We have just finished watching ( at 12:30 AM ) the four and a half hour long fortieth anniversary Saturday Night Live special. HMPH ! I expected better !
This morning our friend and neighbour George used his large ATV with a small trailer behind it to help me move our new mobile home steps into the dog park behind our rear fence. Thank you George. Tomorrow I will work on installing and levelling the steps.
This afternoon we went shopping to Arizona Market Place, the local large flea market.
I had a list of items I needed from there, and I was able to find most of them today. We returned home, picked up Bo, and headed to Somerton, a local small town a bit southwest of here on the way to the Mexican border at San Luis. I wanted to visit Council Avenue Park and Council Avenue Pond within. We strolled around the pond. Bo waded in the pond ! < rolling my eyes >
Back at home we went to the regular Sunday late afternoon / early evening ice cream social. Huge crowd tonight ! Afterwards we had a late supper and watched the Saturday Night Live special.
Monday ; Sunny and hot. Joanne cooked a banana chocolate cake in the Sun Oven.
This morning our 94 year old friend Eilene came over to get some help "converting" a recipe for five or six people to a recipe for 150 to 180 people. HA HA HA ! I've always admired Eilene's "style". She is going to host a farewell party ... for herself. She has sold her place here, and this will be her final season here. She wants to leave on her own two feet ... standing upright ... and on her own terms. Bravo, Eilene. She is going to prepare a farewell dinner for the entire RV park, to express her appreciation to all her friends here.
We spent the latter part of the morning installing / positioning and levelling the new mobile home steps we recently acquired. We put them in the dog park, against our rear yard fence, and then butted our "old" set of steps up against the "new" ones. Well done ! It will be much easier for Bo to go into and out of the dog park.
This afternoon Joanne took Eilene shopping for groceries for her farewell / appreciation dinner. I went in search of a local screen and vinyl manufacturing company that can remake the vinyl snap on walls of our Arizona room. I was unsuccessful. My first choice, a company that we've dealt with before, doesn't make vinyl products, only sun screen products. The second company, able to do the job, we have dealt with before also, and their workmanship was so poor we don't want to deal with them again. The third company gave me a quote which I thought was outrageously high, and the ( Canadian ) owner of the company struck me as an a*****e ! I don't want to deal with him.
Back at home I napped with Sully and Bo. I watered all my plants and gardens. When Joanne came home we took Bo for a walk around the dog park. He still has a cold / upper respiratory infection, but it's not as severe as the last few days. He seems to be slowly improving. I'm continuing to administer Mucotox ; jarabe para las molestias respiratorias ( syrup for respiratory discomfort ) that we bought a couple of years ago at a veterinary pharmacy in Mexico. The next time we go to Los Algodones I'm going to try to buy more. I think it saved Sully's life. Long ago ... when he was only seventeen. HA HA HA !
At dusk I went bicycling. After supper we watched the finale of Celebrity Apprentice. We were glad that Geraldo did not win.
Tuesday ; Mardi Gras
Sunny and hot again.
We were up early in order to be at the clubhouse at 9 AM for the Annual General Meeting. It was finished at 10:15 AM. WOW ... after 31 years this park certainly has streamlined their annual general meeting process ! Someone from the Board of Directors from Riverside RV Park Resort back home in Keremeos, BC should come down here and take notes on how to do it properly and efficiently !
The rest of the morning and early part of the afternoon were taken up with routine chores ... and phone calls. I was on the phone quite a bit calling around about the Arizona room vinyl wall panels that I need replaced, and phoning some White Sheet ads about fifth wheel hitches for sale. All winter I have been browsing the White Sheet ads looking for a used fifth wheel hitch under $200. Today I found one ... and bought it ! I also was able to contact the original manufacturer of our Arizona room snap on vinyl walls. They are now in Wellton, a short distance east of Yuma.
We went to the Humane Society this afternoon for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. From there we drove to The Foothills where I refilled the truck with diesel at Fry's Fuel Bar, then went to see ... and buy ... a used fifth wheel hitch for $185. It needs a bit of TLC refurbishment, but I'm good at that sort of thing, and we only need to use the hitch for about fifteen or twenty minutes, twice a year, here in Yuma, to move Harvey the fifth wheel trailer from our lot 52 to the storage area each spring, and back onto our lot in the fall when we return.
We returned home and unloaded the fifth wheel hitch, disassembled into six large, heavy pieces, into the back yard. Joanne started our weekly laundry, then went to the clubhouse to attend the annual "Hail & Farewell" where the outgoing members of the Board of Directors were appreciated and "roasted". I went bicycling. As I cycled by the park's dry camp / boondock area, there were ... Barry and Jackie, friends of ours from the Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33 in BC. They had just arrived today, and were going to the Hail & Farewell party.
Joanne did laundry during the Hail & Farewell. Afterwards Barry and Jackie came over to visit with us in our Arizona room.
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot.
Joanne spent much of today preparing for tomorrow's big farewell party for Eilene. I did routine chores, then spent part of the afternoon playing storage area "musical chairs". We have a spot in the park's storage area, for the trailer during the summer and the truck camper during the winter. I want two spots. And I want them side by side, so that now that I have a fifth wheel hitch, I can tow our trailer to the storage yard, put it into a spot, then load the truck camper onto the truck while Joanne moves food and stuff from the trailer to the camper, in the spring, and vice versa when we return in the fall.
SO ... I had to convince / beg the neighbour with the storage spot right next to ours to agree to relinquish that spot to me ( done ... thank you, Howard ) and move his rig to another spot, then go to the office and arrange for our new spot and Howard's new spot.
Late in the afternoon we went to the clubhouse for a communal "baked potato dinner".
I never have been a big fan of making a meal out of a baked potato < shrug >. Certainly there were a lot of toppings for the potato and salads, but still ... ! Just before the dinner we went to the boondock area and had a tour of Barry's and Jackie's new motorhome, then they walked over to the storage yard with us to have a tour of our truck camper.
After the baked potato dinner Barry and Jackie again spent the evening visiting with us in our Arizona room.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot !
Received an e-mail from my sister this morning. Temperature with wind chill factor in our hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada this morning was ... wait for it ...
< snicker > ... forty-seven degrees below zero ! HA HA HA < ROFLMAO > HA HA HA !
Here in Yuma today the temperature reached about 30 C. / 85 F. That would be ... ABOVE zero !
< wiping tears of laughter from my eyes >
Much of my afternoon and almost all of Joanne's day was taken up with Eilene's farewell party. Joanne and many helpers made it happen ! I was the photographer. Everything went well !
In the evening we went shopping to Walgreens and Wal-Mart. Bo was very happy to go "drivey". He's feeling quite deprived since we have not allowed him to be in contact with any other dogs for two weeks now because he's contagious.
Friday ; Thin overcast, very warm. Our next door neighbours left this morning. Goodbye, Richard and Donna, see you in November.
This morning I went alone to the Arizona Market Place to order a dash cover for Joanne's "new" minivan back home in BC, and to buy new hardware for the fifth wheel trailer hitch I bought on Tuesday.
This afternoon Joanne repaired / refinished a small end table we got from a neighbour who was giving away some no longer needed items. I degreased, cleaned, sanded, primed, and painted the disassembled fifth wheel hitch components. Looks brand new !
Sammy the Australian Shepherd left a get well card and a package of dog treats on our back yard fence for Bo. HA HA HA ... Bo has never received a get well card before ( although ... HA HA HA ... he has previously received a birthday card from two little girls in Las Glorias, Mexico ). He sniffed and sniffed and sniffed the card ! HA HA HA ! Thank you, Sammy ( and Marilu ).
Today I received two requests for quotes for trailer towing services. It took me quite a bit of time to prepare the quote for towing a trailer from BC's Sunshine Coast to the Okanagan Valley. It would involve a ferry crossing from Vancouver to Gibsons with just the truck, then a ferry crossing from Gibsons back to Vancouver with truck and large fifth wheel trailer. Calculating the BC Ferries fees was a bit complicated.
At sunset we went for a walk, up and down each street within the RV park. We spent too much time chatting with friends, and paying attention to their dogs, and their cats, so it was completely dark by the time we returned home. We had a late supper while watching Doc Martin on PBS.
Saturday ; Sunny and very warm.
Our neighbour across the street has just received a diagnosis of lung cancer, already metastasized to lymph nodes and probably elsewhere. Grim prognosis ! Our caring thoughts are with you, Lloyd.
This morning I reassembled the fifth wheel hitch components then painted the rails ... the pieces that mount onto the bottom of the truck bed ... which I have no use for. In the evening I placed an ad in the Yuma White Sheet to sell them.
This afternoon we went thrift store shopping to Salvation Army and Goodwill. I needed shorts. Bought four pair ! And a couple of hot weather shirts. That should last me awhile. I don't like "moving" from our park model manufactured home in BC to the truck camper and then from the truck camper to the fifth wheel trailer in Yuma and vice versa. I want triplicates of everything, including clothing inventory in each of our three "homes".
Back at home Joanne helped me install, measure, mark, and remove the vinyl wall panels on the Arizona room. Tough job ! I needed to measure and mark them prior to taking them to Sun Pro in Wellton to have new ones made. Don't ever let anybody tell you vinyl doesn't shrink ! Thirteen ( ? ) years or so in Yuma summer sun will shrink vinyl to the point where the panels don't fit any longer.
Joanne did some furniture refinishing in the Arizona room. Excellent results, my dear.
I received another request for a quote on a trailer towing job in BC, the third request in two days. Looks like I might be pretty busy with trailer towing jobs as soon as we return home.
DSK
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