Sunday ; Sunny and warm, becoming cloudy and mild late in the afternoon.
This morning I remounted Obie's damaged tire underneath the car, in the spare tire position, just to get it out of the cargo area at the back of the car, and out of the way for now. And I remounted the jack and all the other stuff / accessories that were needed to change the tire last Friday. I took my bicycle to the RV park's compressor station and adjusted the air in the tires. I mounted an LED switched night light on the front "A" pillar on the passenger's side of Obie, as another "courtesy light".
This afternoon after I did some accounting work we loaded folding chairs into the back of Obie, picked up Laszlo and Gail, and headed out to attend a "unity rally". It was a social and political activism event that had "morphed" since it was first announced a couple of weeks ago. It began as Yuma's "second wave" response to the "women's marches" of a couple of weeks ago. But it changed from a "march" to a "rally". And it changed from a "women's march" to a "unity rally". And it was Joanne's interest.
I agreed to participate to be supportive. And Gail did the same. This morning I assisted Joanne in making a large sign "in memory of the six Muslim Canadians murdered one week ago".
And ... I realized this morning ... I had something to say at the rally. When we arrived at Kennedy Memorial Park, the site of the event, I approached the organizers and asked for an opportunity to speak for a minute or two. Joanne and I were carrying small Canadian flags. Joanne was carrying her "in memory" sign. With Joanne and Gail holding flags and a sign, standing behind me on stage, I gave a brief "speech" ... in four languages ; English, Spanish, French, and sign language. Despite having rehearsed it silently to myself throughout the day, I stumbled and fumbled, but got through it. And it was well received, especially my Spanish speaking efforts.
There were a variety of speakers speaking about a variety of social topics ; women's issues, LGBT issues, immigration issues, and so on. A lot of signs. A lot of anti-Trump sentiment ! We were surprised to see three other couples from Kofa Ko-op ( our RV park home ) at the rally, including an elderly lesbian couple. Based on the "demographics" of our park, we had not expected to see any of our "neighbours" at the rally. The rally lasted about two hours. Afterwards we went out for an "all you can eat" spaghetti dinner at Omega Restaurant.
Monday ; Mostly cloudy, warm.
This morning Joanne went out with Gail for a day of shopping and errands, sort of their weekly "girls' day out". Fine by me ! I puttered around the yard, watering all our plants and gardens. I did some maintenance work on Harvey the fifth wheel trailer. I had lunch, then napped with the animals. I removed the cover from our Arizona room's evaporative "swamp" cooler, and did the necessary annual maintenance to make it ready to function. Hot weather is coming ! After Joanne returned home I removed the passenger side front door panel from Obie. Tomorrow I will do some refurbishment of the door panel and reinstall it.
When I took Bo for a walk in the dog park late this morning, I discovered ... HUH ? One of my neighbours is "hand feeding" one of our dog park's resident Roadrunners ? ! ? And this is the second year he has been doing so ? ! ? Our seven acre dog park has a mated pair of Roadrunners. They are frequently visible in the dog park. They drink water out of the water bowl we have placed in the dog park behind our rear fence. And our neighbour hand feeds small pieces of wiener to the male every day around lunch time. HA HA HA ! The female is too timid to take food from Don, so she stands on the brick fence and waits for her mate to return with "lunch". Today ... HA HA HA ... the male jumped down into the dog park with the piece of wiener in his mouth, and began an elaborate mating dance. It's spring time ! It's mating season ! "Hey baby ! Want some of my wiener ? < wink wink >" HA HA HA HA HA ! You go, Roadie ! I had never seen a Roadrunner mating dance before. It’s very interesting !
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.
This morning I repaired and reinstalled the passenger side front door panel in Obie. Now both the driver's side and passenger's side front door panels have been repaired and reinstalled. This car has been subjected to some very poor "home handyman" repair work in the past, or ... it has been roughly torn apart by Customs or other law enforcement.
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. The inventory of both cats and dogs was much lower than usual. That's a good thing, I guess. I "mentored" a new dog walker volunteer on her first shift. After we returned home I filled and hung a Hummingbird feeder. And
I glue repaired a broken door shelf in our shed fridge.
On Tuesday evenings we watch a succession of Canadian comedy shows on TV ; Rick Mercer Report, 22 Minutes, and Schitt's Creek.
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm.
This morning I sold our neighbours' expensive tow bar system, for towing a car behind a motorhome. More than a month ago I agreed to try to sell some of their surplus equipment, including two expensive pieces of towed car towing equipment. I sold all the smaller, less expensive items, and now I sold one of the two expensive pieces of equipment. Only one item left !
This afternoon I went to the storage area to turn on the fridge in the camper.
I discovered ... the battery on the camper was dead. AND ... < sputter > ... both truck batteries were dead ! < sigh > When we parked the truck and camper in the storage yard after returning from our Palm Springs New Year's Eve trip, I did something wrong, and three dead batteries were the result. I borrowed a battery charger, charged the truck batteries while we had a late lunch, then was able to start the truck. I moved the truck and camper to our lot, put the battery charger back onto the truck batteries, and plugged the camper into 120V AC which will result in the camper battery being recharged. Hopefully all three batteries will be fine tomorrow.
Thursday ; Happy 13th Birthday to Bo
Sunny and very warm. What a frustrating ( half ) day !
This morning we drove both vehicles to the nearby town of Somerton, and left Obie the SUV for service while we are travelling for the next week or so. This afternoon we replaced a section of aluminum fascia insert trim on the roof edge at the rear of our Arizona room. While assisting me with that Joanne inadvertently damaged the cable of the satellite dish, and bumped the dish out of alignment. < sigh > It took me about four and a half hours of frustrating efforts to identify / locate and solve the problems and get our satellite signal re-established. < sigh > Second bout this winter of satellite dish drama !
Friday ; Happy 68th Birthday to my sister Sharon ; Yuma, Arizona to Palm Springs, California
Mostly cloudy, very warm.
This morning we took care of routine chores, finished preparing for departure, walked a lap around the dog park, and departed Kofa Ko-op at noon. We drove through Yuma, to Interstate 8, and west on I-8 over the Colorado River into California. About an hour later we turned north on Hwy. 111, then north on Hwy. 86. We stopped for a late lunch, including a date shake, in Westmoreland. Bo's first date shake of this winter season. Happy belated birthday, Bo ! Bo LOOOOOVES date shakes ! We arrived at the eastern edge of Palm Springs around 4 PM.
This was our first road trip with Emma. It went very well ! She vocalized her displeasure, and paced restlessly around inside the cab of the truck, for about an hour. Then she settled down and relaxed, realizing that everything was okay. She trusts us to care for her, and seems confident that no harm will come to her as long as she is with us. She spent most of the trip on Joanne's lap, but also spent some time on the dashboard, and in the pet carrier on the back seat.
Our first destination after arriving in the Palm Springs area was La Quinta Community Park, where we are attending a charity dog event tomorrow. After finding that location we headed to Trader Joe's for some gourmet / specialty food shopping. Finally we headed to the Palm Springs Dog Park, arriving later than we had hoped, at 6:30 PM. Bo was SO excited ! It became dark about twenty minutes after we arrived, but the dog park now has night lighting, so we were able to enjoy ourselves there for about an hour, until 7:30 PM. By then Bo was tired, and we were hungry.
We went to PetsMart to buy some dog food, and an engraved pet tag for Emma. Even though he was tired out from the dog park, Bo enjoyed shopping. HA HA HA ! We went for a late and eagerly awaited supper at Sherman's Deli, at their Palm Desert location. We have never been to that location before, having always gone to their "downtown" location before. We arrived at 8:30 PM and even at that late hour we had to wait about fifteen minutes for a table. And surprisingly ... we were a tad disappointed. We have never been disappointed with anything at the downtown location, but ... with the exception of the superb Matzo Ball Soup, our meal at this location fell a bit short !
After supper we found our way back to Interstate 10, and travelled east back to Spotlight 29 Casino where we boondocked overnight, arriving at the casino about 10:15 PM.
Saturday ; Palm Springs, California to Quartzsite, California
Mostly sunny, very warm.
This morning we left the parking lot of Spotlight 29 Casino about 10:30 AM. First stop was the nearby Love's Travel Center to refill our freshwater tank. Then we headed over to the La Quinta Community Park, arriving about 11:30 AM for the start of Strut Your Mutt 2017, an annual, day long, fun competition, charity dog event.
BO ! You're such a loser ! HA HA HA ! We entered Bo in two competition categories ; Best Tail Wag and Best Rescued Dog Story. He did not win either category ! Fortunately, those were two of the earliest categories, because by the time they were over, Bo was tired ! HA HA HA ! We had lunch in the camper, then spent the rest of the afternoon watching the rest of the competitions, such as ; Best Hairstyle, Best Bling, Prettiest Female, etc. HEY ! This IS Palm Springs, you know ! HA HA HA !
When the event finished at 3:30 PM we headed back through the city towards Interstate 10. We stopped at a Ralph's Supermarket & Fuel Bar to refill with diesel and buy some hot dog buns for tonight's supper. We were on the Interstate and headed east at 4:30 PM. We arrived in Quartzsite, Arizona at 6:30 PM, and got to the High Jolly BLM Campground a few miles north of town just as it got dark at 6:45 PM. I made a campfire and we had a "wiener roast" for supper, with potato salad made with eggs and potatoes cooked at "home" in the Sun Oven a few days ago.
Emma did superbly well today ! She seems to have accepted travelling in the truck as a great way to snuggle and bond with both me and Joanne. And living and sleeping in the camper is quite alright with her too. She is fascinated by the concept of this “tiny apartment” that we live in, that travels with us, and the view / scenery out the windows changes with each move. HA HA HA ! And we “crossed a bridge” today ! Between Palm Springs and Quartzsite, Emma used the litter box on the floor in the back of the truck for the first ... you know ... “important event” ! No problemo ! ! ! Good girl, Emma !
DSK
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