February 16 to 22, 2020

Sunday ; Sunny and very warm.

I paid some bills online. I updated some investment files. < blink blink > We made HOW MUCH in the stock market this past week ? ! ? Well !  I guess I can stop worrying about whether or not I should have spent that fifty bucks yesterday on a completely unnecessary automotive item. I posted my weekly blog entry. 

I ordered some grooming products from Amazon that Joanne wants. Go ahead, sweetheart … money’s no object … this week ! HA HA HA !

Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool to do an exercise session. And soak in the hot tub. Afterwards I made supper while Joanne got started on laundering.

Monday ; Sunny and very warm.

This morning we brought the truck and camper from the storage yard to our lot 52 to do some work in the camper. While Joanne cleaned the range hood I worked on the bathroom sink faucets. I removed the faucets, took them to my work bench in the shed, disassembled them, cleaned them, adjusted them, reassembled them, and reinstalled them in the camper. All is well … I hope.

Joanne went grocery shopping by herself this afternoon. I worked on household chores. And … well … napped with Emma, of course. HA HA HA !  I watered all our plants and gardens. And I double backed up archived document and photo computer files. Isn’t OCD a wonderful thing ? ! ? HA HA HA !

Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.

This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular weekly session of cat cuddling and dog walking. WHEW ! Tiring ! First dog I walked was Stevie Wonder, a Black Mouth Cur. HUH ? Didn’t know that was a breed. It is !

Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm. I made sun dried Roma tomatoes in the Sun Oven today.

This afternoon I took the minivan to Big O Tires for a brake inspection. I dropped Joanne off at Wal-Mart, then went across the street to Big O Tires. After the brake inspection was completed I joined Joanne at Wal-Mart. On the way back home we stopped at Sonic for milkshakes. Milkshakes were fine. It was the fifteen minute wait for them that was unsatisfactory !

Before supper we went to the swimming pool for an exercise session. I cooked Blackened Mahi-Mahi for supper. Pretty good … I may have used a bit too much Cajun seasoning … < breathing fire >. We watched the Democratic debate in Las Vegas on TV tonight. Then Survivor.

Thursday ; Partially sunny, some high, thin clouds, very warm.

This afternoon I removed the valance surrounding the large window in the fifth wheel trailer, then removed the day / night shade on that window. It will need to be restrung. < sigh > I hate restringing blinds, it’s such a difficult and complicated job.

Late in the afternoon we headed to Harkins Theaters at Yuma Palms Shopping Center to see the movie Parasite. It’s a reflection of the … < ahem > … demographics of this area that the movie that won the Oscar for Best Movie less than two weeks ago had an audience this evening of … wait for it … eight people ! Foreign movies with subtitles seem to have no appeal here ! It was an excellent film, but … my reaction at the end of the movie, as the credits began to roll was … HUH ? ? ? Joanne seemed to “get” the movie more than I did.

After the movie we went to Eat Asian for our annual dinner there. MMMMM ! Great sushi !

Friday ; High, thin cloud, very warm.

This morning we headed east to the Foothills to shop at the semi-annual Helping Hands ( enormous ! ) Yard Sale sponsored by a local church. We bought quite a bit of stuff, including a grocery bag stuffed with as much clothing as could fit in the bag … for $4. We stuffed 11 articles of clothing in the bag. Thirty-six cents per article of clothing. HA HA HA !

After the yard sale we dropped off some donations at Goodwill. What comes around goes around. HA HA HA ! Last stop was Fry’s for advertised grocery specials. My goodness, the Foothills Fry’s store is a busy place !

After a late lunch at home, and a nap, I worked in the Arizona room on restringing the large day / night shade blind from the fifth wheel trailer. It took me the rest of the afternoon, but I got it restrung. Very difficult and complicated ! Four strings ! Tomorrow I will reinstall the blind and the valance in the trailer.

Saturday ; Cloudy, cool, intermittent light rain all day.

My first job for today was to reinstall the restrung day / night shade blind on the trailer’s large “living room” window, followed by the reinstallation of the valance surrounding it. Joanne went grocery shopping for advertised specials at Food City this afternoon. I read. And napped. And dealt with yesterday’s many yard sale purchases. One of my purchases was a blood pressure monitor machine, my third. I now have one for Keremeos, one for Yuma, and one for the camper.

For supper I barbecued chicken and Joanne made potato salad, adding cilantro to the potato salad. First time she’s tried that. It was great !

DSK

February 9 to 15, 2020

Sunday ; Cloudy and warm.

Right after lunch, just as I was about to resume working on the minivan’s sagging headliner, Joanne took the car and left to go grocery shopping. HMPH !

I did some household chores. I took a trailer propane tank and a barbecue propane tank for refilling. I reviewed and culled out some clothing in the camper. I napped with Emma. Of course ! Then we shared a snack. MMMMM ... we looooove Cheez Whiz. HA HA HA

I spent much of the evening updating and reconciling my banking and credit card data. 

I was unable to enter most credit card and banking data while we were in Palm Springs due to computer problems.

Monday ; Happy 71^st birthday to my sister, Sharon

Cloudy. Heavy rain for much of the day ! ! ! Very unusual for Yuma.

This morning I received a phone call from Dell with a diagnostic report on my computer. As I expected, the AC adaptor / charger needs to be replaced. HMPH ! I wish there had been a simpler ... and less expensive ... method for determining that ! I am eager for the return of my laptop in about a week.

Around lunchtime I had a long phone chat with my sister on her birthday. The poor weather left me with no motivation to do much of anything in the afternoon except read and nap. Late in the afternoon after the rain stopped I did a bit more work on the minivan’s sagging headliner. I’m still not finished yet.

Around supper time I disassembled, repaired, and reassembled our small Dirt Devil vacuum. Three times ! HMPH !

Seven years ago we were camped on a lovely beach in Mexico with a young family from Vancouver Island, BC as our next door neighbours. They had two young daughters. On Bo’s birthday, they painted his name on a rock and presented it to us as a birthday gift for Bo. How sweet ! It has been sitting on top of our rear yard brick fence here in Yuma ever since. Tonight when I put some cat food out for Cobra the feral cat I noticed ... < sigh > ... today’s heavy rain washed Bo’s name off the rock. < sad sigh >

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm, a bit windy.

This afternoon on our way to the Humane Society we donated our surplus concrete sidewalk blocks and landscape curbing at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store. We went to the Humane Society and did our regular weekly shift of cat cuddling and dog walking. Joanne had little to do, as the cat wing inexplicably had an inventory of only four cats. 

I spent some time with my fellow volunteer and friend Penny, discussing her current battle with thyroid cancer, dispensing hugs as necessary when she cried. Joanne also offered her some words of encouragement from a cancer survivor.

When we returned home I continued ... and finally finished ... repairing the minivan’s sagging headliner with retainer pins. Just before suppertime, at dusk, I went outside and walked to the road in front of our park to watch a crop duster airplane spray the alfalfa field across the street from our park. < BLINK BLINK > JAYZUS ! ! !

Wednesday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne cooked potato chowder in the Sun Oven today.

This morning I removed, disassembled, inspected, cleaned, reassembled, and reinstalled the trailer kitchen sink’s faucets which were leaking. I was looking for the source of the leak, and couldn’t find any obvious cause. But after I was finished, the leak was eliminated. So ... better to be lucky than good, I guess. HA HA HA !

Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session followed by a hot tub soak. We had the pool and hot tub to ourselves. Too chilly for the Merkins, 

I guess. After our potato chowder supper we watched the two hour season premiere of Survivor. Yeah ... even after twenty years and four kids ... Amber’s still hot !

Thursday ; Sunny and warm.

We headed out late this morning to the Foothills to run some errands. First stop was Cactus Storage & Propane to have the trailer’s two propane tanks re-certified ( due to 

age ) and refilled. Then the 99 Cent Only Store for some salad fixings. At Southwest Exchange I bought some trailer plumbing supplies. We had lunch at Del Taco. While 

I waited in the car Joanne ( not so ) quickly went into Wal-Mart to buy a gallon of milk before we returned home.

While we were out Fed Ex attempted to deliver my repaired laptop computer. < sigh > They left a note on the door advising that I could pick up my package at the Fed Ex depot at the airport after 4:45 PM. I walked in their door at seven seconds before 5 PM to be greeted by a large black woman advising me that they were closed ! Yeah ... I don’t think so ! ! ! Why would they advise customers to pick up packages AFTER 4:45 PM when they close at 5 PM ? ? ? ! ! ! We had a brief ... < ahem > .. discussion and ten minutes later I left with my package.

With Joanne’s assistance as “sous-chef” I “created” a Udon noodle stir fry dish for supper. It included some beef pepperoni we purchased last summer at a beef farm / butcher near Nelson. Supper was very good. Well done, Daniel !

Friday ; Valentine’s Day

Sunny and warm. Joanne baked a Black Forest Cherry Torte in the Sun Oven today.

My priority for today was to resume using my Dell laptop after receiving it back yesterday from the Dell repair center. During the two weeks that it was gone, and I was using my old Acer laptop, I had kept isolated all files I had worked on during that time. Today I transferred all those files from the Acer to the Dell, then purged everything from the Acer before returning it to storage as my “emergency backup” computer.

Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session then returned home to watch the 6:30 PM TV news. Joanne prepared a wonderful, romantic meal of all my favourites ; Caesar salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, Black Forest Cherry Torte. Thank you very much, my love.

Saturday ; Sunny and warm.

Today was plumbing refurbishment day in the fifth wheel trailer. I changed the bathroom sink drain tailpiece. I changed the kitchen sink faucets. I repaired the kitchen sink drain leak.

When we bought the minivan it was missing a wheel center cap. Today I did some online shopping and bought a wheel center cap for the minivan ... < shrug >. In the evening I did some online financial work, shuffling money around to earn better interest.

DSK

February 2 to 8, 2020

Sunday ;  Sunny and warm.

This morning I finished reading John Steinbeck's circa 1960 novel "Travels with Charley".  When I saw it in the Sky Valley library recently I picked it up thinking that as a vagabond myself the novel would make feel better about America and Americans.  It most certainly did not ! ! !  Especially near the end of the adventure as he was traveling across Texas and Louisiana !

This afternoon and evening I prepared to send my Dell laptop back to Dell for repair.
I have anxiety about being without my computer for at least a couple of weeks.
I backed up all files on the Dell.  I restored my old HP Mini laptop to functionality.
I transferred all the Dell files to the HP Mini.  I packaged the Dell laptop in the box Dell sent.  Tomorrow I will deliver the box to Fed Ex for shipping to Dell.  Wish me luck !

Monday ;  Sunny, windy, chilly.

This morning we headed out in the truck and camper to run some errands.  First
I picked up a Wi-Fi modem / router at Beamspeed.  Then I dropped off my packaged Dell Laptop at a Fed Ex drop off station inside Walgreens.  Joanne bought a needed item at Walgreens.  We dumped the camper's waste holding tanks at a Speedway fuel station.  We went for lunch to Hamburger Stand / Wienerschnitzel.  At another Speedway fuel station I refilled the truck with diesel.

When we returned home and took the truck and camper to our park's storage yard to park it there ... < sputter > ... our assigned parking spot was ... occupied !  Second time in little more than a year that our storage yard assigned parking space has been "stolen".  It would be a gross understatement to say that I was pissed off !  We went to the park office and I ... < ahem > ... expressed my dissatisfaction to our park's managers.

We parked in a different parking spot.  Later in the evening I expressed my dissatisfaction in writing.

Tuesday ;  Sunny and chilly, cold in the evening.

After lunch we headed to the Humane Society for our first volunteer shift of this winter season.  I dropped Joanne off at the Humane Society to start her shift of cat "cuddling", and I drove to Wally's World to buy some automotive headliner retainer pins for the minivan.  I returned to the Humane Society and began my shift of dog walking.

It was nice to be around dogs for a couple of hours.  Although ... < sigh > ... the first three dogs that I walked were large "pullers".  By the time I was finished with Steppenwolf ( Rhodesian Ridgeback ), Churchill ( Yellow Lab ), and Scooby
( Shepherd / Malinois ), I needed a rest !  I decided to take a "little" ( the Humane Society's term for small dogs ) for a walk.  Cute, fluffy, little Valentine was just the ticket.  HA HA HA ... what a sweetie.

It was nice to re-acquaint with my long time fellow volunteer Penny at the Humane Society today.  < sigh >  She is battling thyroid cancer.  < deep sigh >

In the evening Joanne and I went to Famous Dave's Barbecue for our annual dinner there, using a coupon they send each year for Joanne's birthday.  As we were leaving for Famous Dave's I re-aimed the minivan's headlights.  While we were driving home from Palm Springs in the dark last Friday evening, Joanne driving behind me, I realized the minivan's headlights were aimed just a teensy bit too high.  After correcting them, and driving to Famous Dave's and back, I realized I had lowered them a teensy bit too much, so re-aimed them again when we got back home.

Wednesday ;  Sunny and mild.

This afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping and running errands by herself.  I did some household chores.  And took a long nap with Emma.

Thursday ;  Sunny and mild.  Joanne cooked a rhubarb cake in the Sun Oven this afternoon.  And then prepared a rhubarb and chicken recipe in the Sun Oven for tonight's supper.   How can you tell that Joanne finally decided to use the frozen bag of rhubarb that we grew in our garden last summer ?  HA HA HA !

This afternoon I did some work in the camper, including rearranging all my camper clothing inventory.  After an early supper went "downtown" to the Historic Yuma Theater ( that's its name ) to attend the monthly foreign art film showing.  Tonight's movie was "Complicity" a Chinese and Japanese film.

After we returned home the feral black cat that had been regularly visiting us before we went to Palm Springs returned, hungry and looking for food.  Hello, Cobra, welcome back.  We know that Cobra is feral because it has a notched ear, which means that it has previously been trapped, neutered, and released.  I put dry cat food and water in the back yard.

Friday ;  Sunny and warm.

Worked on repairing the minivan's sagging headliner material.  Didn't finish before Joanne took the car to go run errands in the Foothills.  Set up a folding table and put some stuff out for sale in tomorrow's park wide yard sale.  Did some inventory of old clothing ... that doesn't fit !  HMPH !  Trimmed my beard and moustache.  Did some bicycle maintenance.  Shopped online and ordered some dually valve extenders.  Did a lot of work on updating investment files.

Joanne took dry cat food outside around 10:30 PM.  Cobra was waiting !

Saturday ;  Sunny and warm.

Late this morning we headed to the Foothills for some 50% off everything thrift store shopping.  First was a new thrift store, Hands Extended Thrift Store.  Next was Goodwill.  I bought some items at each.  We had a late lunch at Burger King, then bought a few grocery items at Fry's before heading home.

I napped with Emma while Joanne did some laundry.  Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session, first time in a week.  In the evening
I worked on annuity pension benefit accounting.

DSK

January 26 to February 1, 2020 ; Palm Springs, California to Yuma, Arizona

Sunday ; Mostly sunny, very warm.

After an early lunch we headed out, to attend the musical play “Beehive” at Desert Theatreworks, the third of our four play mini-season tickets. It was without a story line, just eight women performing the hits of powerful women musicians of the sixties ; Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, etc. Well done ! We enjoyed it.

After the play was finished at 4 PM we headed to Augustine Casino. We have heard great things about the food at Augustine Casino. We wanted to check out their restaurants and have supper there. We checked out their restaurants and menus and … left ! We weren’t impressed. For supper we returned to Souplantation, a restaurant we had been to a week or so ago. Good decision !

As soon as we arrived back home I went to the East Clubhouse Library and worked on Wi-Fi for an hour or so before returning home to watch 90 Day Fiance and Sister Wives, our Palm Springs Sunday night ritual.

Monday ; Sunny and very warm.

Before lunch we went to the swimming pool for a long exercise session and hot tub soak. After lunch we went out to run a few errands. We stopped at Blair Station RV and I bought some repair items ( HMPH … hundred bucks ! ) for some refurbishment work I want to do on the camper. We drove into Desert Hot Springs and went to Stater Bros to get a few grocery items. After a few days of bickering last week we both feel raw. I became so irritated by the inept moron deli clerk at Stater Bros I left Joanne at the deli counter and I went outside to wait in the car.

When we got back home to the camper at Sky Valley Resort I phoned Dell and started the process of returning my laptop computer to Dell for repair … < sigh > … of the “battery not charging / charger not recognized” problem that started on Christmas Day. In the evening I worked on monthly computer file backup procedures.

Tuesday ; HAPPY 66^th BIRTHDAY TO JOANNE

Sunny and very warm.

This afternoon I removed and replaced the camper bathroom ceiling exhaust fan’s motor and blades. That was a job I had planned to do tomorrow, but I got to it a day earlier than planned.

Around 4 PM we left Sky Valley, heading across the freeway into Palm Springs. First stop was a panaderia Joanne wanted to try. “Bake’d … Cakes & Pan Dulce”. EXCELLENT panaderia. Very expensive ! I pointed out to the baker / owner as we paid the $20+ bill that the amount of pan dulce we were buying would cost about five bucks in Mexico. He just laughed. Understandable … give the upscale décor in his little bakery, in a very high rent mall.

Next was … a birthday gift stop. I treated Joanne to a visit to Brandini’s factory and retail store. Brandini’s is a producer of upscale toffee products here in Palm Springs. Joanne has sampled their products at Village Fest and CoD Street Fair. She requested to be taken to their factory as a birthday gift. We arrived at Brandini’s shortly after 5 PM. They closed at 5 PM ! ! ! < sigh > Fortunately, a manager inside saw me tugging on their locked door and decided to allow us to enter. Thank you ! Joanne ( again ) sampled their almond toffee product and their toffee coated popcorn product. And bought a package of the almond toffee product. That cost … < blink blink > … how much ? ! ? Happy Birthday, my dear !

Final stop was birthday dinner. At a Peruvian restaurant called Pollo Doky’s. Their specialty is a Peruvian style of rotisserie barbecued chicken. Joanne had a dish called tallerin saltado de pollo, a dish of sauteed spicy chicken breast strips, onions, and tomatoes on a bed of spicy, whole wheat spaghetti. I had pollo a la brasa, a rotisserie barbecued spicy ( tarragon ? ) half chicken with a Peruvian salad and cilantro seasoned rice. Excellent food, funky ambience, reasonable prices.

On the way home we stopped at a Stater Bros supermarket to buy a jug of milk. We were home around 8 PM. I went to the East Clubhouse Library to work on 

Wi-Fi for about an hour before returning home to share a large piece of Tres Leches cake that we bought at the panaderia to serve as Joanne’s birthday cake. Washed down with a glass of Trader Joe’s Cocoa Cream Liqueur.

Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm.

This morning just as we were about to have our showers the park’s water supply was turned off, so that some maintenance could be done. I was pretty miffed that we had not been notified. Since the camper has been connected to the park’s water supply I had allowed the camper’s freshwater tank to become almost empty. Darn ! I should have known better !

Before lunch we went to the swimming pool for a long exercise session and hot tub soak session. After lunch I removed and replaced the range hood fan motor. Then had a long nap. Before supper I got some online work done, then we had the last of our inventory of perogies ( from Canada ) for supper. We spent the evening watching “My 600 Pound Life” and “Married At First Sight”.

Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.

< sigh > This morning I discovered a flat tire on the truck. A flat tire on the rear of a dually is “invisible”, until tire pressures are checked. I used a 12 volt air compressor that I keep in the truck to add some air to the tire. I managed to get forty pounds of air pressure into the tire before the little air compressor “imploded”. That should be enough to get me about fifteen miles tomorrow to Love’s where I can add air to the tire.

After lunch we drove into Palm Springs to do some shopping. Joanne looked 

( again ! ) for a bathing suit at Glossy’s. I bought an item for the camper at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store. We went to Trader Joe’s and spent way too much money on impulse shopping for exotic grocery items. HA HA HA ! Well, you know, we can’t take it with us ! ! ! HA HA HA ! The money, I mean ! Then we went to Cardenas, the Mexican supermarket, for one item. HA HA HA ! When did 

I ever go into a Mexican supermarket and buy only one item ? ? ? HA HA HA 

< SNORT > HA HA !

Friday ; Palm Springs, California to Yuma, Arizona

Sunny and very warm.

This morning we prepared for departure and pulled out of our site at 11:45 AM. We were finished checking out at Sky Valley’s office by noon. We parked the truck and camper outside the gates, then … went back in with the minivan to use the mineral pools and hot tubs once last time. We did a long exercise session, then soaked in a hot tub, chatting with a woman from Grand Prairie, Alberta. We left the park for the final time at 2 PM.

We drove about 20 miles / 30 km. east and south on Dillon Road to Love’s where I increased the truck’s problem tire’s pressure from 40 PSI to 80 PSI. Then a very short distance to Spotlight 29 Casino where we parked in the RV overnight parking lot and had lunch in the camper.

We left Spotlight 29 Casino at 3 PM and headed south on Hwy. 86. We stopped at Red Earth Casino near Salton Sea Beach to check if the tire pressure was holding at 80 PSI. It was, so … the problem must have been … once again … a dually tire valve extender. < sigh > Story of my life !

We stopped again at Holtville Taco Shop at 5:30 PM just as it got dark and we bought two huge burritos to have for supper when we got home an hour later at 7:30 PM having crossed from California / Pacific time zone to Arizona / Mountain time zone.

Emma seems quite glad to be back “home” in the fifth wheel trailer after 46 days in the camper.

Saturday ; Sunny and warm.

Joanne was busy today with “return home” chores, mostly a lot of moving stuff from the camper to the trailer, and cleaning. I also did “return home” chores this morning. This afternoon I took one of the fifth wheel trailer’s propane tanks to be refilled, then headed to Beamspeed to pick up my desperately needed Wi-Fi modem / router. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH … Beamspeed is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. There is no park wide communal Wi-Fi available, only in the clubhouse. I had to go to the clubhouse three times this afternoon and early evening to get essential online work done.

In addition to my Beamspeed / Wi-Fi drama, I had Shaw Direct satellite TV service drama. I had suspended our satellite TV service while we were in Palm Springs for a month and a half. The TV service was to resume today. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH … Shaw Direct had “technical difficulties” that prevented that from taking place today ! Of course, it was only after multiple attempts ( and trips to the clubhouse ) to “refresh” our satellite signal receiver online that I eventually phoned Shaw in utter frustration, only to be told of their “technical difficulties” today.

I spent much of the evening getting my old laptop restored to functionality, and getting my new laptop ready to ship back to Dell for repairs.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH ! ! ! ! !

DSK