1000th blog entry ! ! !

January 8 to 14, 2012

Sunday ; Today was windy.

This morning we finished up Joanne's painting projects in the Arizona room. She has painted the door between the Arizona room and the shed, the window trim, the door trim, and the built in folding table that we have taken to calling the buffet table. Today we cleaned up, replaced hardware, repositioned furnishings, cleaned and put away the tarp we used as a drop cloth, that sort of thing. Joanne should be very proud of the excellent job she has done of cleaning, furnishing, and decorating our Arizona room. It's great !

This afternoon we gave Bo a haircut. With an audience. Judy and Terry wanted to watch us give Bo a haircut, to help them decide whether or not to tackle giving Spanky a haircut themselves. At 6 PM we attended the regular weekly ice cream social. We spent the rest of the evening sitting in the clubhouse socializing with our BC friends Jackie and Barry who are leaving tomorrow.

Monday ; This morning Jackie and Barry came over to visit briefly before departing Kofa Ko-op. They will be remaining in the Yuma area for awhile longer, although not here at Kofa Ko-op. We will probably see them again Wednesday afternoon in Wellton.

After they left we went out for ( yet another ) day of shopping and running errands. First stop was RxPositive Medical Supplies where Joanne bought a mastectomy bra. She bought a brand that is manufactured in Canada, but that sells cheaper in the United States. Go figure ! From there we went to Long John Silvers for lunch. We had some coupons. It was our first time at Long John Silvers. And ... well ... I guess it wasn't anything to write home about. Although I suppose I just did, didn't I ? HA HA HA !

We shopped for some advertised grocery specials at Food City, the "Mexican" supermarket. Then we stopped to load up on pan dulce at Elvira's panaderia. MMMMM ... Elvira makes good pan dulce. Joanne noticed today that as soon as one drives north of 16th St. in Yuma, one might as well be in Mexico. Final stop was < sigh > Wal-Mart.

We arrived back home just in time for the daily pack walk around the dog park. Which is more "co-ordinated" some days than others. Today there were six dogs, and they were all unruly and chaotic. Because of early arrivals and late arrivals, the people were scattered in three groups, and the dogs "morphed" from one pack to two to three to two to one over and over again.

Tuesday ; Well ... two more successes in the Sun Oven. This morning I wanted to experiment with making a "hard boiled" ( baked, actually ) egg in the Sun Oven. I had read somewhere recently about solar cooking "hard boiled" eggs but couldn't remember whether the egg was supposed to remain in the solar oven for thirty or sixty minutes. So ... I put a raw egg in the Sun Oven and retrieved it forty minutes later. It was a perfect "hard boiled" egg. Except ... both the white and the yolk were a lighter, "fluffier" texture than an egg cooked in boiling water. It was very good !

So ... then I sliced a Roma tomato thinly and put the slices on a dehydrating rack in the Sun Oven with the door propped slightly open to allow heat and moisture to escape. The temperature has to be kept low enough that the tomato slices dry without baking. I didn't prop the door open quite enough, and allowed the temperature to rise too high. I baked ... and even burned ... some of the tomato slices a bit. But ... for the most part, they "sun dried" quite well. And then we tasted the results. WOW ... what intense flavour ! I can tell I'm really going to like making sun dried tomatoes when Roma tomatoes are really plentiful and cheap in the fall in Keremeos.

Today we worked on washing the trailer. Which has been a chore that we have been putting off for almost two months. We needed to wash the road grime off the trailer after completing the journey from Keremeos, BC to Yuma, Arizona. It should have been a priority soon after our arrival here. But other projects always seemed to be higher priority. Anyway, today we finally began washing the trailer. And completed most of it. We'll have to retract the slides to be able to properly wash the driver's side of the trailer.

Our daily pack walk is growing in popularity within Kofa Ko-op. Today we had nine dogs walking around the perimeter of the seven acre desert dog park.

Wednesday ; Today was lightly overcast. I thought that would be ideal for sun drying tomatoes in the Sun Oven. But ... actually ... by the end of the day, the tomatoes I had put in the Sun Oven around 10 AM were not quite ready. I'll have to put them back in tomorrow morning for awhile.

This morning I attended my second Tai Chi Chih class in the clubhouse. Very relaxing ! Afterwards Joanne and I did an obedience session with Bo in the dog park. This afternoon we worked on a few minor home improvement and landscaping projects. Around 3 PM we headed out for Wellton.

Our Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friends Jackie and Barry had invited us to attend a Shiners' fund raiser at an RV park in Wellton, about 30 miles east of Yuma. Our Chapter 33 mutual friend Ben is in a band that was providing the entertainment at the event. I would rather pull out my toenails with pliers than listen to two hours of country & western music, but ... one has to be supportive, n'est-ce-pas ? We visited with Jackie and Barry, listened to Ben and his band, and ate a hamburger dinner. On the way back home we stopped at Walgreens in The Foothills to buy a few items.

Thursday ; Today was cloudy. So ... I put some sliced Roma tomatoes in the Sun Oven to dry. Then I dragged the water hose to the front yard for the weekly watering of my dead looking ocotillo. Yesterday I did some online research on transplanting ocotillos, and I learned how to trim off a piece of ocotillo stalk and what to look for inside to ascertain whether it's alive or dead. So ... I cut six inch sections off the tops of three stalks of the ocotillo and examined the insides. Sure looks dead to me !

We headed out to run some errands. First stop was Yuma Nursery Supply where I asked the nursery manager if he thought these three pieces of ocotillo stalk looked like the plant might be dead. He examined them and agreed that the plant was likely dead. Only then did I tell him that they were cuttings from a plant bought at his nursery two weeks ago. GOTCHA ! Guess I'll be digging up the ocotillo and returning it to Yuma Nursery Supply !

At Lowe's we bought some paint for the shed and some oak mouldings for the trailer bedroom. Withdrew some cash from the ATM at the Bank of America. Had lunch at Rally's. Great burgers and fries ! Went to Fry's to buy some groceries. I tried to convince Joanne she should do the grocery shopping at Fry's while I ran some "other errands". No way ! Fine ... be like that ! So ... she sat in the truck asking stupid questions that I wouldn't answer while I drove to Yuma School Of Beauty to buy her "surprise" birthday gift ! "OH !"

Back at home we had our daily pack walk. It's gratifying to see how quickly timid dogs gain self-confidence from the socialization of the daily pack walks. For supper Joanne made a vegetarian pizza with mushrooms and our freshly sun dried tomatoes. WOW ... what intense, sweet flavour in the tomatoes.

Friday ; Today was sunny. So ... this morning Joanne baked a cake in the Sun Oven and in the afternoon made potato and dill soup in the Sun Oven. We're having a lot of fun experimenting with solar cooking.

We retracted the slides and finished washing the trailer today. Sully loudly protested when we retracted the slides. Obviously he thought we were "hitting the road" and he didn't want to go ! HA HA HA ... it's okay, Sully, we're not leaving here yet.

Carol Mae came over today to discuss the upcoming Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally agenda. At the rally Joanne and I will be conducting a cooking class that will result in a meal for the group. I think we're going to incorporate the Sun Oven.

On today's pack walk we walked twice around the dog park. It was Joanne's suggestion that we extend our pack walks to twice around the perimeter of the seven acre dog park. We need the exercise. And it worked well to accommodate pack walk latecomers. We walked around the perimeter of the dog park the first time with a group of about six dogs, and the second time with a group about the same size, but different dogs, except for Bo and Riley. Bo seemed to think that twice around was too strenuous. Maybe he's older than we think ?

Saturday ; Today was cloudy and cool. A day of rest for the Sun Oven.

This morning I trimmed my beard then worked on some landscaping. When that was done I helped Joanne do some paint touch up work on the front of the shed. The "paint match" done by Lowe's was so perfect that I don't think we're going to have to apply a coat of paint on the entire front wall of the shed to "hide" the touched up areas. So ... we bought a gallon of paint, and used less than a cup !

Just before noon our Thai next door neighbour brought over a plate of freshly prepared Thai food ... again. MMMMM ... a big serving of Pad Thai, two spring rolls and fresh peanut sauce. My goodness, her food is good !

This afternoon Joanne went shopping. Mercifully, without me ! She went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, and Goodwill Thrift Store, both of which had 50% off everything today. She was shopping for some "decorating accessories" for the Arizona room, and found what she was looking for. She's done very nice "interior decorating" of the Arizona room, and at very little cost. I stayed home and worked online. I downloaded some Canadian income tax forms I will need to do our personal income taxes. I downloaded the U.S. IRS 8840 form, filled one out for each of us, printed them, and mailed them. I went for a "twice around" pack walk. And ... at the end of the pack walk, while going out of the dog park to get a gardening tool from the landscape shed ... < sigh > ... I accidentally allowed Riley to escape from the dog park. How embarrassing ! I joined Bill and Liz chasing Riley around the RV park until he was captured.

DSK