March 22 to 28, 2020

Sunday ; Sunny and very warm.

WOW ! What a spectacle we had at breakfast ! We were sitting at our dinette table, having breakfast, when … a male roadrunner ran along the top of our side yard brick fence and stopped right beside the trailer’s dinette window. He had a large lizard in his mouth. And he began to do an elaborate dance while standing on the fence. We thought it was some sort of happy dance about catching such a large lizard. We were wrong !

After a few moments … a female roadrunner came running along the fence from the opposite direction and stopped facing the male. And she began to dance as well. They danced … and danced … and danced ! Suddenly, she turned around, facing away from him. He jumped up on her back and … < sputter > … they … 

< ahem > … mated !

We watched spellbound ! Like watching birdie porn. HA HA HA ! At the moment when he … < ahem > … finished, she turned her head around, reached over her shoulder, and … HA HA HA … yanked the lizard out of his mouth ! ! ! HA HA HA HA HA !

He jumped off her back, she ran along the fence, he turned around and left in the opposite direction, she … tilted her head back, and with half a dozen large swallows … consumed the lizard head first.

Joanne called her a slut ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

Late this morning Noel came over to take Carlos for a “test drive”. We loaded Carlos into a pet carrier, loaded a litter box onto her borrowed golf cart, and she took Carlos home with her for a three hour visit.

Moments later we found out from a neighbour that the couple who originally rescued Carlos in this park about two weeks ago had just returned to the park. They had left after taking Carlos to the Humane Society, headed for Los Angeles where he had heart surgery scheduled. Well ! When they got to their doctor’s office in Los Angeles he finally saw fit to advise them … < sputter > … Allen’s heart surgery was postponed ! ! !

I walked down to their site, introduced myself to them, and explained the whole story of Carlos, from the time they took him to the Humane Society two weeks ago as a stray. They were appalled. Cathy cried ! I invited them over to visit us and Carlos. Later in the afternoon they did that.

At the same time as they came over to visit, Noel brought Carlos back from his “test drive”. I was disappointed when she said that she was not yet ready to commit to adopting him. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Meeting with Allen and Cathy was inspiring to me. Allen had quintuple bypass surgery when he was 61 years old. He’s now 84 !

Today I repaired and reinstalled the dinette window’s day / night shade. And we resumed our pool exercise sessions.

HMPH ! HMPH ! HMPH ! Our stock market losses now exceed $158,000 ! ! !

Monday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked Slow Cooker Beef Goulash in the Sun Oven today.

When we woke this morning and went out to the Arizona room to take care of Carlos he was wearing a new harness. Very nice, Carlos. Noel bought the new harness for him and brought it over and put it on him before we were up and about this morning.

Apparently she has already purchased all necessary pet supplies. And took Carlos at 3:30 PM this afternoon for a “sleepover” tonight. Yet … she has not yet committed to adopting him. < shrug > She has even renamed him already. Apparently his new name is … wait for it … HA HA HA … “Kirby” !

Joanne went shopping by herself this afternoon. She bought some canned goods and other non-perishables to take back home with us to Keremeos. We will be facing immediate quarantine upon our return to Canada, so we’ll need to have enough food to sustain us for two weeks. There’s no food in our Canadian home. AND … we can’t take perishable foods over the border. Somewhat complicated !

There are still no paper products on the Yuma grocery store shelves !

I did some preventive maintenance on the truck. I took a propane tank to be refilled. I paid our American and Canadian MasterCard bills.

Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.

WOO-HOO ! Carlos has been adopted ! And Joanne bought toilet paper ! ! ! 

WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO !

This morning Noel came over to tell us that her “sleepover” with Carlos / Kirby was a success, and she wanted to adopt him ! That’s wonderful news ! They are a good match. Goodbye and good luck, Kirby !

With many thanks to our friend Carol Mae for finding an adopter for Carlos / Kirby. Yes, yes, Carol Mae, it does indeed “take a village” ! Thank you !

Joanne went shopping again today. Knowing that we will be quarantined for fourteen days upon our return to Canada, we formulated a food plan for that time based on taking enough non-perishable goods with us when we leave here. Yesterday and today Joanne shopped for what we think we will need. Today she got almost everything needed. PLUS … she found a store with toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissues in stock. Well done, my dear. The only item she is still searching for is flour.

I did some household annual maintenance chores. I reconciled our March MasterCard statements. I paid some bills and reconciled some income tax matters.

Wednesday ; Sunny and warm, windy in the evening.

When Buddy ( named by Allen and Cathy ) / Hela ( named by Humane Society ) / Carlos ( named by us ) / Kirby ( named by Noel ) the cat first showed up in our RV park as a stray he was rescued and taken to the Humane Society by Allen and Cathy. Their sixteen year old cat Dolly died of cancer today. We send our sympathy to Allen and Cathy on the loss of their beloved Dolly.

Today I revised our trip home plans, changing our departure date, arrival home date, duration of travel, and nightly stopping points. We will leave earlier, travel faster / more distance each day, and arrive home earlier than previously planned. And I continued working on annual trailer preventive maintenance tasks.

Thursday ; Sunny and warm, windy in the evening … again. Joanne cooked Chicken Chile Verde in the Sun Oven today.

This morning I made a framed photo gift for our friend Carol Mae to say “thank you” for finding a home for Carlos / Kirby. We dropped it off on her front porch as we were leaving to run errands this afternoon.

First stop was Speedway Fuel Bar to use their automatic car wash to clean the landfill yard mud stench off the car. Then Pep Boys to buy a steering wheel cover. And O-Reilly’s Auto Parts to buy a gallon of Lucas diesel additive for the truck. Last stop was Food City to pick up a few groceries and look for the final few items Joanne needs to complete her “fourteen day quarantine” food plan. Today at Food City she finally found small bags of flour. I think her list is now complete except for one item ; yeast.

Friday ; Sunny, warm, windy. Joanne cooked “Slow Cooker Beef Pot Roast With Vegetables” today in the Sun Oven.

Today would have been Ozzie’s 16^th birthday. We miss him.

Put the vinyl side walls on the Arizona room today. I HATE doing that job ! Went to visit Kirby ( Carlos ) this afternoon in his new home with Noel. Well … what a great match ! Happy cat ! Happy lady ! Did a teensy bit of departure preparations. Watched Mrs. Roadrunner acting weirdly in the dog park late this afternoon. Laying eggs ? ? ?

Saturday ; Sunny and very warm.

After routine household chores we finished installing the vinyl walls on the front and rear of the Arizona room. While Joanne did laundry I did some departure preparations. I transplanted some Paper Cacti from our yard to our next door neighbour Rita’s yard. After a late afternoon nap I worked on taking inventory of my medications before we leave here. Somewhat of a redundant exercise since 
I can’t just run down to Mexico to replenish any shortages.

DSK