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