January 3 to 9, 2016

Sunday ; Sunny and mild.

This morning we turned the Welcome Committee chores ... and golf cart ... over to the couple who will be the Welcome Committee for the next week. We're glad to be done with that. Until our next stint in a month or so. In the two weeks that we were the Welcome Committee we welcomed twenty-nine new arrivals and one new leaseholder / lot owner. It was a lot of work !

I did some minor maintenance chores. I did "Bo-gility" with Bo. He's still pretty agile for an older dog. I mounted the Cummins High Mileage Club "300,000" grill badge on the front of the truck. It arrived in the mail today. I spent the latter part of the afternoon sorting and purging my clothing, both in the trailer and in the camper. I'm not finished yet.

At 6 PM we attended the weekly ice cream social. Big crowd tonight, a bit more than a hundred people ! Afterwards we chatted with Bill and Lynne for a couple of hours, then we returned to our trailer where I cooked Manitoba / Lake Winnipeg Pickerel for supper. MMMMM ! We were hoping to watch the premiere episode of season six of Downton Abbey, but we were unable to receive PBS tonight. So ... we watched an old movie, Steel Magnolias. We've previously seen Steel Magnolias as a stage play.

Monday ; HMPH ! An entire day of rain !

We did some difficult annual cleaning jobs in the trailer today. I wasted a lot of time waiting for Tracfone's Technical Support, both on the phone and on "online chat".
I failed to contact them via either method. At 6 PM we went shopping. More time wasted ! Time wasting problems with coupon and gift card processing at Wal-Mart !
By the time we finished shopping at Fry's, it was after 8 PM and we didn't feel like preparing supper at home. We bought some Church's chicken and Rally's burgers to take home for supper.

Not a particularly good day !

Tuesday ; HMPH ! ! ! A second day of rain ! Pretty rare for Yuma !

This morning I puttered around with chores and minor maintenance. I took my bicycle to the park's air compressor station and adjusted the tires' air pressure. I repaired a dinette chair. I brushed Bo's teeth, a weekly chore. Joanne did cleaning in the truck camper.

This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. I walked six dogs in two hours, despite the cold rain and wind.

After we returned home I got up on the trailer's roof to see if I could identify the cause of a leak into a kitchen cupboard. I mounted a new thermometer outside. Last summer's storm broke our previous exterior thermometer. Joanne did laundry. After supper ( Gnocchi from Trader Joe's ) I summarized our 2015 medical expenses for income tax purposes.

Wednesday ; Sunny and mild.

This morning I puttered around with minor maintenance chores, then did both an obedience session and an agility ( Bo-gility ) session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog.

This afternoon I removed the sacrificial anode from the truck camper's water heater and flushed all the mineral deposit "scale" out of the water heater with a special tool, then cleaned, Teflon taped, and reinstalled the sacrificial anode. Another annual maintenance chore done !

Late in the afternoon we went to run shopping errands before going out for dinner. Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy, Harbor Freight ( WOO-HOO ), and lastly, Smart & Final. We went to Copper Miner Kitchen for their Wednesday evening all you can eat spaghetti dinner. It was very good ! And as a surprise bonus ... it was free ! And I didn't even have to throw a hissy fit to get a free dinner ! HA HA HA !

The waitress took our order and the orders from two nearby tables at the same time. The other two tables received their salads and / or soups, and were already getting their main courses when the flustered waitress came over to our table to tell us that she or the kitchen had lost our order. HA HA HA ! I thought that was somewhat amusing. She apologized profusely, asked us again what we wanted, then advised us that there would be no charge. What good customer service a generous gesture like that is, following a screw up !

Thursday ; Mostly cloudy and cool.

This morning we watched the very entertaining and amusing process of three Mexican men removing the large shed from our next door neighbour's yard. They attempted to remove it intact. They failed. Larry, Curly, and Moe could not have done it any better. HA HA HA !

Joanne went out around noon today with Lynne. They spent the entire day thrift store and grocery shopping. I spent the day puttering around with maintenance chores.
I started, but did not complete, repairing a roof leak on the trailer.

Friday ; Sunny and mild.

This morning I set up the Sun Oven. Joanne prepared a chicken and rice recipe that is a favourite of mine. I put it into the Sun Oven just before noon and we headed out to The Foothills for a day of shopping errands.

First we looked at some used cars. We are considering purchasing a cheap used car for here in Yuma. Our purchase of a minivan in B.C. a year and a half ago has worked out well, so ... maybe we'll do something similar here. Our primary shopping objective for today was Al's RV Service & Supply. Today was their monthly 15% off sale day, the first since we've arrived in Yuma. I had quite a lengthy list of minor maintenance and repair items to buy, both for Elsie ( the truck camper ) and Harvey ( the fifth wheel trailer ). Joanne went to The 99¢ Only Store while I shopped at Al's. Afterwards we went to Burger King for a late lunch.

After lunch we shopped for quite awhile, and I purchased quite a lot of clothing, at Goodwill. There was better selection of men's clothing in my sizes in The Foothills store than in the main Yuma store. Joanne bought an electric blanket for our bed. On our way home we made our final shopping stop at Wally's World. WOO-HOO ... guy stuff ! Shopping at Wally's World is even more fun than shopping at Harbor Freight. HA HA HA !

When we returned home, around 4:30 PM the Sun Oven had just become shaded behind the trailer. Supper was cooked to perfection !

Saturday ; Sunny and mild.

WTF ? ? ? < blink blink > How could it be that we lost over $23,000 this week in the stock market ? ? ? ! ! ! ! !

Joanne went out shopping by herself again today. Before she left she prepared a meal for me to cook in the Sun Oven. I set up the Sun Oven and ... did as instructed. HA HA HA ! I worked on repairing the leak at the top rear edge of the trailer's roof. I tried, but failed, to apply a long strip of rubber roof repair membrane. SO ... I applied a thick coat of rubber roof cement, and will apply another tomorrow or the next day. I worked on my inventory of clothing in the truck camper. I want enough of everything in the camper that there is no need to "pack clothing" when we want to travel.

My big job for today was to work on removing the truck camper's dinette seating. We want to have it reupholstered. Removing the dinette seating ... which "folds" into a bed ... was very difficult. And required much more disassembly than could have been imagined. DARN ! Sometimes ( most times ? ) working on an RV renovation / refurbishment project is like that ! Joanne returned home while I was in the midst of this project, so she helped me with the most difficult parts. I have all the components of the dinette seating removed for reupholstery, but now I also have a whole lot more repair / reassembly work than anticipated.

In the evening I worked on completing our IRS 8840 forms, an annual task required by the U.S. Government. Too bad so many / most Canadian Snowbirds don't know that ! Or they know but don't comply !

As usual, our sun cooked meal was spectacular ! A new recipe. A keeper !

DSK