December 16 to 22, 2018

Sunday ; Mostly sunny and mild. I made ( liquid ) smoked Rainbow Trout in the Sun Oven today.

Joanne went shopping by herself this afternoon. I finished a repair on the side wall of the trailer. And I started work on solving a series of squeaks underneath the trailer, in the suspension system, that are not only slightly irritating to us, but also inspire our next door neighbour to complain. It requires the removal of each of the trailer’s four wheels, and cleaning and lubricating behind each wheel where it comes into contact with the brake drum. Desert dust trapped between each wheel and brake drum causes “squeaking” as we move around inside the trailer. Today I removed, cleaned, lubricated, and reinstalled one wheel. I hope to do one each day until finished. It’s tough work for an old man to jack up a 12,000 pound trailer and essentially “change a tire”.

While walking Ozzie late this afternoon we were invited to visit by our friend Linda whom we haven’t seen since she and her husband David visited us at our Canadian home in September, 2017, shortly before my cardiac bypass surgery. In the evening I worked on my new laptop, paying bills, entering my weekly journal to my blog, updating investment records, etc.

Monday ; Sunny and mild.

This morning I ordered a new Internet service for our lot. I am fed up using the Kofa Ko-op communal Wi-Fi service. I am too old, too crabby, and … too affluent to have to put up with crappy Wi-Fi ! We took both vehicles and drove to Somerton, a small town a bit south of here, near the Mexican border. Somerton is as much Mexican as it is American. I left Obie the SUV at Yepez Motors for some servicing, then we drove back to Yuma, and went to about half a dozen auto body shops to get estimates on repairing the damage I did to the truck on my last trailer towing job, on November 1. I decided that the damage isn’t worth repairing, considering that most of the auto body shops seem to operate on the principle that ANY repair is worth at least four figures !

We walked Ozzie before lunch, then while I was eating lunch … I developed a fat lip ! HUH ? Something must have bit / stung me on my lower lip while we were walking Ozzie. The inside of my lower lip puffed up, and there was a little red mark in the middle of the puffiness. It puffed up so huge that it impaired my speech for awhile. The fat lip persisted until bedtime.

After a very late lunch and a brief nap, I removed, lubricated, and replaced another wheel on the trailer. Two done, two more to do. Joanne helped me with that job, then I helped her clean the trailer’s windows. Joanne did laundry and … 

I did some body work on the truck. Cost me nothing, results are satisfactory !

After a month of cell phone drama, my new cell phone arrived this afternoon. 

I received an e-mail telling me it had been delivered. I rushed to the clubhouse to get the new cell phone out of our mailbox and … AAARRRGGGHHH ! ! ! The mail box lobby was closed until tomorrow morning because the floor had just been washed and waxed ! It’s like a ****ing conspiracy to keep me from having cell phone service ! ! !

After an amazing supper of Caesar salad, barbecued steak, baked potatoes, and sauteed Oyster mushrooms in Crema CentroAmericana, I manually “migrated” January’s calendar from my old laptop to my new laptop. < sigh > Two months done, eleven more months to do !

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.

This morning I retrieved our new cell phone from our mailbox, activated it and … < sigh > … finally have cell phone service … four weeks after entering the US ! Good grief ! We loaded all of our recyclables into the truck and took it to the local recycling depot. On the way back home we stopped at Peanut Patch and bought some freshly made peanut butter.

This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular weekly session of dog walking and cat cuddling. WHEW … I’m tired after walking big dogs for two hours.

Wednesday ; Sunny and warm … a really lovely day.

This morning a young Hispanic ( read that as “Mexican” ) fellow showed up to install my new Internet service provider’s equipment. He was personable and efficient. He got the cables installed, and modem / router set up quickly and efficiently. Well done, Ramon, thank you. I now have my own Wi-Fi, with my own personal, private bandwidth, and no longer have to share the communal Wi-Fi of the park.

This afternoon I continued working on removing the trailer’s wheels, lubricating the backs of the wheels and the brake drums, and reinstalling the wheels. Since 

I had to pull the trailer’s slides in for the installation of the Internet cabling, 

I figured I might as well take advantage of the retracted slides and get both of the wheels on the driver’s side of the trailer done today. With a lot of help from Joanne, I accomplished that, but … we were both very tired tonight as a result of working that hard under the brutal desert afternoon sun. It seems as if the squeaking underneath the trailer is now eliminated. Hallelujah !

I received a telephone call from Yepez Motors in Somerton to discuss repairs to Obie the SUV. Imagine how dismayed I was when they advised me that … 

< sputter > … the front driveshaft is missing / removed, rendering our all wheel drive SUV a rear wheel drive only ! I surely would like to get my hands around the throat of the low brow asshole who sold me this car two years ago !

Late in the afternoon / early in the evening I began working on the installation of the new bedroom cellular shade / blind. I removed the valance off the bedroom window, then fabricated and installed mounting brackets on the new blind. I hope to complete the installation tomorrow.

After a late supper we spent the rest of the evening watching the three hour season finale of Survivor.

Thursday ; Sunny and warm, another lovely day. Joanne cooked a chicken chili recipe in the Sun Oven today.

This morning I mounted the bedroom blind. Again and again ! My mounting bracket ideas / designs required plans B … and C. Joanne went shopping by herself. In the afternoon the roofing contractor returned to apply the second and final coat on the trailer roof. He did good work, for a reasonable price. While he worked on the trailer roof I replaced the coaxial cable from the satellite dish on top of the Arizona room to the satellite receiver box on my desk inside the trailer, a distance of about seventy-five feet.

After supper we ran some errands. I returned a couple of items to Lowe’s, and bought one item. We went to Fry’s for a turkey. HMPH ! Sold out ! We went to Smart & Final for a turkey. HMPH ! Sold out ! I returned an item to Best Buy. Back at home I posted an ad in the White Sheet, the local classified advertising paper. I responded to the Humane Society’s e-mail request for volunteers to “work” on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And I continued to work on manual “migration” of my calendar from the old laptop to the new one.

Friday ; Cloudy and cool.

This morning Joanne went grocery shopping by herself. Objective ; buy a turkey ! HA HA HA ! After much searching she bought one at Food City. Not cheap ! Not the size desired ! But … we’ll have a turkey for Christmas ! HA HA HA … thank you, my dear. This afternoon we drove to Somerton and picked up Obie the SUV at Yepez Automotive. WHEW … hefty repair bill ! That car is such a piece of 

junk ! But … Joanne likes it ! So … < sigh > … we keep it ! At supper time she decided she wanted to go out for dinner to Eat Asian Super Buffet. MMMMM … our favourite “Chinese” restaurant. Great meal ! Especially the sushi selections !

Saturday ; Sunny and warm, a bit windy.

This morning I did some patching of redundant screw holes in the ceiling of the bedroom slide out, then reinstalled the bedroom window valance over the “new” cellular blind. The blind looks good and functions well. Then I repaired the Arizona room’s rear door. After replacing some stripped screws in the hinge 

I took an electric grinder to the bottom of the door to improve the “fit” in the frame. Hey … if I’m going to live here on “Redneck Row” … I might as well solve problems the redneck way. HA HA HA !

After lunch and a nap we went to the storage yard and worked on the camper. Joanne replenished and restocked. I “exercised” our little generator. And put away laundered clothing. Back at home, after barbecuing chicken for supper, 

I updated Obie’s maintenance records, and continued “migrating” my calendar from the old laptop to the new. Only a few more months to go until I have entered a year’s worth of calendar schedule. That should cover all “one time” and recurrent events.

DSK