March 20 to 26, 2011

Sunday ; Today was overcast, warm, but windy. Because of the wind we decided to postpone our outing planned for today to the local camel farm. We’d rather go on a day with nicer weather. Plus … I was feeling quite ill for most of today with a colitis fare up that began yesterday. I spent most of the afternoon in bed cuddled with Sully. Sully would be most happy if someone was available to cuddle with him in bed 24 hours a day.


Late in the afternoon while Joanne baked cookies I watched a movie. An action adventure flick … < rolling eyes > … Passenger 57. In the evening we watched Three Men and a Baby. Hey … Joanne’s choice, not mine !

Monday ; WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ? ! ? I was horribly sick overnight ! And it wasn’t simply an ulcerative colitis flare up as I first thought. Nor was it a food poisoning illness.

I think it’s a flu type illness that has been making the rounds here. At Kofa
Ko-op so many people were stricken with this flu in the past month or so that they named it the Kofa Krud. And many people here at Rancho Bonitos have been ill recently also.

I had been feeling unwell for two days already. At bedtime last night I was stricken with dizziness and nausea that made it impossible to continue reading a book in bed. So … I put the book down and tried to go to sleep. The dizziness became worse. A lot worse. I couldn’t move. Moving caused severe vertigo. And nausea. I fell asleep and woke up frequently because of the dizziness and nausea. Finally, my stomach began to heave. Fortunately Joanne had brought me a pail and left it at the foot of the bed.. I have never had such violent retching. And it went on and on and on. And that process repeated itself five times throughout the night ! ! ! The dizziness was blinding. And the vomiting and retching injured my throat and larynx. I have a sore throat and laryngitis today.

The violent vomiting and retching ended around 5 AM. I fell asleep and slept very fitfully for about 11 hours. Every time I moved I woke up with dizziness and nausea. At 4 PM Joanne decided she couldn’t sit around and babysit me anymore, she had to go run some errands. I decided to try to get up and get cleaned up a bit. I was able to achieve that, but I could only move slowly. My stomach was still very queasy, and moving at a pace faster than “slow motion” caused dizziness. It’s now 6 PM, Joanne has just returned home, I’m feeling worse and I’m returning to bed.

Goodnight !

Tuesday ; Well, I slept from 6 PM last night until noon today, got up, ate a soft boiled egg, and went back to sleep for the afternoon. It’s now 6 PM and I’m not feeling much better yet ! I still have frequent and sometimes severe bouts of dizziness. My stomach is still queasy, particularly when I’m dizzy. My stomach muscles are sore from the retching of two nights ago. I’m tired, I’m weak … I’m sick !

Joanne phoned our friends Lynn and Micha to cancel our planned lunch together tomorrow.

Determined to stop succumbing to this illness, I vowed to stay up for the evening. I ate a bit of pasta and we watched a movie. SEABISCUIT. Good movie. Made me dizzy. HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; Well … I don’t think “feeling better” is exactly the right term. Maybe more like “less sick” ! I spent less time in bed today. I joined Joanne and Bo on a very slow walk. It was a perfect “June 18” weather type of day. And the scent of lemon blossoms is in the air. AHHHHH … how fragrant. One of the nicest things about Yuma is the scent of lemon blossoms in the spring.

Tonight’s movie was Stage Door Canteen. 1943. Black and white. Jingoism at its finest !

Thursday ; Well … I’m still sick, although less so, I guess. Today was sunny and warm. This morning I puttered around outdoors hoping that some fresh air and sunlight would hasten me feeling better. I suppose it did.

After lunch I wanted to go to Bark Park, so … off we went. We stopped at Liquidation World to check their price on Awesome cleaner … we want to buy a case before we leave Yuma in a week … refilled with diesel at Barney’s, then went to Bark Park. We wandered around the park for awhile, Joanne and me enjoying sunshine and fresh air, Bo enjoying romping with other dogs. I was able to watch some World War II “War Birds” approach and land at Yuma Airport. They’re coming in for the air show this weekend. After Bark Park we went to Albertsons for some groceries, then over to Kofa Ko-op to check our position on the lot waiting list.

We are still number 10 on the list, unchanged from a couple of weeks ago. But … there is a lot available that we think might become available to us even though we’re still that high on the list. The lot has a screened room structure on it that makes it unsuitable for any rig with a slide on the passenger side. Many newer rigs have slides on both sides. Our older trailer only has slides on the driver’s side, so would fit on that lot. We viewed the lot briefly and decided that if it were to be offered to us we would take it. We actually quite liked it ! And we suppose it is remotely possible that numbers 1 through 9 on the waiting list would decline to accept the lot. In any case, since no lot transfers take place from April 1 to November 1, it wouldn’t happen until next fall, but … better to be ready than not !

1972. Paul Newman. Lee Marvin. Pocket Money. Crappy movie !

By the end of the day, I could say … yes, yes, I was feeling better !

Friday ; Today was sunny and warm, but windy. And yes, I woke up feeling healthy for the first time in about a week. A little weak, perhaps, but healthy.

This morning we went to Arizona Market Place looking for bargains. This will be the last weekend for some vendors, and the second last weekend for most vendors. In previous years most vendors marked their merchandise down by 50% on the last weekend. But … apparently not this year. We think most vendors have been hurt by new admission fees charged to the shoppers and increases in rent imposed by the new landlord. So there were no bargains to be had today. We still need a case of Awesome.

We returned home, packed a picnic lunch and headed off for a “back roads adventure” in Picacho State Recreation Area. Picacho SRA is about 25 miles northwest of Yuma, on the banks of the Colorado River, on the
west / California side of the river. The entrance road is 18 miles of very rough gravel, pretty much a four wheel drive trail through the desert. The scenery is rough, rugged, “cowboy movie” terrain. The Ocotillo and Prickly Pear are in bloom. We drove to the end of the road, had a picnic lunch at the park’s boat launch on the Colorado River, drove around the campground to take a look, then headed back … for date shakes. On our way to Picacho SRA, when we had turned off the highway, Bo recognized where we were and thought we were headed to Bard, California. WOO-HOO … DATE SHAKES ! HA HA HA … what a funny little dog. He became confused when we didn’t follow our regular date shake route to Sun Gardens Date Farm. That was because … Bo … we were going to have date shakes after Picacho SRA. WOO-HOO ! ! ! We think date shakes are his favourite treat.

After date shakes we returned home to Rancho Bonitos. I needed a nap. I’m feeling a bit run down after being so sick. Joanne ‘California Duster’ed the truck exterior and did some laundry while I napped, then we took Bo for his daily long walk. That really tired me out !

Tonight’s movie was G.I.Jane with Demi Moore. It was okay. I remain unimpressed with the … I typed it, read it, then decided to censor myself in the interests of international diplomacy.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. Our plans for today included attending the Marine Corps Air Station annual air show. Those plans changed.

This morning we headed out to the Goodwill Thrift Shop. Today was a 50% off everything sale. And the store was very crowded and busy today. When we were there browsing a week ago there were some clothing items I was interested in and was hoping to get them today but they were gone. But … I did find a brand new shirt with a $50 price tag on it that fit and interested me. I bought it … for $2.50 !

From there we were going to head to the air show but … the line up of cars waiting for entry to the Marine air base grounds was miles long ! I didn’t want to see an air show badly enough to tolerate being in a vehicle line up for an hour or two to gain entrance. So … we headed to Kofa Ko-op to take another look at lot 52. It’s growing on us, and we’re slightly hopeful that it might be turned down by the people on the wait list ahead of us.

As were driving around today I thought I detected a new sound in the driver’s side front wheel. I was worried that yesterday’s back road / off road adventure may have knocked a brake component loose … or something.
I wanted to remove the front wheel and inspect the brake assembly. When we got back home to Rancho Bonitos that’s what I did. What a tough and filthy job it was to remove the front wheel and inspect the brake assembly and components. I couldn’t find anything wrong. Perhaps the new sound is wheel bearing wear and tear ?

We found out yesterday that Canada’s federal government has been defeated by the opposition and so an election is required. Today I went online to do some research on obtaining jobs on election day, as we did for the BC provincial election in 2009. But … when I went online I discovered that the election has been called for May 2 ! We thought that the election would be much later than that, perhaps even in June. We discussed whether or not we wanted to return home earlier than planned so that we could get election day jobs. We decided … NO !

Tonight’s movie was CREATOR. 1985. Peter O’Toole. Mariel Hemingway.
I never have been a fan of Peter O’Toole, nor of Mariel Hemingway’s eyebrows. HA HA HA !

DSK

March 13 to 19, 2011

Sunday ; WHEW … hot ! How the hell do people survive summer in Yuma ? ! ?

This morning we headed out to Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market / Swap Meet Los Perros. Joanne bought some produce, but not specifically what we were looking for. It should be artichoke season by now, but none of the produce vendors have artichokes. They’re available in the grocery stores, but they’re not great, and they’re expensive. DARN ! Last year at this time we were buying enormous fresh artichokes for a buck apiece. I bought some socks, and checked the price of Awesome cleaner by the case. We’re going to buy a case of 12 bottles before we leave here, and use it next summer to clean the exterior of the trailer.

From Park N Swap we headed over to Lettuce Days … again. Today was the final day and Joanne wanted to have lunch at “The World’s Longest Salad Bar”. Well … that’s how they billed it in the past, although they didn’t call it that this year. We each had an enormous salad for lunch, then wandered around viewing some exhibits that weren’t there on Friday. Today there were some ice sculptors, a chocolatière decorating chocolate coated strawberries … then passing them out to the crowd to sample … MMMMM, they were good … and a chef carving extremely artistic decorative fruit and vegetable displays. We bought more produce at the on site farmer’s market. We got more freebies from Dole and Tanimura & Antle.

From Lettuce Days we went to Fry’s for some groceries, Wally’s World to buy a particular size and type of bungee cord we need and order two new batteries for the truck, Barney’s to refill with diesel ( YIKES ! ), and finally, refill a water jug before heading home.

I did a minor maintenance project on the stained glass window in the door of the trailer. We headed for the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! ! ! We took Bo for his daily long walk. I sat outside and read the Sunday newspaper while I barbecued pollo asado for supper.

Tonight’s movie was Deuce Bigelow Male Gigolo. It was okay … we thought the last few minutes were quite funny.

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot again.

The hot weather is causing us to have some waste holding tank odour problems. That’s an uncommon problem for us. And because it is, I rarely use RV waste holding tank deodorizer products. But … I need to use some now. I deodorized both of our grey waste holding tanks this morning. We took Bo for an obedience session. A short one due to the hot weather.

I went to run some nearby errands this morning. I took Bo along so he could have a “drivey”. And … since Joanne wasn’t along … < whispering > … you know …a “hangey drivey” … head out the window ! HA HA HA ! I drove to Kofa Ko-op so I could drop some unwanted articles on the bargain table and check the lot waiting list. WOO-HOO … we moved three positions and are now number 10 ! From Kofa Ko-op I drove to Peanut Patch to stock up on peanut butter for the summer. They were sold out of what I wanted … dry roasted, salted, in two pound tubs … but had me wait ten minutes while they ground six pounds fresh for me. MMMMM ! ! !

This afternoon we went for another drivey … Joanne included … to Wally’s World to pick up the two new batteries for the truck that I ordered yesterday. Very expensive batteries ! While at Wally’s World I picked up a BOGO coupon for date shakes at a farm we had not been to before, and decided on impulse to go for date shakes. WOO-HOO … no objections from either Joanne or Bo. HA HA HA ! We drove east then north on Hwy. 95 a few miles out of the city to a farm market called From Farm & Afar. Their date shakes were good. Then again … I guess I’ve never met a date shake I didn’t like. HA HA HA ! From Farm & Afar had just received, about an hour earlier, a box of fresh artichokes. WOO-HOO … finally, artichokes are arriving. We bought one.

From “From Farm & Afar” we drove down some dusty trails into the desert to see a nearby large, abandoned bridge. I think it was a railway bridge. We drove under it … in the dry arroyo that it crossed … and drove across the desert for a few miles just exploring. I looped around and eventually got back to Hwy. 95 where … I had difficulty getting back onto the highway. The traffic coming from the left / north was bumper to bumper. HUH ? ? ? Must have been just past quitting time at Yuma Proving Grounds 14 miles to the north. Didn’t know there was a “rush hour” on Hwy. 95 coming back into Yuma between 4:30 and 5 PM. Must be a similar rush hour in the morning going out of the city. We detoured again on another little adventure to go see Yuma Lakes, an RV park beside the Colorado River about six miles out of the city where friends of ours recently bought a lot. We toured and viewed Yuma Lakes then returned home to Rancho Bonitos.

Tonight’s movie was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Well … I suppose we’ve seen worse movies than that !

Tuesday ; Another sunny hot day ! I spent most of the morning removing the two old batteries from the truck and replacing them with the two new batteries I bought yesterday. Might be the first and last time I change the truck’s batteries since the factory original batteries lasted almost six years and the new ones I just bought have a seven year warranty, so they should be expected to last that long. Good thing, ‘cause changing Lanoire’s batteries ain’t that easy !

This afternoon Joanne went out to run errands. I inventoried all of my ( and Sully’s ) medications to determine if I need to buy any in Mexico before we leave here in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow might be our last trip into Mexico this winter season. Get the permanent crown installed, get a $3 haircut, buy some Nugs Crujientes, then Hasta La Vista, Los Algodones !

We’ve been spending more time each day at the pool since the weather has become hot. After floating around and cooling off this afternoon we took Bo for his daily long walk. Then we picked some grapefruits for me to squeeze for fresh juice. The citrus fruit season is almost over. There’s not very much good fruit left on the trees, so I might as well take advantage of what there is.

Last Wednesday I initiated some Canadian dollar investment trades for U.S. dollar investments. Those trades “settled” ( were completed ) today, at last Thursday’s Canadian dollar to U.S. Dollar exchange rate, which is already very favourable because of what the problems of the last few days in Japan have done to the stock markets.

After supper we watched the last of our collection of VCR tapes of all four seasons of the BBC comedy series Blackadder. Very funny … very British. I’m a big fan of Rowan Atkinson. I squeezed a quart of fresh grapefruit juice. HMMMMM … I must be getting better. It only took me seven grapefruits to make a quart.

Wednesday ; WHEW … 93 degrees ! Way too hot to be standing in line for an hour at the border ! ! !

Today was my eighth and final trip to the dentist this winter season. I’ve never required that much dental work in one season before. I’m really glad that it’s finally over. This morning we got up early to head to Mexico for my appointment to have a temporary crown removed and replaced with a permanent one. The permanent crown didn’t seem to fit perfectly right off, and Dr. Camacho fussed and fiddled with it until it fit perfectly and comfortably before cementing / gluing it permanently into place. I was in the dental chair for 50 minutes today. My total expenditures on dental and periodontal work this winter were $1055 for work that would have cost in excess of $6000 in Canada or the United States.

After finishing at the dentist I went for a haircut and beard trim. Excellent work, three dollars ! While I was getting my haircut Joanne went to buy some vanilla and found …. Mennen hypoallergenic anti-perspirant / deodorant for men. Until recently I had been using a Mennen “sensitive skin” anti-perspirant / deodorant. It’s been discontinued and there’s no reasonable substitute. Until Joanne found this similar product … manufactured by Colgate Palmolive for the Mexico and Central America markets. Great … now I have to add deodorant to my “must buy in Mexico” shopping list.

We went for lunch to El Paraiso, one of the nicer restaurants in Los Algodones, and for many years our favourite “real” restaurant in Los Algodones. As opposed to the little “Mom & Pop” taco stand type of place we’ve become quite fond of over the last few years. We had a very nice lunch at El Paraiso, as always. And … I had a coupon for a free margarita ! The line up to cross back into the United States was the longest we’ve experienced this winter. But what was a three hour long line up in past years was only an hour long today.

On the way home we stopped at PetsMart to stock up on Glucosamine treats for Sully. Back at home I napped briefly before we headed for the swimming pool where we spent the rest of the hot afternoon. AHHHHH ! ! ! After it cooled down a bit we took Bo for his daily long walk.

Tonight’s movie was Rounders with Matt Damon. It was good.

Thursday ; St. Patrick's Day ; Today was sunny and hot, but less so than yesterday. Temperature in the mid-80’s. It’s forecast to cool down over the next week or so.

This morning, before it got too hot, Joanne defrosted the fridge, the first time she’s defrosted our three month old fridge. And it needed hardly any defrosting. It has a self-defrost feature whereby it turns itself off for 15 minutes every 23 hours, or 25 hours, or something like that. I returned the truck’s old batteries … the “cores” … to the dealer where I bought the new batteries a few days ago. Bo enjoyed going for a drivey.

Like most of our afternoons lately, we spent time in the swimming pool cooling off before taking Bo for his daily long walk. We had the pool to ourselves. Everybody else was at the park’s St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Joanne made us a corned beef dinner for St. Patrick’s Day.

Tonight’s movie was The Life Of David Gale with Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. WOW … pretty powerful stuff !

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot, but cooler than the past few days. We had a very lazy day today. Joanne wasn’t feeling well. She spent half the afternoon sitting outside and half the afternoon napping. She seemed to feel a bit better after that. I did some online work and read and napped. We walked the dog. We went out for supper to Famous Dave’s Barbecue. We had a coupon for a free appetizer and another one for a free dessert. OOOOO … a shared appetizer, an entrée apiece, and a shared dessert is too much ! Other than feeling bloated, supper was great, as it always is at Famous Dave’s.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm. I did not feel well all day today. Something about last night’s supper did not agree with me !

This afternoon we went thrift store browsing, then grocery shopping. Bo was very excited to go drivey today. And became especially excited when we drove alongside friends of ours / his from Kofa Ko-op. After returning home Joanne did some housecleaning while I removed and replaced the pinstriping from one of the truck’s doors.

Tonight’s movie was A Night At The Roxbury. I’m not a fan of Will Ferrell but this movie was amusing.

DSK

March 6 to 12, 2011

Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

Since we had been planning to attend Midnight At The Oasis yesterday but went to the Strong Hearts PowWow instead, it was our plan to go to Midnight At The Oasis today to view the exhibition of hundreds of classic cars. But … we didn’t go. I discovered that the bottom of the pass through storage compartment of the trailer was wet. Uh-oh … a leak somewhere. And finding a leak in an RV plumbing system is usually not all that easy ! Joanne emptied out the storage compartment, in itself a difficult job. The wetness seemed to be fresh water, not waste water. Okay … first clue. I checked as much of the fresh water supply plumbing lines as I could, and didn’t find any leaks. I removed a small section of panel to peek into a hidden compartment where the fresh water tank is located. No leak was obvious. < sigh > Okay … this is obviously going to be a tough one to find, let alone solve. We keep the fresh water tank full, so I felt that the first step would be to empty the fresh water holding tank, and see if the wetness in the storage compartment dries out within a few days. If so, the fresh water tank is the source of the leak, although that still leaves a lot of different possibilities. I drained the fresh water tank.

Joanne went shopping. I downloaded and processed photos I took yesterday at the Strong Hearts PowWow. I did a lot of online work. When Joanne returned we went to the swimming pool and hot tub, then took Bo for a long walk. Joanne may have found a clue to lead me to the source of the leak !

Monday ; Today was sunny, very warm and very windy.

This morning we headed for Bark Park where we were to meet our friends Lynn and Micha and their dog Gypsy. We spent about an hour wandering around Bark Park chatting with Lynn and Micha while Bo and Gypsy romped and played, by themselves and with many other dogs.

This afternoon I continued working on trying to identify the source of the water leak in the pass through storage compartment. Today I was able to ascertain that the two plumbing lines between the black tank flusher inlet and the ( sewage waste holding ) black tank were not the source of the problem. HMPH ! That’s where I expected to find the problem ! Tomorrow I will refill the fresh water holding tank and attempt to determine if that’s where the problem is. I did some online work. I reviewed the rules, regulations, and bylaws documents of Kofa Ko-op. We are now “low” enough on the waiting list that these documents were recently made available to us for review. There was nothing in those documents that surprised or concerned me. We are eager to become “lot owners” at Kofa Ko-op. We expect that will happen before the end of 2011.

In the evening I did monthly computer maintenance ; scans and backups. We watched VCR tape 1 of a 2 tape movie ; Casino. Okay so far !

Tuesday ; MARDI GRAS ; Today was sunny, very warm, and a bit windy.

After lunch Joanne went grocery shopping. I continued to work on identifying the source of the water leak in the pass through storage compartment. I still could not find it. I refilled the fresh water holding tank. No leak was immediately obvious. Maybe tomorrow ! It’s remotely possible, I suppose, that the “leak” was simply a “bleeding” of excess pressure inside an overfilled fresh water tank. It wasn’t overfilled when I filled it a couple of months ago, but as the weather warmed up, perhaps the water inside the extremely full tank expanded until it found some way to leak out a bit ? I am reluctant to accept that explanation, but if I can’t find any other … ? ? ?
I won’t give up looking just yet.

In the batch of mail forwarded from home that we received last week was the last of my investment year end statements. This afternoon I finished reconciling and analyzing them, and did some long term financial planning. After Joanne returned from shopping we took Bo for a long walk, then I took Sully for a short walk. He likes going outside every day or two when the weather is nice, which down here is pretty much all the time.

Tonight we watched the rest of the movie “Casino”. It was okay … a bit violent.

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot. And forecast to get hotter over the next few days. Okay by me !

Once again we were up early this morning to head to Mexico for another dental appointment for me, my second last trip to the dentist for this winter season …we hope ! The plan for today was for Dr. Camacho to remove an old crown from a lower back molar, and replace it with a temporary crown. Next week that will be replaced with a new permanent crown. Today’s work became considerably more complicated than either Dr. Camacho or I had expected, and it took 2¼ hours ! About 21 years ago I broke a tooth while skiing in Switzerland. I had a crown put on that broken tooth. It has recently contributed to my gum problems and so it needed to be removed and replaced. Removing a well installed crown is … well … difficult. It took a lot of cutting and grinding for Dr. Camacho to be able to get it off. And underneath it, in the broken tooth stump, he discovered … a silver filling … about 50 years old. He immediately wanted that removed. As I recall, silver fillings pose some manner of mercury poisoning risk. While drilling that old silver filling out … PEEEEEUUUUUWWWWW ! A horrible stench arose. Underneath the old silver filling was … a lot of decay. Years’ worth ? Decades’ worth ? ! ? So … a lot more drilling, until all the old silver filling and all the old decay were gone. It was very close to requiring a root canal, but Dr. Camacho felt that, while a root canal could be done if I wanted, it wasn’t absolutely necessary. He felt that he had “saved the tooth”, and the broken tooth stump, now with a lot of drilling in it, could be filled in preparation for installing a new crown over it. Okay … let’s go ! Lots of filling, and other preparation, then the installation of a temporary crown. While I was having my dental work done Joanne went shopping for some of our “must buy before leaving Mexico” items.

The line up at the border to cross back into the U.S. was the longest yet this season. Many other “winter visitors” are preparing to return home soon, so like us they’re down in Los Algodones doing their “must buy before leaving Mexico” shopping. But even a very long line up is only an hour long this year, as opposed to 2½ hours in previous years. By the time we got back across the border the anaesthetic / freezing was coming out and my mouth hurt ! On the way home we stopped at Burger King for a very late lunch. When we got home I took a couple of painkillers and napped briefly.

We spent the late part of the afternoon in the swimming pool. We took Bo for a walk. I took Sully for a walk. I wasn’t able to eat supper as Joanne prepared it. Darn … my ability to eat normally is impaired again … for at least the next week while I have this temporary crown < sigh >.

Thursday ; WHEW … today was hot !

This afternoon while Joanne went to run some errands I polished shoes. Then I did more work on year end investments analysis and long term planning. I decided yesterday that I should immediately buy about another $10,000 worth of U.S. dollar investments given the very favourable Canadian dollar to U.S. dollar exchange rate. When Joanne got home we went to the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! Intense desert sun, temperature in the high 80’s ! After relaxing in the pool we took Bo for his daily long walk. After supper, after it had cooled down a bit, we gave him a bath.

Tonight’s movie was “Nutty Professor II The Klumps”. It was okay. I’m not really a big fan of Eddie Murphy. Joanne thought it was a bit heavy on toilet humour.

Friday ; WHEW … another sunny, hot day, temperature high in the 80’s.

Today was the first day of the “new and improved” version of Yuma’s annual Lettuce Days festival. New venue, new program of events, and reintroduction of the very popular “farm tours”. We have previously attended Lettuce Days, and were eager to once again be able to go on one of the “farm tours”. As in previous years, the farm tours were to be conducted on an hourly basis throughout the day, today and tomorrow, but not on Sunday, the last day of Lettuce Days. The one hour “farm tours” are conducted by local agricultural students, on chartered buses driving around the Yuma farming area. We are not able to attend tomorrow, so today was our only opportunity. We arrived right at noon, the “gate opening” time. HUH ? The place was packed with hundreds and hundreds of people ! Some were already leaving ! HUH ? ! ? How early did they open the gates if people are already leaving at gate opening time ? We headed straight for the event tent to sign up for one of today’s three bus tours ; 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 PM. We arrived at the event tent at 12:05 PM, five minutes after the official gate opening time, to discover that all three of today’s farm tours by bus were sold out ! We, and a lot of other people, were really pissed off ! Because of the “hot weather”, the gates were opened early because people were lined up outside the gates, and by the official opening time, the farm tours were all sold out ! ! !

We wandered around the various exhibits. We got a free sample of “artisan lettuce” by one of the local large farm exhibitors. It’s a large package of the multi-coloured lettuce we saw growing in some local fields recently. It’s very … pretty … colourful ! We went to the small farmer’s market and bought some lovely fresh produce ; Baby Spinach, brussel sprouts, asparagus tips, strawberries. Back at the exhibitors’ displays we bought some freshly made specialty pastas. We attended one of the large cooking exhibitions. The chef was from the Quechan Casino. He prepared a fresh citrus vinaigrette dressing and candied pecans, then a salad with fresh baby greens, feta cheese, strawberries, the candied pecans, and his fresh vinaigrette dressing. When he was done we were able to get a small bowl of it to sample. MMMMM … very good. Joanne wants to try making her own fresh vinaigrette dressing. One of the largest producers in the Yuma area is Dole. At their booth we got some samples of their products, and we were in the right place at the right time to receive a couple of small “free gifts”. HMMM … nice manicure kits with the Dole name imprinted on the case. Thank you, Dole.

We were hungry, and it was just about time for a very late lunch. The price of foods at the various food vendors seemed a bit outrageous, so we left, and headed to Burger King for a very late lunch before heading home.

Today and tomorrow were the Rancho Bonitos “yard sale” days. Today from 2 PM to 4 PM for park residents, and tomorrow open to the public. We decided to go the “yard sale” as soon as we arrived home. We arrived at the clubhouse at 3:25 PM. They were just “closing”. It was “too hot” to stay open any longer, and if we wanted anything, we could come back tomorrow at 7 AM ! Well … not ****ing likely ! ! ! And that kind of b******t has been typical throughout our three month stay in this park. And is a large part of why we don’t like this park ! And so … as if to add insult to injury, we changed into swim suits and headed for the swimming pool … only to discover that it had just been “closed for maintenance” by some of the same people that had closed the yard sale early and now they had some time to do some minor maintenance on the pool ! ! ! On the hottest afternoon of the year so far ! We’re looking forward to leaving this park in three weeks and not looking back !

After it cooled down a bit we took Bo for his daily long walk. One of the farm fields adjacent to this RV park had been prepared today for sheep to be grazed on it. The field is … timothy, I think. Some kind of grazing crop ! And … as we have seen on other nearby fields, it had been entirely encircled with temporary electric fencing to contain the sheep within the field. That seems like such a labour intensive chore … stringing up temporary electric fencing around a field that is a quarter mile by a quarter mile. Hey, Bo, you’re likely going to have a BIG surprise tomorrow.

Joanne prepared a salad for supper just like today’s cooking demonstration. Great taste ! Great appearance / presentation ! WOW … what lovely strawberries !

Tonight’s movie was Tequila Sunrise. 1988, Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell. What …was that movie the inspiration for Miami Vice ? Or vice versa ?

Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot again.

HEY … BO … SHEEP ! He was too stunned to even bark at them. He just stared, wide eyed, when he stepped outside the park gate and saw the field full of sheep.

This morning I “finished” my “leak” project. Quite unsatisfactorily, for someone as OCD as me. I could not identify … nor could I “duplicate” … the leak. Very reluctantly I conceded that the water in the overfilled fresh water tank heated and expanded, and some found a way out. Where it found its way out remains a mystery. But … since there’s no more leaking … I guess the problem is solved. I hate “unsolved mysteries” like that !

This afternoon we went to the winter home of our friends Dave and Joy for an afternoon of socializing followed by a barbecue dinner. They had invited us, and other neighbours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home that are also here in Yuma for the winter, and some of their neighbours in their park down here, Mountain Cactus Ranch. We ended up in a corner of their patio, a bit surrounded by their local Yuma / Mountain Cactus Ranch neighbours, listening to them “diss” other neighbours and the park’s management and administration personnel. And at the same time trying to “sell” us on how wonderful the park is. HA HA HA HA HA ! Have another glass of wine !

So … whether it’s Mountain Cactus Ranch … or here at Rancho Bonitos … or back home at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos … I guess people are all basically the same !

We had an “interesting” afternoon and evening, and enjoyable dinner. Thank you, Dave and Joy.

DSK

February 27 to March 5, 2011

February 27 to March 5, 2011


Sunday ; Today was sunny and mild. Yesterday proved once again that rain in Yuma is a one day only event.

I had a lazy day. Well, all my days are lazy. This one was lazier than most. This afternoon Joanne went shopping to Yuma Park N Swap, then Food City, Fry’s and Albertsons for advertised grocery specials. I uploaded my weekly journal entry to my blog. I worked on planning our travel for the month of April. I read and napped.

Tonight’s movie was a documentary on Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musicals. Good music !

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm.

Just before noon we headed to Kofa Ko-op for the Roadrunner / Chapter 7’s luncheon. Before eating there was a presentation on guide dogs for the blind by a Yuma based group of guide dog puppy raisers. There were five puppy raisers and their young dogs. Their presentation was touching and well received. The “hat was passed” and they raised a significant donation. Lunch was good. Socializing with our Escapees “family” was good.

Back home at Rancho Bonitos we took Bo for an obedience session. Well done, Bo, good dog !

Tonight’s movie was … < sigh > … well ! ! ! The tape case said the movie was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I inserted it into the VCR player and … Pride and Prejudice had been taped over with a “boy meets girl” movie starring Jennifer Anniston entitled Management. Actually, it wasn’t half bad !

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm.

Joanne went to do some grocery shopping. I did some month end financial reconciliation work. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub. I took the dog for a long walk.

Tonight’s movie was The Mask. I’m not a fan of Jim Carrey, but this movie was okay.

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

Today was Rancho Bonitos big Carnival Day. Based on the number of grammar / spelling errors evident around the park [ Bonitos ( a plural adjective for a singular noun ), Manderin Street ], I suspect that what they meant was Carnaval Day … the Latino term for Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday. And if so … they’re six days early ! We didn’t participate. We have ceased being involved with any of this park’s activities.

I spent the morning doing online work. Around noon we headed out to run errands and have lunch. We went to RV Connection … they didn’t have what we were looking for. Next was Fruit Growers Supply to refill a propane tank. Then Barney’s to refill with diesel. What the hell happened to fuel prices ? ! ? Unrest in Libya ? ! ? What a load of crap ! Then Walgreens for a ReadyBroadband top-up card and some advertised specials. And CVS Pharmacy for more advertised specials. Finally … Hometown Buffet for an ETYS lunch. After lunch, on the way home, we stopped at Dollar Tree for a few items.

Back at home we had the swimming pool and hot tub area all to ourselves. All the other park residents were at their Carnival Day dinner. We took Bo for a long walk. We picked grapefruits ( for me to squeeze for juice ) and lemons ( for Joanne to make meringue pie ). The citrus trees are … “dying”. All the leaves have dried and are falling off. And all the fruit is drying out and falling off as well. I don’t think we’ve ever been in Yuma near the end of February before to see this. We have been here later in March, when the citrus trees are in blossom. What a wonderful smell ! But I suppose before the citrus trees can have “spring” they have to have “fall” first, don’t they ?

I spent the evening updating my investment spreadsheets.

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot.

This morning we went to Arizona Market Place, the local flea market. We have not shopped there as often this year as in years past because this year they instituted an admission fee every day, instead of an admission fee only on Saturdays and Sundays as in previous years. Today we finally found a vendor who had stock of RV / Short Queen sheet sets, although only in black. Joanne bought a set, figuring that $15 for black at the flea market was better than $60 for some other colour at an RV dealer. We bought Bo a new harness, made with wide webbing instead of narrow straps which bruise his trachea when he pulls. Joanne thinks he looks very “sporty” in his new GoobyDog harness. I think he still looks like the Alabama redneck that he is. HA HA HA !

In the afternoon I made fresh grapefruit juice from the grapefruits I picked yesterday. MMMMM … it’s good ! Nine grapefruits produced a little more than a quart of fresh juice. I strained out the pulp, Joanne froze some, and mixed some in plain yogurt. MMMMM ! ! !

Tonight we went to a drive in movie. I kid you not ! A double feature ! Four and a half hours of watching movies ! Tonight was the first of four days of Midnight At The Oasis, the annual Classic Car Show & Nostalgia Festival in Yuma. The kick off event was a drive in movie, held at Desert Sun Stadium, on a baseball field, with an inflatable drive in movie screen. A hundred and fifty vehicles admitted. We lined up an hour in advance to ensure we got in. Joanne wanted to bring Bo and Sully, but I didn’t because I didn’t know whether we would be in the first 150 vehicles, even though we arrived an hour early, when the gates opened. Joanne prepared a wonderful picnic supper. The weather was wonderful. After we parked, before the movies started, I wandered around looking at the many classic cars that were there. The first movie was The Great Race with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. It was terrible ! And lasted longer than 2½ hours ! Second movie was American Graffiti. We first saw that movie in … < thinking > … 1973 … when we were dating … at a drive in ! It was a good movie then, and still is !

Friday ; Today was sunny, very warm, and a bit windy.

When a Post Office lady pulled up in her truck to deliver us an XpressPost envelope with our mail forwarded from home, she was fascinated by our “vanity” map on the side of the trailer showing where we’ve been. She chatted with us for quite awhile about our travelling lifestyle. Your postal dollars at work !

Joanne went grocery shopping. I did some online accounting work and paid our MasterCard bill. I downloaded and processed some photos I took yesterday. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, then took Bo for a long walk before going out for dinner.

We met our Riverside RV Park Resort neighbours from back home Dave & Joy at Ranch House BBQ Restaurant. We treated them to dinner as a gesture of appreciation. Dave referred us to RV Days in Penticton last summer which resulted in us obtaining a great summer job delivering RV’s. And he came with me to Penticton … twice ! … last fall when I took my Endorsement 51 road test. I only had an Endorsement 51 learner’s permit and needed an Endorsement 51 licensed driver to accompany me. Dinner at Ranch House BBQ Restaurant was … okay. Certainly not worth a return visit. After dinner Dave and Joy came over to our place and we socialized for the rest of the evening.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot.

We were up early to head to Mexico for my early morning dental appointment. I was supposed to have a periodontal examination by Dra. Estolano, and a dental examination by Dr. Camacho at the same time. Dra. Estolano wanted to examine my two recent periodontal gum surgeries now that both surgical sites have healed, and then the three of us were going to discuss a few other dental issues. Well, Dr. Camacho was a bit late this morning, so Dra. Estolano completed her periodontal examination and left just as Dr. Camacho arrived. Dra. Estolano was very pleased with the results of the two periodontal surgeries she did on my gums. She liked the reshaping and she liked the colour. Dr. Camacho and I discussed and agreed that a filling done 14 months ago was cosmetically unsatisfactory and should be redone. We agreed, along with Dra Estolano, that an old crown that I have needs to be replaced, particularly in light of the recent gum surgery near the crowned tooth. And another dental examination and x-rays clarified whether or not another tooth in question does or does not need a filling. It doesn’t.

Dr. Camacho offered to replace the unsatisfactory filling right then and there. I said “okay”. He removed the cosmetically unsatisfactory filling, then turned the job over to his “filling specialist”. He has a young woman who does only fillings, nothing else. I don’t know if she is a recent dental graduate / intern, or a specially trained technician, or … ? ? ? She was the one who did the filling 14 months ago that was being removed today. Dr. Camacho gave her a lot of instructions ( in Spanish ) and then returned to the room every ten minutes or so to check on her progress. It was a difficult challenge because the filling was on the edge of a slightly crooked tooth, on the edge slightly behind another tooth She fussed and fiddled for about an hour, then … Dr. Camacho came in for a final inspection. He was dissatisfied with the result. So was I ! He instructed her to do it again, then he proceeded to drill / grind off the new filling. She did it again ! Took about another hour. But … now it looks good ! And when all was said and done … there was no charge for any of today’s work. That kind of integrity is why we keep going back to Dr. Camacho !

We bought a bottle of Rompope, a Mexican specialty liquor and a tub of Cremino chocolates before heading back to the border crossing. It was almost 1 PM by the time we crossed back into the United States. We were going to have lunch then head over to Midnight At The Oasis to see the large display of classic cars. But … we realized our timing was perfect to arrive at the Strong Hearts PowWow just in time for today’s Grand Entry. Attending the PowWow was our plan for tomorrow, but we decided to go today. This was the 31st Annual Strong Hearts PowWow hosted by the local Quechan Indian Tribe on the grounds of their high school on the Fort Yuma Reservation in California across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. We drive across their “rez” every time we go to the little nearby town of Bard for date shakes.

It was sunny and hot at the PowWow. And undoubtedly a lot hotter for the Native competitive dancers in their costumes than for the rest of us. We’ve attended many PowWows and always have enjoyed them. Today was no exception. We watched the Grand Entry, then wandered around the food vendors outside the dance area / “arena” until we made a lunch selection. We both had Indian Fry Bread dishes for lunch. Joanne’s had shredded beef and hot green chiles, mine had beans and cheese. After a leisurely lunch in the shade of an umbrella over a picnic table we wandered around looking at the many vendors’ booths selling Native arts and crafts. We went back into the dance arena to watch some dancing before we left.

On our way home we stopped at Food City to buy an advertised special. An entire barbecued chicken for … wait for it … $3.99 ! ! ! By the time we got home it was almost 6 PM. Poor Bo … we had left him home alone ( well, with Sully ) for much longer than we had intended. But he’s a good dog, aren’t you, Bo ?

DSK