Sunday ; Sunny, warm, very windy.
This morning and early afternoon I worked on some month end financial work, including reconciling and paying bills. After lunch I headed to the clubhouse for an audit committee annual audit exercise.
We had been invited to Bill's and Lynne's for an early dinner before the ice cream social. Joanne and Bo went over to their place at 3:30 PM. I arrived after the audit committee meeting ended, at 5:20 PM. Sorry ! They were just finishing dinner. I ate quickly, took Bo home, and we went to the ice cream social.
Once again we were unable to receive a satellite TV signal for PBS, so we missed seeing Downton Abbey tonight. DARN ! I worked on the computer, posting my weekly blog entry, and reviewing the correspondence and minutes of the board meeting from our RV park back home in Keremeos, B.C. SHEEESH ! It seems as if the winter must be getting to those folks ! Relax, people ... take a pill ! ! !
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Sunny, mild, very windy.
Late this morning we headed for Mexico. Once across the border Joanne went to Tere's Beauty & Barber Shop for a pedicure ( $10 ) while I walked across town to Farmacia Veterinaria Safari to buy some pet medications for a neighbour / friend back home in B.C. By the time I returned to Tere's Joanne's pedicure was complete and she was getting a haircut ( $5 ). I also got a haircut ( $3 ). And beard and moustache trim ( $2 ). And eyebrow trim. And ear hair trim. Mexican hairstylists are very thorough ! HA HA HA !
We went for lunch to our favourite little restaurant in Los Algodones. We each had tres tacos. Mine were carne asada, machaca, and camarón. Joanne's were carne asada, pescada, and pastor. I had a Coca-Cola Light, and Joanne had a Fanta Naranja. Great lunch, as usual ! Eleven bucks !
We wandered around town browsing, then stocked up on some pan dulce at a panaderia. On impulse I purchased a pound of fresh, huge shrimp. Caught yesterday at Puerto Peñasco on the nearby Sea of Cortez / Gulf of California, brought into Los Algodones this morning. Ten headless shrimp to the pound ! < blink blink > They don't get any larger than that ! Once I bought the fresh shrimp it was time to begin heading back to the border crossing. On the way to the border we bought some Mini-Nugs,
Mini-CocoNugs, and Creminos, our favourite Mexican chocolate bars and chocolates.
The line up at the border crossing was extremely short for this time of year. Once back in the United States we drove to the "secret" pet cemetery hidden out in the desert and paid a visit to Sully's grave. We placed some special rocks on it that we had brought from home. < sigh > We miss Sully. It's been almost a year since he died. Once back in Yuma we stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few items. We arrived home in time for the daily 5 PM pack walk.
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm, evening chilly.
This morning Joanne attended two meetings, one to count laundromat money, a regular "committee obligation" of hers, and another meeting to plan the upcoming pie social. We had a visit from Joe and Alene, neighbours from across the street. They brought over Lucy, their Dachshund. We are caring for Lucy today and overnight as a "test run" for her staying with us for a couple of weeks when Joe and Alene are on a cruise later this month. Lucy is currently ( 9 PM ) snoozing on the sofa, having just been walked, and fed, and finished her "happy dance". HA HA HA ... sleep well, little Lucy.
After lunch we took a large load of recycling to the local recycling business, then went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. I made friends today with a new volunteer, a woman about our age, from West Virginia. Like me, she has had a lifetime of pet ownership, and a lengthy career as a very successful pet related small business owner. In the cat wing today was a gorgeous Seal Point Applehead Siamese that reminded me of Sully. We arrived back home just in time for the daily pack walk at 5 PM. Lucy was unable to make it all the way around the seven acre dog park with the rest of the pack. She has pretty short legs ! HA HA HA !
Now Bo is sleeping on the couch with Lucy. Where am I supposed to sit when I want to watch a TV show in ten minutes ? ! ?
After supper ... Pasta Alfredo with shrimp for me, without for Joanne ... I did month end bank account reconciliations. Joanne worked on preparing two desserts for tomorrow's Renters' Appreciation Dinner.
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne cooked a huge pot of carrots and pineapples in the Sun Oven today as part of her contribution to our table tonight at the Renters' Appreciation Dinner. She was the hostess of our table of fourteen.
This morning I headed to the Humane Society to pick up the hooded sweater I lost / left there yesterday. After returning home I took Bo into the dog park for an obedience session, then into our back yard for a Bo-gility session. Well done, Bo, good dog.
After lunch I had a meeting with the chairman of the audit committee. I am helping him to write the audit committee's report to the Board of Directors at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. I am also writing and presenting the audit committee's verbal presentation to the AGM. I did some household chores and some annual maintenance chores, then it was time to prepare for the Renters' Appreciation Dinner.
Joanne was the host of our table of fourteen people. Each table was comprised of three lot owner couples and four renter couples. The lot owners provided all the food, as appreciation for the renters who spend their money staying in our park all winter. The Renters' Appreciation Dinner is an annual event. And tonight it was exceptionally well attended. Full clubhouse. About 250 people ! ! ! ALL renters assigned seating.
It was our intention to have a travel slide show presented tonight in the clubhouse, on the large screen TV, immediately after dinner. A two part travel slide show. Part one ; Bill and Lynne ... renters from Connecticut ... visit Daniel and Joanne ... lot owners from British Columbia ... last summer in the beautiful Okanagan / Similkameen region of British Columbia. Part two ; Bill and Lynne continue on to visit Alaska and Yukon.
I was sternly cautioned twice today that our travel slide show must be completed by 6:30 PM, when the "games players" take over the clubhouse. HMPH ! Tonight's "games", a five night a week activity, should have been cancelled ! Instead ... I realized as dinner was finishing around 6:10 PM, and the clubhouse was still a "zoo" with a couple of hundred people milling about, that presenting our travel slide show was not possible.
Good call, Daniel. Some decisions are just ... "right" ! I postponed our travel slide show until next Wednesday's potluck dinner, which Joanne and I will be "hosting". After the clubhouse quieted down, and many people left, and the games players settled into their tables, Joanne and I remained behind and chatted with friends for another three hours.
EXCELLENT Saskatoon berry matrimonial cake, my dear ! ! ! And our neighbour Bebe's Thai food was "to die for" ! ! ! Geez I love Bebe's Thai cooking ! Did I mention ... our neighbour Bebe was "Miss Thailand" forty-some years ago ?
Thursday ; Sunny and cool. Today we roasted a chicken in the Sun Oven for supper tomorrow.
This morning we gave Bo a bath. What a stinky little dog he gets to be !
This afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping by herself. I set up and configured an old computer monitor in the trailer, hooked up to my laptop, and positioned in the entertainment center cubby hole recently vacated by the repositioning / remounting of our TV. When Joanne returned home I went to the storage yard to work on the truck camper. I finished up some reassembly work inside the generator compartment, then silicone sealed the tail light assembly and generator compartment door. FINISHED ! The truck camper dinette seat reupholstery project is compete ! While I was working on the truck camper Joanne went to a park anniversary celebration at the clubhouse. When I was finished working on the truck camper I took Bo on the daily pack walk. Pack of one dog ! Just Bo today !
We wanted to go on a "date night" tonight. We had two choices for entertainment ; a free jazz "Big Band" outdoor concert at 6 PM, or a foreign art film at 7 PM. We weren't ready to leave in time for the 6 PM concert, and it seemed a bit too chilly for an outdoor concert tonight. So we headed "downtown" for dinner and a movie. We went for dinner to Copper Miner Kitchen. They were quite busy tonight and service was slow. At 6:50 PM we had finished our soup course, but our main course had not yet arrived. We told our waitress we were leaving and would be back shortly after 9 PM. We got up and left !
We walked to Historic Yuma Theater to see their monthly foreign art film presentation. Tonight's film was from France, a teen angst film entitled Respire ( Breathe ). It was preceded by a "short" entitled Bonne Esperance ( Good Hope ), a middle aged angst film. There's a lot of angst in France, apparently. HA HA HA ! Both films were good. We returned to Copper Miner Kitchen shortly after 9 PM and had the rest of our supper. MMMMM ... good liver and onions, tonight’s “all you can eat” special.
< BURP > OH ... excuse me ! Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten that much liver and onions that late at night ? !
Friday ; Sunny and mild. Should be warming up again soon.
We spent much of the day shopping in The Foothills, on the eastern side of Yuma. First stop was the Helping Hands Yard Sale at Gila Mountain United Methodist Church. It's a massively huge yard sale held twice a year. Almost everybody in Yuma goes to the Helping Hands Yard Sale. Today we met two friend / neighbour couples there. We bought some items, a bit more than we usually do ; some guy stuff / hardware, a pair of shoes for Joanne, a coat for Joanne, a brand new shirt for me with the new tags still attached. Next was CVS and Walgreens, the two pharmacy chain stores located across the street from one another in The Foothills, same as they are in Yuma proper.
By then it was time for a late lunch. We went to Applebee's because we had a lunch special coupon. The food was excellent. And just like our visit there about a year ago, there was a problem with the processing of the lunch special coupon on our bill, despite me discussing it with our waitress before placing our order The "manager" who came to our table to discuss it was condescending. That cost our waitress any hope of a tip. And it lost them a customer forever. There are plenty of other places to spend our money !
While I shopped at Al's RV Service & Supply, Joanne shopped at the "99 Cent Only Store". Today was the monthly 15% off everything sale at Al's RV. Well ... not quite everything. Batteries are excluded. And I bought a very expensive new battery for Elsie the truck camper. As well as a new propane alarm for Harvey the fifth wheel trailer, another expensive item. Our final destination was Cactus Propane. When we arrived there it was closed, apparently due to some temporary problem. By then I was all "shopped out" and ready to return home.
On the way home we stopped at a roadside fruit vendor and Joanne bought some huge lemons. She needs a lot of lemon juice for the ten lemon meringue pies she will be baking with a group of other women for an upcoming "pie social".
We took Bo on the daily pack walk. I went bicycling at sunset. I helped Carol Mae set up some small animal traps to catch the feral cat and her kittens which have been living underneath a fifth wheel trailer in the park. It wasn't long before they were trapped ! And I went over to offer first aid assistance to Laszlo who was injured today while "mining" out in the desert. He sustained a very deep and severe cut on his arm when he fell on rocks. Way out in the desert ! While alone ! < whispering > Dumbass !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne cooked chocolate rice pudding in the Sun Oven today. And I gave a Sun Oven demonstration to our new next door neighbour, including cooking her a "hard boiled" / baked egg.
This morning I visited Laszlo to check on how his injured / cut arm was doing. By the time he returned home last night the bleeding had stopped, and by this morning it seemed too late to go for stitches. Still a dumbass ! My home made ( by me ) pine sap salve seemed to have helped. I hope it continues to do so.
This afternoon I worked on the truck camper. I installed a new wireless security alarm system, and I installed a new battery. I printed the first ... and then the second ... drafts of the audit committee's presentation to the upcoming AGM that I wrote, and delivered them to the committee chairman for his review. I cooked chicken liver as a gift for Bo's upcoming birthday.
I cooked Manitoba / Lake Winnipeg Pickerel for supper. I spent the evening working on year end and month end financial statement reviews and reconciliations and analysis. YIKES ! The good news is ... we made some annuity type investment changes about six or seven years ago that had " fixed annual guaranteed growth" and those changes now look absolutely brilliant.
DSK
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