Sunday ; Sunny and warm.
Made waffles this morning, my family’s traditional Christmas brunch, but modified by Joanne and I to be our Boxing Day brunch tradition. Mine were slathered with strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream … the correct way to serve them … <snicker> … Joanne had hers with maple syrup.
Did some year end accounting and next year financial planning.
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Today’s good news ; we have (probably) sold our lot 52. YIPPEE ! ! !
Today’s bad news ; on the way home from Los Algodones, I ran over a dove. AND … <sputter> … I didn’t even kill it the first time I ran over it. I had to go back and “finish the job”.
Mostly cloudy, chilly.
Around 1 PM, as we were just about to leave for Los Algodones after having an early lunch, the probable buyer of our lot phoned. Since our “for sale” posters were mailed to the top fifty on this park’s waitlist less than a week ago, we were quite surprised to hear from a potential buyer so soon. We had a very brief discussion with the potential buyer, easily reaching an agreement in principle, then Joanne and I headed out for Mexico.
Arriving in Los Algodones around 2:15 PM we went straight to our optician’s and picked up our three new pairs of glasses, then went “browsing” for a dental cleaning for Joanne. Near the optician’s we found a courtyard surrounding about half a dozen small dental offices. Joanne selected one, we went in, the price for a cleaning and examination was less than expected …< blink blink … twenty bucks ? ! ?> … the wait time was less than ten minutes … SOLD ! I waited while Joanne had a cleaning and examination, both performed by Dr. Juan Flores, an experienced dentist (based on his age). She was very satisfied. Thorough cleaning including fluoridation, no “upsell” (would you like fries with that ?). Sometimes the “cheaper” Mexican dentists “find” cavities or other dental problems that don’t exist.
After leaving the dentist’s we went to Liqui’s Farmacia aka “the Purple Pharmacy” where we browsed and bought a bottle of vanilla, a tiny bottle of white wine, and a tiny bottle of mezcalito, a “cousin” of tequila. <shrug> Life is short !
More CBP “games playing” ! ! ! The line up to cross back into the United States today was … wait for it … two hours and three minutes ! Oh, no, Mr. Bill ! Anything over two hour waits to cross the border "justifies” budget and staff increases ! Six staff appeared to be on duty ; two staff were manning (two of six) inspection stations, two staff were standing outside “watching” the line-up, two staff were standing outside, doing absolutely nothing, acting as if they were on a “break”. Very occasionally, the six staff would “rotate” through the three “positions”. Certainly am glad that wasn’t my tax dollars at work ! ! !
And very interestingly to us, today we saw … for the first time in our sixteen years of spending winters here … illegal migrants entering the United States, just a few hundred feet “upstream” of the border crossing, then standing on the side of the road with their worldly possessions waiting for CBP to “capture” and process them.
Over the last few weeks, about 6000 illegal immigrants per week have been crossing from Mexico into the United States by walking through the “Yuma Gap” as it’s known, in the border “wall” at the Morelos Dam, and crossing a Colorado River irrigation canal which is now about ankle deep in water. CBP has been “too busy/too understaffed” to stop them. The illegals have been becoming tired of waiting for CBP agents to “apprehend” them once they have crossed the canal into the US, so they have been taking taxis and phoning for Ubers to pick them up and drive them into Yuma where some report to church based immigration shelters to await “processing” and others … disappear ! SIX THOUSAND A WEEK ! <rolling my eyes>
I thought it would be faster and more efficient for us to return to the United States that way rather then endure the two hour (and three minute) wait in the line-up as we did. HA HA HA <SNORT> HA HA
We crossed the border at 6 PM, just as it was becoming dark. About half an hour later, just a few hundred feet from home … <sigh> … I drove over a dove just is it landed on the road in front of me. F*** ! I did a U-turn as soon as I could, and returned. F***, F***, F*** ! ! ! It was still alive. <sigh> Yes, yes … sometimes “doing the right thing” is extremely difficult !
While Joanne prepared a simple supper, I sent photos to the probable buyer of our lot and Arizona room.
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.
First thing this morning I phoned the buyer of our lot and we “negotiated” as necessary to complete our lot 52 sale. It didn’t take long. Negotiations shouldn’t take long. They’re usually quite simple.
DONE DEAL !
At 1 PM I went to the lot transfer committee meeting and advised them of the buyer of our lot, and the agreed upon possession/transfer date. Joanne and I had a quick lunch then set off to run some errands. I dropped her off at 99¢ Only Store to shop, then went to Watch Hospital to pick up my Rolex. I took the minivan to a car wash, then went to Lowe’s to buy an item I needed, and finally returned to the 99¢ Only Store to pick up Joanne.
At home late this afternoon I received a phone call from a Vancouver Island couple interested in buying one of the items I had posted for sale in the White Sheet. They came right over and bought it. KA-CHING ! Most of the larger, more valuable items we had for sale have been sold.
Now … time to sell the car !
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm.
WELL … that certainly has thrown a monkey wrench into our plans ! The Palm Springs International Film Festival Festival has just been cancelled due to Covid !
Today I put our minivan up for sale. Put a sign in the window of the car. Put an ad in the White Sheet weekly classified paper. Put an ad in the Yuma Sun daily newspaper. With great luck, it will be sold by the time we leave our lot 52 here at Kofa Ko-op in eight days. Otherwise … we’ll be forced to hang around Yuma until the car is sold.
I cooked our last two (large) fillets of Lake Winnipeg pickerel tonight. Breaded, pan fried pickerel fillets is one my best specialties. MMMMM … excellent ! Well done, as usual, Daniel !
Thursday ; Cloudy and chilly. BRRRRR !
While Joanne went grocery shopping this afternoon I continued work on purging shed contents, specifically tools and “guy stuff”. After she returned I did a windshield stone chip repair on the minivan. Isn’t that always the way ? ! ? The day before I put our car up for sale I got a stone chip on the windshield !
MMMMM … fish tacos for supper, using one of last night’s pickerel fillets left over.
Decided to try Diet Coke and El Mezcalito purchased in Los Algodones a few days ago. EEEUUUWWW ! WHEW … that’ll put hair on your chest !
Friday ; New Year’s Eve
Cloudy and chilly. HMPH ! Winter !
How the hell did I get a large, deep scratch on my new eyeglasses after only three days ?
Today I took pictures of our minivan, then used them to post a Craigslist ad to sell the car.
Had a special New Year’s Eve dinner. Barbecued filet mignon, barbecued smashed potatoes with crema centro-Americano and cilantro, salad with queso fresco, and we shared a tiny / six ounce bottle of Mexican white wine we bought in Los Algodones a few days ago.
AND … as the neighbourhood erupts in gunfire at midnight …
Saturday ; HAPPY NEW YEAR / FELIZ AÑO NUEVO
Sunny and … well … pretty darn cold … for Yuma.
I received a few telephone calls and a few in person visits by potential purchasers of the car. Only one was serious. The rest were “tire kickers”. The serious one is definitely interested, but … has drama to overcome in order to purchase our car. Yeah … whatever … not my problem.
DSK
No comments:
Post a Comment