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