Today was a day of "arrival" chores around lot 52. But first, we did a great Bo-gility session, utilizing our back yard and side yard brick fencing, concrete "toadstools", and yard furniture to do dog agility. HA HA HA ... extremely well done, Bo ! This morning we did some minor maintenance and cleaning chores. I set up the Sun Oven and Joanne baked a cake.
After finally getting the satellite dish set up we began to work on removing, cleaning, and storing the Arizona room's thick vinyl, snap-on walls. We did not finish by the time we had to leave for the weekly ice cream social. After the ice cream social we returned to the trailer to watch Doc Martin, cook supper, and watch Amazing Race. I worked on downloading and processing the photos I've taken over the last week or so.
Monday ; Very sunny, very warm !
This morning we headed to the Salvation Army for some "thrifting". On the way we stopped at Yuma Nursery. Joanne bought some ice plants. We stopped at Sears so that I could make a truck service appointment for next week. Today's Salvation Army special was all clothing articles were one dollar. Hard to resist that ! We bought nine articles of clothing. Nine bucks ! Joanne wanted to thrift shop longer than I did, so while she continued thrifting I went to a local vacuum store looking for a hard to find vacuum filter, then went to the Yuma Sun office to subscribe to the newspaper. I returned to Salvation Army, met Joanne and we shopped at Dollar Tree. I stopped at Barney's to find out what I was supposed to do with the "Free 'til 2013" sticker I received at the Desert Balloon Glow on Saturday night. OH ! ! ! Stick it on any mug and get free soft drinks or coffee at all Barney's locations until the end of December. Okay ! Good deal !
In the afternoon we finished removing the vinyl wall panels from the Arizona room. We assembled the park model steps we bought at Camping World in Spokane, Washington two weeks ago. They're very nice. While attempting to repair a loose piece of screen spline on the Arizona room ... !)@(#*$&%^ ... I tore the screen ! ! ! I guess that's why duct tape comes in a clear version ! I installed the two "NO HERBICIDE SPRAYING" signs I had made in Quartzsite.
Tuesday ; Still very sunny, very warm. Long, tough day !
I started my morning by doing pet dental care. Then I put a salmon fillet that I had marinated overnight into the Sun Oven to become sun dried "smoked" candied salmon. While Joanne did a lot of laundry I worked on reinstalling the section of Arizona room roof moulding that had been damaged and torn off during a recent wind storm.
After lunch we went to do a bit of specialty shopping. On the way we stopped at Barney's to try out their "Free 'til 2013" deal. We walked in, each with a large mug with the Barney's "Free 'til 2013" sticker on, filled them with Diet Coke for me and iced tea for Joanne, flashed the mugs with stickers at the counter staff, and walked out. Cool promotion ! I bought a large, heavy duty tarp for the truck at Yuma's Bargain Warehouse, then shopped for a kitchen faucet at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store next door. HFH Re-Store didn't have any kitchen faucets that I liked. But I did buy a TV coaxial cable that
I needed. Twenty-five cents !
Back at home we went for our daily dog party / walk around the dog park. Bo made a new friend ; Wally from Texas. Wally is a terrier cross and has a personality similar to Bo's. They're destined to be great buddies ... until Wally leaves here on Saturday ! After the dog walk I washed the truck. YUCK ... lots of road grime !
After supper we went shopping again ! WOO-HOO ... PetsMart ! ! ! Bo loves shopping ! HA HA HA ! I refilled Lanoire with diesel, beating the traditional Thanksgiving fuel price increase. Then to Albertson's for some groceries. When Joanne was putting the groceries away at home, she discovered ... mouse damage in a kitchen cupboard. There were holes chewed into a new, large bag of cat food, and a large bag of Cheezies ... only available in Canada. Irreplaceable until next spring ! Oh ... you're dead meat, Mr. Mouse !
Wednesday ; 11:20 PM. DAMN DAMN DAMN ! ! !
Sunny and very warm again. I'm going to stop commenting on the weather until it's something other than ... sunny and very warm !
This morning my priority was to check the mouse trap I set last night. DARN ! Mr. Mouse managed to eat the peanut butter off the trap trigger without tripping it. OOOOO ... now it's personal ! I loaded it with cheese, reset it, and placed it in the cupboard again.
I did an obedience session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog. I did some minor maintenance work including changing a bicycle tire tube. Yesterday my bicycle's rear tire valve spontaneously blew out ! Guess I'll have to find a parking spot for the bicycle that isn't in direct sunlight all day ! Joanne went Wal-Martin' by herself. Thank you !
After supper we watched Survivor. I worked on reconciling our two MasterCard statements for November ; one Canadian dollar, one U.S. dollar. Lots of work. Lots of spending ! ! ! Joanne helped me prepare two batches of bread dough. I'm cooking two loaves of bread in the Sun Oven tomorrow for our table at the communal Thanksgiving dinner.
11:10 PM ! < SNAP > AH-HA ... GOTCHA ! I heard the mouse trap snap in the kitchen cupboard. I opened the cupboard door and there was ... Mr. Mouse ... in the trap ... alive ! DAMN ! That's not supposed to happen ! I took the trap and mouse outside and opened the trap over the back fence, dropping Mr. Mouse into the dog park. DAMN ! It started to crawl away in the sand, dragging its hind legs. Its back must have been broken. I put on a pair of work gloves, climbed over the back fence, picked up the mouse, took it into the shed and ... < ahem > ... euthanized it. DAMN DAMN DAMN ! Well ... I couldn't very well just leave it there suffering, now could I ? ! ?
Thursday ; American Thanksgiving
Well ! ! ! It's almost midnight ... and we have just returned home from our first ... and my last ... "Black Friday" shopping experience !
This morning I baked two loaves of bread ( from scratch ! ) in the Sun Oven. They were our contribution to our communal Thanksgiving dinner table. And they were excellent ! Well done, Daniel !
This afternoon Joanne cooked a large batch of dressing for the communal Thanksgiving dinner. That was the job she volunteered for. My volunteer job was to mash potatoes.
A lot of potatoes ! Using a "custom made" potato masher that looked like some kind of road making tool. HA HA HA ... kind of like an asphalt tamper ! With a handle that's about three feet long ! HA HA HA ! And I served the potatoes.
Thanksgiving dinner was good. Good food, good company, at our table of eleven people.
In the United States the day after Thanksgiving is "Black Friday" the largest retail sales day of the year. And over the years, Black Friday's store opening times have become earlier and earlier. 8 AM ... 6 AM ... 3 AM ... midnight ! ! ! And this year ... as was inevitable ... the store opening times became Thanksgiving evening. We perused the Black Friday flyers and decided to give it a try.
I wanted a TV for our new park model home in BC. And a new laptop computer. Joanne wanted a new printer. Sears had what we wanted, and was opening at 8 PM. Target had what we wanted, and was opening at 9 PM. And Wal-Mart had what we wanted, was opening at 8 PM, and the items we wanted were available at 10 PM.
After Thanksgiving dinner we headed to Sears, arriving just before 8 PM. The line up seemed a bit long, but we got in line. The doors opened at 8 PM, and the line moved into the store very quickly. I was at the TV department at 8:03 PM. The advertised special
I wanted was sold out. WHAT ? ! ? Three minutes after opening ? ? ? Yup ! They had an inventory of ... wait for it ... nine units !
We headed for Target, arriving there about 8:30 PM for their 9 PM opening. Oh, no ...
I am NOT waiting in a line up that long ! We headed to Wal-Mart, arriving at 9 PM. We received a voucher for the TV we wanted and got into line. A long line that snaked up and down three aisles of the grocery section of the store. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people in line for the 10 PM advertised TV. Joanne stayed in line while I went looking for the laptop computer I wanted. I found the line up. And there were a lot more people in line, than the inventory of 60 computers that they were going to be making available at 10 PM. I returned to Joanne in the TV line, and suggested that we leave. She suggested that I get in line for the printer. < sigh > The printers were piled in ... a stack that looked like a mountain. And staff prevented anybody from taking any until 10 PM.
< sigh > I waited an hour for my printer.
As soon as I got my printer I returned to the TV line which was moving very quickly. About half a dozen staff were passing out these televisions off of huge stacks on pallets. WOW ... what a lot of televisions ! We got a TV and headed for one of the incredibly long check out lines.
And then the fun really began ! ! ! ****ing morons with insufficient credit remaining on their credit cards, insufficient cash, indecisive about whether or not to buy the damn "upsell" warranties ... and so on. And on and on and on ! ! ! We were in the check out line for an hour and a quarter. Longer than we waited for the damn TV in the first place ! And then ... another incredibly long line up to get out of the store, while security people checked everybody's receipts to ensure that shoplifters weren't just wheeling out unpaid cart loads of electronics.
First time ... and last time for me ! BUT ... we did get a big screen TV for $148 and a printer for $19 ! Too bad I couldn't get a new laptop. Maybe online on Cyber Monday !
Friday ; WHEW ... another day dedicated to spending money !
This morning we headed to The Foothills to pick up a Star Choice satellite dish from our friends Dave and Joy, neighbours back home at Riverside RV Park Resort. It was surplus to their requirements. I'm going to mount it on the roof of our shed. Thank you, Dave and Joy.
We visited with Dave and Joy briefly, then went to RV Pedlar to see an old, cheap, Class C motorhome advertised for sale. Joanne wanted to see how much Class C can be bought for $5000, compared to how much truck camper we've seen can be bought for that price range. We viewed the old Class C, and a few other used rigs. Five thousand dollars can buy "more" Class C than it can truck camper. Maybe we'll give more consideration to buying a Class C.
Then the Black Friday shopping began ... again. We were interested in a few advertised specials at a few different stores. But none of what we wanted to see today was in the same league as the electronics and other "door opening specials" of last night. We bought a couple of items at Home Depot, and quite a few items at Harbor Freight, including the solar panel kit I've been intending to buy. Joanne hates shopping at Harbor Freight. HEY ... every time I got dragged into Value Village in Penticton should be worth one trip to Harbor Freight in Yuma. HA HA HA ! One of the items I wanted at Home Depot was sold out, so when we got home I ordered it online. It was such a good price that it was worth paying shipping costs.
Saturday ; And yet another day of shopping ! We're spending money like ... to paraphrase my father ... inebriated First Nations people. HA HA HA !
This morning was Kofa Ko-op's "yard sale". Early this morning Joanne set up a table outside with our unwanted items. We sold two items and after the yard sale put the rest of the items on the bargain table. I cooked eggs and potatoes in the Sun Oven to make potato salad for supper.
This afternoon we went shopping to Arizona Market Place, the nearby huge flea market. And we bought a lot of stuff ! Home improvement project items, hardware, tools, kitchen gadgets ... ! From Arizona Market Place we drove to Albertson's for some advertised grocery specials. On the way home we stopped at an RV dealer and looked at another small, old, Class C motorhome.
DSK
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