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