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