This morning while I took care of routine chores Joanne went grocery shopping.
This afternoon I installed a new propane leak detector alarm in the trailer. I did some minor maintenance work on the camper. I tried but failed to connect the trailer's old stereo's speakers to the TV. We went on the daily pack walk.
This evening we attended the regular Sunday ice cream social. Announcements and conversation were made difficult to impossible by the Super Bowl game on the TV. Good to see at least two Canadians in Super Bowl commercials ; Drake and Eugene Levy ( from Schitt's Creek ).
Today was the first day of another week long stint for us as the Welcome Committee. Easy job today, no new arrivals. HA HA HA !
Monday ; Sunny and warm. Today we sun dried tomatoes in the Sun Oven.
I watered all my cactus gardens. I'm very pleased with how well my cactus gardening has developed over the last four years of living here during the winters. I printed the audit committee report to the annual general meeting that I wrote and I delivered it to the committee chairman for his review and ( hopefully ) approval. I did some final touch up work on the caulking I recently did on the truck camper's taillight and generator compartment door. While I was doing that Joanne went shopping in preparation for tomorrow's doggy birthday party.
For about two and a half years there has been a squeak underneath the trailer when we are inside the trailer moving around. I have made a few attempts to locate and rectify it. I failed ! Until today ! WOO-HOO ! Finally ! I spent much of the afternoon working on solving that problem. It was difficult to locate the cause. And even more difficult to eliminate it. And I was certainly filthy by the time I had finished. I wonder if my neighbours are as happy as I am that the squeak is finally eliminated. HA HA HA !
After getting cleaned up ... < "Joanne ... the bathroom sink is dirty" > ... we took Bo on the daily pack walk then did our Welcome Committee visits. Four arrivals today.
While I think she has over done it a bit, Joanne prepared for tomorrow's birthday party for Bo. And she has done a great job !
Tuesday ; HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY to BO and Mardi Gras
Sunny and hot ! It's about time ! Well ! Wasn't this an interesting day ? ! ?
This morning at 11 AM eight of Bo's dog friends arrived for Bo's birthday party. Along with their fourteen people ! As I am typing this at 10:30 PM Joanne is singing "It's my party and I'll snap if I want to ... snap if I want to ... you would snap too if it happened to you !" HA HA HA ! HEY ! What good is a dog birthday party without a pit bull fight or two ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Bo's birthday party started in the dog park behind our back yard and eventually migrated into our back yard and then into our Arizona room as the crowd eventually thinned out around 12:30 PM. Joanne served birthday cake made out of canned dog food. It was a big hit with most of the dogs. Zona didn't really like it. Windsor wasn't allowed to have any. As DeeOJee the pit bull picked up a big square of it off a plate, Bo lunged at her face and bit off the half of the "cake" piece protruding from her mouth ! ! ! JESUS, BO ! ! ! Do you think that ripping food out of a pit bull's mouth is the wisest thing you've ever done ? ? ?
Spanky and Riley got into a little bit of a dog fight in our Arizona room. Spanky's owner Judy got bit trying to break that up ! Outside in the back yard ... Bo "attacked" DeeOJee the pit bull ... TWICE ! JESUS, BO ! Do you think that attacking a pit bull is the wisest thing that you've ever done ? ? ? ? ? Bo was on an adrenaline high during his birthday party. TWICE ... he perceived that DeeOJee might be walking threateningly too close to his Dachshund buddy Lucy ... so he lunged at DeeOJee, snapping and snarling viciously ! DeeOJee returned the snapping and snarling and quickly moved away. Lucy just cowered under a chair. HA HA HA ! What fun was had by all ! ! !
The Mexican work crew building a yard shed next door could NOT believe their eyes when sixteen loco gringos began singing "Happy Birthday" ... to a perrito ! < roflmao >
After lunch we headed to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. Our neighbour and friend Carol Mae was already there. AND ... < sputter > ... she had sort of volunteered herself AND US to share responsibility for providing emergency foster care to ... wait for it ... three kittens born less than a day ago ! ! ! OH MY GOD ! What a challenge !
Animal Control had just brought in three new born kittens ... without their mother ! Carol Mae had to leave shortly after we arrived. So ... after our shift of dog walking and cat cuddling, we ... brought the three kittens home ! Along with their supplies of KMR ( Kitten Milk Replacement ) formula, and feeding bottles, etc. We fed them for our first time. They had already been fed once at the Humane Society. They need to be fed about every two hours or so ! It was a steep learning curve, but we got the three of them fed. I fed one, Joanne fed one, our friend Lynne fed one. Then they needed their bellies rubbed gently ... simulating the licking by their mother ... until they urinated and defecated.
They still have their umbilical cords attached !
Before they needed another meal Carol Mae came over to get them. Shortly afterwards her husband Larry came over with a plea for help. Carol Mae was having difficulty feeding them. I went over and gave her the benefit of my wisdom and experience
< snicker >. Actually ... that experience left me feeling sceptical of our chances for success. I'm already thinking / feeling that maybe one of the kittens has a slim chance for survival and the other two may have less than slim to no chance.
< sigh > Wish us and the kittens a lot of luck !
Wednesday ; Happy 67th Birthday to my sister Sharon
Sunny and hot, temperature 86º F / 30º C. AHHHHH !
WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ! ! ! ! ! The kittens survived the second night of their lives, their first night away from their mother, in the hands of Carol Mae. Congratulations, Carol Mae, well done ! AND ... this afternoon the Humane Society found a foster mother for them in Phoenix, so they will be leaving here at 6:45 AM tomorrow morning and by 10:45 AM should be in the care of their new foster mother in Phoenix.
I phoned my sister to wish her Happy Birthday. As the Welcome Committee, early in the day we visited a rig that arrived late yesterday. Later in the day we visited two rigs that arrived today. We hosted this afternoon's Happy Hour potluck at 5 PM, and at 5:30 presented the two part Bill and Lynne travel slide show. Part one, narrated by me ; Bill and Lynne visit Daniel and Joanne in British Columbia. Part two, narrated by Bill ; Bill and Lynne continue on to Alaska and Yukon. Afterwards we sat in the clubhouse and chatted until 8:15 PM. Joanne returned home and I rushed off to Lowe's to return an item.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot, very gentle breeze. What a perfect day for our road clean up event.
Around noon as we were preparing for our road clean up event Joanne was in the clubhouse and stumbled upon a couple from France who were here to check out our park. It's unusual to hear a French accent down here, so as soon as Joanne heard it, she spoke to the couple in French. She brought them over to our Arizona room and we visited for half an hour or so. He's originally from New York, she's from France, they live in France nine months of the year, and are "Snowbirds" like us in the southern U.S. for three months every winter. HA HA HA ... his French is a bit difficult to understand because he speaks French with a "New Yawk" accent. They store their motorhome in Dallas, and fly to and from France from there.
At 1 PM we led a group of sixteen people on the "3rd Annual Ronnie Labrecque Memorial Road Clean Up" event. It's an honour for me to organize this event each year in tribute to our departed friend. We were finished and back relaxing on the park's south patio by 2:30 PM. We rested and chatted for awhile before doing our daily "Welcome Committee" visits.
On today's pack walk we were joined by a new dog, Saxon, a Chocolate Labrador. His owner, a single woman, has been a full time RV'er for less than three months. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at Olive Garden. When we arrived at Olive Garden, there was a line up, and I did not feel like waiting. We bought a bunch of junk food at Del Taco and took it home to eat, stopping on the way home at Fry's Fuel Bar to refill with diesel.
Friday ; Sunny and hot.
We spent the entire morning participating in the annual spring cleaning of our clubhouse. WHEW ... we took on a very tough job. We cleaned all the windows on the outside. That included removing all the sun screens and cleaning out all the accumulated sand and spider's webs behind the screens using compressed air. We started at 9:30 AM and didn't finish until about 1 PM.
After lunch I napped briefly then worked on household chores until it was time to head to the south patio at 4 PM for a neighbours' sixtieth anniversary party. It was great to see Gary and Mickey celebrate sixty years of marriage, made especially wonderful by Mickey's astounding recovery from a debilitating stroke about a year ago.
We had no Welcome Committee visits to do today. We went on the daily pack walk and met new neighbours who have just purchased a park model manufactured home a few sites over from us. As the sun set and it became dark we set up two patio tables out front by the road and set up our surplus items for sale tomorrow morning at the park wide yard sale. While doing that I sold an item for five bucks. Delivery included ! HA HA HA !
Late in the evening we watched the season premiere of Amazing Race.
Saturday ; Sunny and hot.
We were up much too early this morning because ... Lucy the Dachshund was coming over at 8 AM and the park wide yard sale was starting at 8 AM. Joe and Alene brought Lucy over, then left for the drive to San Diego where they will be boarding a cruise ship to Hawaii tomorrow morning. Lucy will be living with us for the next sixteen days. Tonight she was not very happy about that !
I did not sell much at the yard sale. < whispering > I quite dislike selling stuff at yard sales. I would just as soon put it on a bargain table or donate it to a thrift store. Or even better yet ... let Joanne handle the selling while I do other things. Like sleep !
Mostly as a result of people stopping to view our items for sale, then being curious about our Arizona room and back yard, I gave ... < thinking > ... four tours of our Arizona room and back yard this morning. And had an impromptu audit committee meeting in the Arizona room. And the visitors from France that were here yesterday returned today. To put their money down to get on our lot waiting list. WOW ! They were very impressed with what we told them and showed them yesterday. So ... in four years or so they will get to the number one position on our park's waiting list and become lot owners / neighbours in our community.
This afternoon, as the Welcome Committee, we visited the newest lot owners / leaseholders in our park. Then we went shopping / running errands in The Foothills.
We returned home in time to "welcome" a new arrival in the park before going on the daily pack walk. Two new dogs joined us today, along with Riley, one of the "original" pack members. Lucy the three month old Australian Shepherd was almost too much for Bo to bear. But Bo's a good dog, and he tolerated the pup's exuberance as she leapt over him repeatedly as we walked a lap around the seven acre dog park. There certainly are a lot of dogs named Lucy in this park.
After the pack walk, with less than an hour of daylight left, and the temperature cooling, we burned our entire back yard patio area with a propane flame thrower, to kill all the Goat's Head Cacti seed pods and seedlings. First time I have used a flame thrower.
< blink blink > Somewhat dangerous piece of equipment, n'est-ce pas ? Good thing
I switched from sandals to solid shoes. Good thing I didn't set the Arizona room exterior walls on fire !
There was a Valentine's Day dance in our clubhouse tonight, but Joanne and I did not attend. Instead ... we spent the evening listening to Lucy the Dachshund whining.
< rolling eyes > She wants to go home !
DSK
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