This afternoon was Bo's agility class "graduation". The class started nine weeks ago with nine dogs. It ended today with only five dogs. The "final exam" was a difficult agility course with seventeen components. Bo completed the entire course off leash, with only one "fault". And I don't think it was his "fault". The final component was the "broad jump" a triple hurdle with each of the three hurdles slightly higher than the one before, forming a 45 degree, rising "broad jump". Before starting I told the instructor that
I thought it was set too high for Bo. She disagreed. It was the seventeenth and final component. Bo was so tired by then that his back leg clipped the third and highest hurdle, knocking the bar down.
For a very short legged, ten year old dog .. WELL DONE, BO ! Only one dog did better than Bo, his buddy from here at Kofa Ko-op, the year and a half old, part Border Collie, Zona. I declare Bo to be the silver medallist. HA HA HA !
This evening we watched Amazing Race and Downton Abbey. WHAT ? It's the end of Downton Abbey season 4 already ?
Monday ; Sunny and hot.
This morning we headed out for a long day of shopping errands. First stop was Historic Downtown Yuma to sign up for a date farm tour next weekend. Next was Food City to buy some food for the upcoming Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 Spring Rally. Over to Harbor Freight for some guy stuff ... WOO-HOO ! Lunch at Burger King. More Spring Rally food purchases at Smart & Final. Last stop was some personal grocery shopping at Albertsons.
Late this afternoon we gave Bo a bath. We packed some clothes in the truck camper. Joanne diced a lot of tomatoes for tomorrow's dinner.
Tuesday ; Sunny and hot again.
This morning I opened the box of the new Sun Oven that I bought a couple of months ago. I had not yet opened it because we were planning to bring it home to Canada, and leave the old Sun Oven here. But ... I am conducting a Sun Oven demonstration tomorrow and Thursday, using both Sun Ovens both days. I unpacked the new Sun Oven, and cleaned it, then set it out in the sun with a pot of vinegar inside. Over the next couple of hours the vinegar boiled and steam cleaned the inside of the Sun Oven. Meanwhile, Joanne baked a cake in the old Sun Oven, then cleaned that one to be ready for my cooking demonstrations.
In the afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift. WHEW ... 2½ hours of walking dogs really tires me out. Some of them are such "pullers". By the time we returned to Kofa Ko-op the Roadrunner Chapter 7 Spring Rally had commenced.
We attended the very well attended communal taco salad dinner. Then we attended the very poorly attended "campfire" on the south patio. There has been much "resistance to change" in having this spring rally here at Kofa Ko-op instead of boondocking out in the desert on Ogilby Road as in the past. Hope the next few days aren't filled with drama and turmoil !
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot.
Had to be up too early for me, to attend communal breakfast. Afterwards I conducted a Sun Oven cooking demonstration, using both of our Sun Ovens. I cooked a cake, eight "hard boiled" ( baked ) eggs, and baked two large sweet potatoes. For half the day struggled with a colitis flare-up due to last night's communal dinner. Should have known better !
Joanne prepared a contribution to tonight's communal potluck "progressive" dinner. "Progressive" means ; appetizers on pool patio, progress to salads behind clubhouse, progress to entrees on south patio, progress to desserts in clubhouse.
Watched Survivor this evening. The "brains" tribe seem dumb as rocks !
Thursday ; Partially cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, very warm.
This morning I hooked up my laptop computer to the large screen TV in Kofa Ko-op's clubhouse and presented a video on Continuous Chest Compression CPR to the Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally. Following that I set up our two Sun Ovens and conducted a solar cooking demonstration for the second day in a row. That was made difficult by the partially cloudy conditions that existed until about 1:30 PM.
Joanne spent much of the afternoon assisting with the preparation of tonight's communal Miner's Stew dinner. After dinner I led a street clean up effort. Many years ago Kofa Ko-op "adopted" responsibility for cleaning E. County 17th St. from Ave. 3E to Ave. 4E. That effort was led by an old friend of ours who died three years ago. Since his death, the cleanup responsibility has fallen by the wayside. I have decided to pick up from where he left off. I led a group of fifteen people on a one hour clean up of the road. We cleaned a lot more roadway then initially planned, in less time than planned. Well done, everybody.
And so ended this year's Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally.
Friday ; Sunny and hot.
This morning we headed to The Foothills for some shopping errands. By the time we were finished it was time for lunch. We had a coupon, and a recommendation, for Round Table Pizza, way over on the other side of town. We drove all the way over there and ... first of all ... Joanne tripped on their uneven floor as soon as she entered their door. Scraped knee, bruised hip, friction burned palm of her hand. Secondly ... terrible food, terrible service, and did I mention ... TERRIBLE FOOD ! Never again ! ! !
Early this evening we headed to Marine Corps Air Station ( MCAS ) Yuma for the Twilight Air Show. Tomorrow is the big, annual MCAS Air Show, tonight was the twilight "mini-show". Very unusual ! A jet powered glider ( can you spell "oxymoron" ? ) spewing pyrotechnics, a jet fuel powered race car ... zero to 400 MPH in nine seconds ... a fabric winged ultralight spewing pyrotechnics, and finally, a helicopter spewing pyrotechnics. I'll bet that none of those was thought up by a woman. HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Sunny and hot.
This morning we were supposed to attend a date grove tour that we had been eagerly looking forward to all winter, and for which we made reservations about a week ago. But ... < sigh > ... a few days ago I received an e-mail notification / invitation to a dog behaviour seminar at the Humane Society of Yuma, conducted by a French Canadian dog behaviourist. I opted to attend the seminar. Joanne went on the date grove tour with her 93 year old water aerobics friend Eilene. I hope to be able to attend that date grove tour next winter.
After the dog behaviour seminar was over I spent about ¾ of an hour "cat cuddling", despite being neither "trained" nor "authorized" to do so, and about another ¾ of an hour walking a couple of dogs.
In the afternoon I completed the difficult task of getting the old truck storage chest / tool box up onto the roof of the camper, and getting it temporarily "mounted" up there to haul stuff back home in about a month.
In the evening we went to dinner at Olive Garden, one of the restaurants we like to visit here once per year. Nice dinner ... good food, good service, reasonable prices.
DSK
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