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 !
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 ?
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