December 23 to 29, 2018

Sunday ; Sunny and warm.

This morning I did some routine maintenance in the trailer. I removed the bathroom sink faucet aerator, and the shower head. I dismantled the shower head, then soaked the shower head components and the faucet aerator in CLR to remove the built up mineral deposits. The water here in the desert has a lot of minerals in it. This afternoon I loaded more software to the new laptop, completing that part of the “migration” process from my old laptop to my new one. All that’s left now is to complete the calendar migration.

I paid our new Bank of America MasterCard bill for the first time. When we visited the Bank of America branch in Tulare, California a month ago, on our drive down here, to resolve some problems we were persuaded to accept a new Bank of America cash back MasterCard. Works well for us ! We pay for almost everything with the credit card, pay the monthly balance in full each month, and earn “cash back” of one percent on everything, two percent on groceries, and three percent on fuel purchases. That’s significant !

I updated and analyzed our investment status. WHAT ? ! ? We lost about $37,000 this month ? ! ? What the ****, Trump ? Remember your 2012 Tweet about “any time the stock market loses 1000 points in two days … the president should immediately resign” ? ! ? Fortunately … much of our investments is “guaranteed” in the form of annuities, making me look more brilliant each day ! HA HA HA !

After supper we watched the 1984 remake of A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. We thought it was considerably better than the original ( 1951 ) version with Alistair Sim.

Monday ; Christmas Eve

Sunny and warm, temperature 73ºF / 23ºC, a really lovely Christmas Eve.

Today I sadly remember the death of my father, many years ago on Christmas Eve.

Late this morning we went out for a ride to Bard, California, to have date shakes for lunch. MMMMM ! First date shake outing in almost two years. And … < sniffle > … first date shake outing without Bo. I miss Bo’s passion / enthusiasm for date shakes. Ozzie had some date shake today, and … he enjoyed it, but … he wasn’t “nutso” like Bo was. HA HA HA ! Joanne bought a pound of Medjool dates and we had some of them as appetizers tonight, stuffed with Cheese Whiz and peanut butter. The peanut butter stuffed dates were much better than the Cheese Whiz stuffed ones.

This afternoon I went to change a burned out bulb in the truck’s taillight. When I removed the taillight assembly, I discovered that the bulb had burned out because the printed circuit board was corroded. I was able to find a replacement online at O’Reilly’s and … very shortly after ordering it to be available for pickup at a local store, I received a phone call from the store advising me that it was in stock and available immediately. HMPH … how convenient ! I will be able to pick it up on Wednesday, on our way back from Mexico.

Late this afternoon we went to the Humane Society to work a shift as volunteers. We had volunteered to help out with the late afternoon requirements for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Joanne went to the cat wing to clean litter boxes, and feed and water the cats, while I went to replenish water for all the dogs in all four kennel buildings. When I was finished doing that I joined Joanne in the cat wing and helped there. When the cats were all done we went back to the dog kennels and I took some of the dogs out for a brief walk while Joanne “cuddled” Chalupa the Chihuahua.

Chalupa is an old dog, shivering from cold and fear. I gave Joanne a blanket to tuck around Chalupa. That helped a bit, but I think what helped the most was Joanne’s “cuddling”. Chalupa was recently relinquished to the Humane Society by her elderly male owner who was unsuccessful in his efforts to find her a new home. He feels unable to care for her any longer, overwhelmed by caring for his sick old wife. Poor old man. Poor old dog. And poor old sick wife, I guess.

We returned home to have our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of tourtière, French Canadian meat pie. MMMMM ! Well done, thank you, my dear.

< fume > A Christmas gift that I ordered online arrived at our park while we weren’t home. BUT … since the shipper did not use the correct / complete address, omitting our lot number, it wasn’t able to be delivered. I am NOT pleased !

Tuesday ; Christmas

Sunny in the morning, becoming cloudy in the afternoon, windy all day.

We slept late, then got a slow start to the day. We had our traditional Christmas morning waffle brunch. Thank you for the wonderful strawberry jam, Sharon. We took Ozzie for our regular noon time long walk. Finally, we went into the Arizona room and opened our gifts. This year, we changed how we exchange gifts. We “downsized”, and had only one gift for each other. Without Bo to open gifts, there seemed to be little point in wrapping many small, “non-surprise” gifts.

After opening gifts, Joanne went inside to get started on our turkey dinner and I phoned my sister for our annual Christmas phone chat. I chatted with Sharon for an hour, then went to take a brief nap while Joanne phoned her sister. After napping I reconciled our Bank of America MasterCard billing for December, then … Joanne and I went for a walk in our RV park’s dog park.

The purpose of which was … < sniffle > … to scatter Bo’s ashes. We walked slowly around the perimeter of the dog park and … I slowly sprinkled out the contents of the bag of Bo’s ashes. The wind helped. So … now Bo’s ashes … and perhaps his spirit … certainly our memory of him … will remain forever in the dog park which he loved so much. Despite his death being almost fifteen months ago … and to our surprise … we both shed a few tears of sadness. Goodbye, Bo !

Once again we “worked” a late afternoon shift at the Humane Society, starting at 5 PM. Joanne went to the cat wing. I went to the dog kennels. After watering all of the dog kennels in four buildings I joined Joanne in the cat wing. I helped her clean the litter boxes in the kitten rooms. We were finished, and there was no more work to be done, by 6:15 PM.

We returned home to have a great Christmas turkey dinner. Thank you, my dear. We finished our Christmas Day by having a movie date, watching Despicable Me 2. HA HA HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; Boxing Day ( Canada ) ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico

Sunny and cool.

This morning at 11 AM we left home headed for a doctor’s appointment in Los Algodones at noon. We arrived in Mexico at 11:35 AM, about ten minutes quicker than usual. We went to Medina Medical Specialties where Joanne had an appointment to see Dra. Gutierrez, a dermatologist, for a consultation on … my Christmas gift to her 
( Joanne ). It’s my pleasure to treat her to three treatments of sclerotherapy to eliminate little purple spider veins in her legs. After a consultation with Dra. Gutierrez the doctor performed the first of three treatments of sclerotherapy. Second treatment will be in three weeks and last treatment in six weeks. She used a small needle to inject some kind of saline and glucose solution into the little purple spider veins on Joanne’s legs. As she injected each little purple spider vein … it disappeared < blink blink >. Like some kind of a magic trick ! Each injection was slightly painful. And by evening each spider vein had reappeared as a bruise … as the doctor said would happen.

After Joanne’s sclerotherapy treatment we went to see a new ( to me ) periodontist. I wanted a consultation with her on the new pinhole gum rejuvenation technique, an alternative to traditional gum surgery, and a technique this periodontist has recently been trained for. I had a consultation and periodontal examination and x-rays. BUT … I did not like the dentist, nor her approach. As is an ongoing problem with many dentists in Mexico, her approach included a lot of … < ahem > … “would you like fries with that” upselling. Joanne is of the opinion that many dentists in Canada are guilty of the same.

We went for lunch to a new restaurant. It was okay. Nothing more than that. Not worth returning to. We went to Tere’s Beauty & Barber Shop. Joanne got a haircut. I got a pedicure. From there we went shopping for medications ; one for Joanne and one for our neighbour / friend Jeanine back home in BC. We bought a teensy little bottle of Mexican wine for New Year’s Eve. We shopped for an item I want for our Arizona home, but … I was unsuccessful in negotiating the item to the price I want to pay, so … no purchase. I bought a pound of jumbo shrimp from Puerto Peñasco ( aka Rocky Point ), a fishing village a bit south of here, on the northern tip of the Sea of Cortez / Gulf of California. Fourteen shrimp to the pound … for nine bucks !

The line up to cross back into the United States was seventy-five minutes long. Once again … totally unnecessary, and caused by “games playing” by Customs & Border Patrol. We spent our time in line chatting with the woman behind us, visiting Los Algodones for the first time, and visiting Mexico for the first time in forty-five years. A “deplorable” in the line-up wanted to know what I thought of our Canadian prime minister. When I expressed my ( favourable ) opinion, he was indignant and disgusted with me. HA HA HA … well … at least he knew our prime minister’s last name. HA HA HA HA HA !

On the way back home we stopped at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and picked up the truck taillight printed circuit board that I ordered.

Thursday ; HAPPY 15^th BIRTHDAY TO EMMA

Sunny and mild.

This morning I sold one of the items I have advertised for sale in the White Sheet. Of course, it was the least expensive item I have for sale. So … now the ad is almost paid for. HA HA HA !

In the afternoon Joanne went shopping in The Foothills. She tried to convince me to accompany her, but … she failed. HA HA HA ! 
I replaced the burned out taillight bulb … and taillight circuit board … on the truck. I did backup procedures on both my new and old laptops, then … stored the old laptop. It’s now the “emergency backup” computer.

I took Ozzie for his two long walks today by myself. Joanne is not supposed to walk much following her sclerotherapy treatments.

Friday ; Sunny and cool.

Note 1 to self ; don’t plant any more cacti. Note 2 to self ; don’t water cacti previously planted ! Note 3 to self ; sell lot before cacti become overgrown again ! HA HA HA !

This afternoon we ( mostly ) removed an overgrown Cow’s Tongue Prickly Pear Cactus in one of our flower beds. The base and roots are still in the ground. I will need the truck to pull the rest out ! We cut the cacti down, arm by arm, using a large bow saw, then loaded it all into the back of Obie, drove to the dumpster, and tossed everything into the dumpster. Not easy !

Seven years ago I planted one little Cow’s Tongue Prickly Pear paddle. Today when I cut it down, it was more like … a tree ! AND … to show how resilient these damn things are … one of the “arms” had fallen over onto the ground and … < sputter > … the paddles touching the ground sent roots down into the sand !

They should warn Canadians when they buy property down here ! “Oh, sure … cactus gardening seems like a good idea, but … about seven years down the road … you’ll regret it !”

HA HA HA !

Saturday ; Sunny, cold, windy.

This afternoon I removed and discarded our first ( of three ) Ocotillo Cactus. < sigh > I remember how thrilled I was when we bought it and planted it seven years ago. BUT … it was a nursery plant from Texas. And never did well here in Arizona, a different desert climate than Texas. And actually … this was our second Ocotillo. The first one was dead before we even planted it, and the nursery replaced it a month or so after we bought and planted it. The one I pulled out and discarded today always seemed … on the verge of death, particularly compared to the other two Ocotillos we subsequently planted, both native Arizona cacti.

To remove the Ocotillo today, I wrapped a thick rope around its base, tied the other end of the rope to Obie’s trailer hitch … and used the car to pull the large cactus out of the ground. HEY … just like pulling a stump out of the ground, the way it’s done in Saskatchewan, like Ozzie’s original “daddy” Gord taught me. HA HA HA ! Then I used the same method to pull out the remaining “stump” and roots of the Cow’s Tongue Prickly Pear that I cut down yesterday.

Joanne went shopping by herself this afternoon. I did Christmas “undecorating”. I worked on computer file migration, converting files from previous software to my new software. I also began working on year end file completion / summarization. And I purchased a new insurance policy for the trailer, to get the liability insurance coverage that was lacking.

DSK