail from home that we received yesterday. We took a “drivey” to go see a used dinette suite for sale. Joanne is adamant that we need to replace our dinette chairs. I disagree, but will reluctantly co-operate with her shopping efforts. At 6 PM, after the wind had subsided, I spray painted the fifth wheel hitch saddle. Looks good !

Tonight’s movie was Galaxy Quest. HA HA HA … that was a funny movie.

Friday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I reinstalled the repaired day / night shade on the trailer’s largest window, then reinstalled the valance over and around it. This afternoon Joanne went shopping. I continued working on reviewing the large batch of incoming forwarded mail. After she returned home we trimmed Sully’s and Bo’s claws. I was worried that the neighbours were going to phone either the police or the SPCA. Sully was using his Siamese big outdoor voice to express his displeasure at having his claws trimmed.

We took Bo for his daily long walk. His last off leash walk around Rancho Bonitos ! No more off leash except at Bark Park ! As we walked by a nearby abandoned, overgrown lemon grove he chased a bunny into the grove. And chased and chased and chased. And ignored us and ignored us and ignored us ! We traipsed through the overgrown brush in the abandoned grove calling him, hearing him, but not seeing him. A nearby farmer heard us, walked to the edge of the grove, and called Bo’s name. ZOOOOOM … oh boy, somebody new to visit ! The farmer picked him up, called to us, and held him until I got there. What a bad dog ! ! !

We went out for fish dinner to Daybreakers Café in The Foothills. They have a Friday evening all you can eat catfish ( or cod ) dinner special. It was okay … not as good as catfish dinners we’ve had in Missouri and Texas.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm, temperature about 80 degrees.

I was up early this morning to prepare to head to Mexico for my 9 AM appointment with Dra. Estolano for periodontal surgery … again. At the last moment, Joanne decided she was too tired to come along, so I went by myself. It was apparent from last week’s experience that I didn’t really need her to come along to help, I could drive home by myself. Dra Estolano started by removing the stitches from my upper gums and frenum. OUCH ! Removing the stitches from the gums didn’t hurt, but removing the stitches from the frenum certainly did. Today she operated on my lower gums, in the vicinity of a crowned back tooth. That crown will need to be replaced. It was partially the cause of the gum problems in that area. Like last week, the surgery itself only took about 45 minutes.

There was no line up at the border crossing back into the U.S. at 10 AM on a Saturday morning, and the Customs & Border Patrol female agent looked half asleep. I’ve never had an easier crossing. As she swiped my passport she asked “Anything from Mexico ?”, then handed me my passport and went back to sleep. Must have been a long night !

I spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon reading and napping. Today’s discomfort was not quite as severe as last week’s. By late afternoon I was tired of laying in bed. We headed for the pool. I spent some time floating around the pool. I spent some time relaxing in the hot tub. I lay on a lounge chair in the sun. The warmth of the intense desert sun eased my facial discomfort. We took Bo for his daily long walk. No more off leash ! < mumbling > Bad dog !

DSK

January 30 to February 5, 2011

January 30 to February 5, 2011


Sunday ; Geeeeezzzz … when did “Hey, how ya doin’?” come to replace “Hello” as the standard greeting in the United States ? ! ? Today was mostly sunny and mild, but cooling in the late afternoon.

When we were at Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market / Swap Meet Los Perros last Sunday we had a discussion with an artist who does custom artwork on every day objects. This morning we took the trailer’s spare tire cover to her to custom paint a scene on it for us. Her backlog of orders is so large that she won’t be able to complete our order before we leave here on April 1. We’ll have to wait until we return to Yuma next December to get it. Our custom “scene” was a collaborative effort between me, Joanne, and the artist. I’m excited to see it completed next fall / winter. Spending that kind of money on a painted tire cover might seem a bit eccentric but … we certainly aren’t going to be the first eccentric full time RV’ers to have something like this done … are we, Julie ? HA HA HA !

From Yuma Park N Swap we drove over to the Yuma Civic Center to attend the Americana Indian Show, an exhibit of Native art on display and for sale. Most of the artworks were Navajo. We bought a small piece of art as a gift. From there we drove to Rally’s for lunch. Joanne loooooves Rally’s ! Lastly, we stopped at Albertsons for some grocery shopping.

We returned home just in time to receive our afternoon visitors. Frank and Marian, the couple from Oliver, BC whom we helped find their hotel last Wednesday came by to express their appreciation by bringing over some beers to share. We chatted for awhile. I took them over to this park’s citrus trees to have them pick some fresh oranges, grapefruits, and lemons for themselves. They’re visiting Yuma for two weeks. They used to travel here yearly but haven’t been down here in about ten years. They’re in their 80’s now, and their health “ain’t what it used to be”. Frank has been battling colon cancer for the last few years. It seems as if he may have won the battle, although he lost his colon in the process. Oh, well … better alive with a colostomy than dead, n’est-ce pas ?

After they left we took Bo for his daily long walk, then prepared supper. Tonight’s movie was Working Girl with Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffiths. The movie was made in 1988. It always creeps me out to see scenes of New York with the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. This week is “Fun Days” at Rancho Bonitos, a week of games and eating events. Last week I had registered to play in today’s shuffleboard tournament. This morning I dutifully showed up at the shuffleboard courts at 9 AM. I had never played shuffleboard before so was a bit anxious about playing this game with people who have varying levels of experience, but they were welcoming and tolerant of a novice. HMPH … too bad the same could not be said for the pinochle people ! There are some similarities between shuffleboard and curling, so I caught on pretty quickly. I lost my first … and only … game, but not by an embarrassing score.

We attended today’s communal luncheon, one of three “Fun Day” meals. Today’s lunch was “beef dip”. It was okay, but not worth the price paid. And to get lunch we had to “walk the gauntlet” of people with their hand out, looking for money, on raffle tickets and 50 / 50 tickets. We’ve become somewhat annoyed at this park’s constant “hand out for money” mentality. Every event includes way too much subtle … and sometimes not so subtle … attempts to get money out of our pockets and into theirs. We don’t know what they do with all that money raised, and while it may certainly be to the benefit of the lot owners, it’s certainly of no benefit to us renters, of which there are only a few. That, along with what happened with the pinochle people, has resulted in us being unwilling to continue to support this park’s social activities, beyond what we have already signed up for this week.

While we were eating lunch a man approached and asked my name to verify that I had signed up for tonight’s pinochle tournament. When he found that I had indeed signed up to play, but had no experience and needed to be taught the game, he essentially told me I was unwelcome. This was a “tournament” and not the time nor place for a novice. Well, **** you too, pal ! What part of “Fun” in “Fun Days” did you not understand ? ! ? There certainly is a different attitude here than there is at Kofa Ko-op, or any other Escapee park, where visitors / travellers / new arrivals are welcomed with hugs and treated like family members.

Joanne went shopping in the afternoon while I read and napped with the animals. When we took Bo for his daily long walk we turned it into an off leash obedience session, which is pretty rare and very challenging for Bo. He did excellent ! Well, done, Bo, good dog !

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm. From 9 AM until 3 PM we played Bocce Ball in the Fun Days tournament. Neither of us expected to be involved beyond noon, but both us had much more success than expected. We played in teams of two. My partner was a woman named Noni. Joanne played with a man named Bernie. We had fun ! Joanne made a grapefruit pie last night and donated it to today’s pie sale.

As soon as both our teams were eliminated we headed for a large laundromat in The Foothills. We knew from its advertising that it had large machines and free Wi-Fi, so we took my computer and our down filled duvets that Sully puked on recently and away we went. Joanne got the duvets laundered and I got a lot of online work done quicker than if using my ReadyBroadband USB modem / AirCard. Joanne phoned her sister using Skype. After finishing at the laundromat we went to Walgreens to buy a ReadyBroadband top-up card and by then it was close to supper time. There is a KFC buffet restaurant in The Foothills, and knowing how much Joanne loves KFC I suggested we go there for an early supper. She was very pleased ! And ate until she had to … well, you know. HA HA HA ! That’s why we have changed what we call buffet restaurants from AYCE to ETYS ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

Wednesday ; Today was sunny, windy, and very cold, temperature never getting out of the 40’s. Well, that’s “very cold” for Yuma !

We stayed indoors for most of the day. This afternoon we went for a short “drivey” to refill a propane tank and refill Lanoire with diesel. We took Bo for his daily long walk. While walking down the path with a lemon grove on one side and an empty field on the other, Bo off leash … < sigh > … a Desert Jackrabbit, larger in size than Bo, dashed out from underneath a bush as we walked by it. ZOOOOOMMMMM ! ! ! Both of them ! ! ! The Jackrabbit, and Bo in hot pursuit. Didn’t know Bo could run that fast ! Didn’t know a Jackrabbit could run faster … thank goodness ! ! ! No amount of screaming “BO, STOP” had any effect ! When they were both about 1000 feet away, Bo stopped running in a straight line and began to “zig zag” back and forth through the field. The rabbit had outwitted … or outrun him ! ! ! We stomped after him screaming “BO, COME”. Finally, when we were about halfway to him, he remembered ; “oh, yeah … I’m obedience trained”. He returned, tired from the frantic run, but looking pleased. Good dog, Bo … sort of … for finally responding to “come” ! Not so much for the rest of it !

In the evening I worked on entering month end investment updates and we watched four episodes of Blackadder, a BBC comedy series. We’ve had the entire series set of eight VCR tapes for about a year and a half and have not yet watched them all.

Thursday ; Today was sunny and very cold ! ! ! The temperature dipped into the 20’s overnight, very rare for Yuma. Some of our neighbours had frozen water lines this morning. The water lines installed underneath the park models here have no insulation. HEY … it’s Yuma. It’s a few miles from the Mexican border. Temperatures below freezing aren’t supposed to happen !

This morning I played in the “Washer Toss” tournament. I was eliminated after winning two then losing two games. The “organization” was atrocious ! So … there was a lot of standing around in the very cold temperature waiting for the event organizer to get his act together. Nevertheless, it was fun. That was the last of the Fun Days events except for tonight’s awards ceremony and dinner which Joanne and I will not be attending. I don’t think we’re going to be participating in any more Rancho Bonitos social activities.

I worked on monthly computer maintenance and backups. Joanne worked on “spring cleaning” type chores. In the afternoon she went grocery shopping. The cold weather inspired me to nap and read … and nap some more. Geeeezzzzz … Washer Toss followed by napping. I gotta get a life !

As I’m typing this, three very large military helicopters flew directly overhead in formation at an altitude of a couple of hundred feet, low enough to make the trailer vibrate as they went over. Joanne was outside at the time taking some garbage to the dumpster. She’s just returned and said “if I were an enemy combatant … I’d be dead !” HA HA HA ! Low flying helicopters and fighter jets are something one must get used to around Yuma. The Marine Corps Air Station ( MCAS ) in town and Yuma Proving Grounds out in the desert to the north make “military” Yuma’s number one industry, followed by agriculture and tourism.

For supper tonight Joanne made a Chili Verde dish. In the last few years, especially while travelling in New Mexico and Mexico, we have had a variety of Chili Verde dishes and other dishes made with tomatillos, but Joanne has only very recently begun to experiment with the use of tomatillos and Chile Verde dishes.

Tonight’s movie was TAPS, featuring 20 year old Sean Penn and 17 year old Tom Cruise. It’s as poignant today as it was when it was made 30 years ago, especially in the United States !

Friday ; Today started out sunny and cold, but warmed steadily throughout the day. The cold spell which lasted about three days is apparently over. I guess those three days were Yuma’s winter. HA HA HA !

Late this morning we headed to The Foothills to run some errands. First stop was Al’s RV Service & Supply where everything was 15% off today. WOW … what a crowd ! They had one of the two items I was looking for. From Al’s RV I walked over to Foothills Shoes to buy a couple of shoe care products while Joanne went to Fry’s for a loaf of bread. I met her there. WHEW … Fry’s in The Foothills was overloaded with shoppers. It’s been that way for at least a couple of years now. The Foothills needs another large grocery store. Rumour has it that Fry’s is building a new “MarketPlace” in The Foothills, their version of a “super store”. We walked over to the nearby health food store to look for a couple of items, but we couldn’t find them and the staff were neither knowledgeable nor helpful.

In the evening we went to Kofa Ko-op for their 25th Anniversary celebration. Lots of “blah, blah, blah”, then coffee and cake. Joanne visited with friends while I did some online work using the fast ( and free ) Wi-Fi in the clubhouse. Somewhat to my surprise, and joy, our friend Reynald has survived his bout with double pneumonia and is recuperating at home. Welcome home, Ronnie, way to go !

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. We were up very early to head to Mexico for my early morning appointment for periodontal surgery, the first of two. Another one in a week. This morning Dra. Estolano cut, trimmed, and reshaped my upper gums. And … cut and removed my upper frenum, adding another $100 to the bill. The total bill was $400. I didn’t mind the unexpected additional $100, but what I did mind was her squeezing another patient in before me this morning. I was her first appointment, but she squeezed in another patient before me that took half an hour. As much as I like Dra. Estolano, that certainly was a “Mexico dentist” attitude ! That kind of behaviour goes a long way to explaining why Mexican dentists are never on schedule ! The surgery only took about 45 minutes. After I was done at the dentist’s we did a small amount of shopping in Los Algodones ; Yomi Lala, Mini Nugs, Mini Coco Nugs, Creminos … you know, the essentials of shopping in Mexico. HA HA HA !

By the time we crossed the border back into the United States and were heading home the freezing had begun to wear off. OWWWWW ! ! ! The freezing had extended well into my nose and the roof of my mouth, and when it wore off there was a lot of discomfort. And my upper lip and the bottom of my nose were swollen. I had declined the periodontist’s offer of a prescription for a painkiller, and now I was second guessing that decision.

I had some lukewarm tomato soup for lunch then went to sleep for the afternoon. When I woke up a few hours later, the freezing was completely gone and my face really hurt ! We took Bo for a long walk, then I sat outside for awhile reading, sipping on a fruit smoothie. Yesterday at Kofa Ko-op I had downloaded some new DVD Player software. Tonight we tested it out by trying to watch the movie “The Four Deuces” on the computer. The software worked fine. The DVD was damaged ! We were able to watch only about half the movie. So … we watched a VCR tape Joanne picked up in the clubhouse library. Two episodes of a really bad 1983 children’s TV show about a “Benji” dog. It was so bad … ( how bad was it ? ) … I’m certain that there were only two episodes on the VCR because the series only lasted two episodes !

DSK