March 1 to 7, 2020

Sunday ; Sunny and warm, windy in the evening.

HMPH ! Lost about $42,000 in the stock market last week. HMPH ! ! !

This afternoon we went out shopping and running errands. While I shopped at Harbor Freight Joanne shopped next door at the 99 Cent Only store. The line ups at the checkouts in Harbor Freight were so long that Joanne was finished buying many items at the 99 Cent Only store before I was finished buying just a few items at Harbor Freight. Crabby old women at Harbor Freight were bitching loudly about the fact that Harbor Freight was already sold out of face masks. Jesus, ladies, Harbor Freight’s face masks are to stop saw dust from getting up your nose, not viruses ! ! !

We drove to Fry’s and I refilled the minivan with fuel while Joanne began grocery shopping in the store. The long, slow checkout lines at Harbor Freight, the failure of the Fry’s fuel pump’s self-stop function when the car’s tank was full, spilling fuel all over the ground, the ineptitude of Fry’s customer service staff, and the multiple malfunctions of Fry’s self-checkout station easily wore out my extremely limited patience, leaving me gnashing my teeth by the time we were finished shopping.

Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session. By the time we were finished, at 6:30 PM, the sun had set, the wind had picked up, and the temperature had dropped. And the hot tub was closed for maintenance ! BRRRRR !

Monday ; Sunny and warm, becoming overcast, windy and chilly.

This afternoon I started work on a renovation project in the Arizona room, replacing all the mouldings that separate the knee high solid walls from the screened walls above. I got about a third of it done.

Twice today we went for a walk around the dog park for exercise. Once around noon, and again around 6 PM. Joanne went Wal-Martin’ by herself this afternoon. In the evening I worked on monthly budget allocations, and retrieving income tax information slips online. I got all of them except for our SunWise annuities.

HMPH ! Dead cat bounce ?

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne roasted a chicken in the Sun Oven today. It was very good ! The Sun Oven does a wonderful job of cooking poultry.

This morning we did a small amount of work in the Arizona room on the moulding replacement project. In the afternoon we went to the Humane Society for a slightly longer than usual shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. In the six or seven years that we have been volunteers there this was only the second time that 

I have had an opportunity to “walk” a Catahoula Leopard Dog. The first time was a disaster ! Today’s Catahoula Leopard Dog was Ice, a very shy and scared “little” version of the breed. I had to go inside Ice’s cage, sit on the floor, and have a chat with him for about ten minutes before he would come to me. I sat with him for about another ten minutes inside his cage, and by then he was willing to climb onto my lap. No, no … you’re right … Catahoula Leopard Dogs are not really lap dogs. HA HA HA ! While I was walking Ice Joanne met him and quite liked him.

Wednesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico

Sunny and warm.

Read this paragraph carefully ; This afternoon in Mexico, Joanne bought a prescription medication. In Mexico, 3 ml. of the generic version of this medication cost … $4.16. Online, the lowest price in the United States for 3 ml. of the generic version is … $24.36. Online, the average price in the United States for 3 ml. of the generic version is … $77.81. Online, the retail price for 6.6 ml. of the brand name version is … $1185 ! ! ! ! !

Here is the conversation I had with the moron, ignoramus US Customs & Border Patrol agent as we crossed the border back into the United States ;

CBP ; what are you bringing back from Mexico today ?

Me ; medications

CBP ; why ?

Me ; huh ?

CBP ; why are you buying medications in Mexico ?

Me ; low prices

CBP ; you know … all money spent at pharmacies in Mexico goes straight to the drug cartels.

Me ; SNORT … HA HA HA HA HA < as I retrieve my passport from his outstretched hand >

We left home around noon, and arrived in Los Algodones about forty-five minutes later. We shopped for medications, then went for lunch to a small “taco stand” that we have not been to before. Very good food ! Joanne had a carne asada 

( seasoned, diced beef ) taco and an el pastor ( seasoned, diced pork ) taco. 

I had a carne asada taco and a borrego ( shredded, barbecued lamb ) taco. After lunch we went to a beauty shop that we have not been to before. We each had a pedicure and a haircut. This shop doesn’t do beard trims, though. I’ll do it myself on Friday, I guess. Our pedicures and haircuts were superior to what we have been getting at the previous beauty shop that we have been going to for many years. So … bonsoir la visite ! Our line up to cross the border back into the United States around 4:30 PM was about ten minutes long.

The tiny light bulbs I ordered for the instrument panel in the car arrived today. They are the wrong size, and won’t fit ! < sigh >

In the evening we watched Survivor and Transplant.

Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.

This morning I went to the Arizona MarketPlace flea market by myself to buy some hardware I needed. I arrived at Wally’s World just as the female co-owner was kicking a man out of her shop for telling her to “go **** yourself”. She was so upset she began to cry. I consoled her. HEY … it’s retail ! You can’t make all of the people happy all of the time. AND … some of your customers will be 

assholes !

This afternoon I continued working on the Arizona room moulding replacement project. Joanne worked on preparing an old painted table for repainting. I also went to the storage yard and tightened the exhaust manifold plugs on the truck’s engine, a scheduled preventive maintenance task ever since I lost an exhaust manifold plug near Williams Lake, BC while travelling a few years ago.

This evening we went downtown to the Historic Yuma Theater to attend the monthly foreign art film. Tonight’s movie was “Winter Flies” from the Czech Republic. It was a coming of age, buddy, road trip movie, from an Eastern European perspective, which is not at all like Hollywood’s ! We enjoyed it.

Friday ; Sunny and hot. Joanne cooked an “Apple Brown Betty” in the Sun Oven today. What a great evening to attend an outdoor classic rock concert.

This afternoon I trimmed my beard. Then while I continued working on the Arizona room moulding project Joanne went to the Habitat For Humanity 

Re-Store to buy some spray paint. I ran out of moulding. Darn … I need one more length.

After an early supper we headed out to Midnight At The Oasis, the annual classic car exhibition in Yuma at Desert Sun Stadium that includes Friday night and Saturday night classic rock concerts. On the way we stopped at Lowe’s to buy the length of moulding I need to finish the Arizona room project. There was no stock of the moulding that I need in its shelf location so I went to Customer Service to find out when they would receive more stock. Their computer indicated that they had nineteen pieces in stock. Two customer service clerks and one store manager spent twenty minutes trying to figure out why the computer indicated nineteen pieces in stock, and nobody could find it ! ! ! After twenty minutes of that cluster**** I angrily left in disgust.

The Midnight At The Oasis concert tonight was two tribute bands ; a Doobie Brothers tribute band and a Cars tribute band. The Cars band was better than the Doobie Brothers band, although we are more fond of the Doobie Brothers music than we are of the Cars music. We left shortly before the end of the concert because the late evening was becoming quite cold. In between the two bands’ sets we wandered around for about forty-five minutes admiring classic cars of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. VROOOM !

Saturday ; Sunny and hot.

We went to bed very late last night, so … we slept late this morning. My first task today was to drive to Lowe’s to buy the piece of moulding that they couldn’t find last night. The store manager left me a phone message advising that the piece of moulding was waiting for me at Customer Service. I was glad to get it but … really pissed off that twenty minutes of my time was wasted last night, and I spent an hour today driving to Lowe’s and back. And more on fuel costs than the cost of the moulding !

This afternoon I measured, cut, and installed the final piece of moulding. Another big project completed ! Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session. And chatted with neighbours.

DSK