Sunday ; Happy 10th Birthday to Bo
Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked a chicken in the Sun Oven today. MMMMM ! ! !
This morning while Joanne worked on cleaning scuff marks off the side of the trailer
( I scraped against tree branches near Kingman, Arizona in November ) I went shopping to Lowe's and then the Dog Track Flea Market.
After lunch I did some minor maintenance on Elsie, sanding and painting a corner of the rear bumper that had become rusty. Mid-afternoon we headed to the Humane Society of Yuma for the third week of Bo's agility class. Well ... he's getting old ! As am I. It was too hot, and the class was too long, for both of us. And ... < whispering > ... the instructor takes herself and the agility training process way too seriously. Bo just wants to have fun. I just want to have fun. Neither of us has aspirations to agility competition. "Dog people" take themselves too seriously, don't they ?
In the evening we went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. Afterwards we had Sun Oven roasted chicken, Waldorf Salad, and mashed potatoes for supper while watching some Olympics, then Downton Abbey. OMIGOD ... lady Edith is pregnant with a bastard child ! And the recently widowed Lady Mary has three ... count 'em ... THREE ... suitors ! AND THE COUSIN LADY ROSE IS SUCKING FACE WITH A BLACK JAZZ SINGER ! ! !
Bo's birthday gift was roasted chicken and mashed potatoes for supper ! HA HA HA ... good dog, Bo.
Monday ; Happy 65th Birthday to my sister Sharon
Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Geeeeezzzzz ... is she that old ? ! ? < snicker >
This morning we headed out to Los Algodones for my 11 AM dental appointment. My new periodontist wanted me to have another dental cleaning, and periodontal examination after using the WaterPik Water Flosser for a month. I could tell during the dental cleaning that there was significant improvement in my gum health. And Dra. Lilia Camacho's examination confirmed it. She was pleased. I was pleased !
After I was finished at the dentist's we went shopping for medications before having lunch. Joanne wanted to have lunch somewhere we haven't been before. We found a taqueria way off the beaten path. And lunch was very good. We are rarely disappointed when eating out in Mexico. Joanne also wanted to buy a metal sculpture to mount on the exterior wall of our yard shed back home in BC. Specifically, a metal sculpture of ... quail ... < shrug >. She found what appealed to her, a metal sculpture of a family of quail, mounted on a long saw blade, exquisitely painted. We were prepared to pay $100 for it. The vendor asked for $75. We haggled a bit and agreed on $55. The merchandise was too good and too well priced to "play hardball".
Because it's February, Los Algodones was busy and crowded. The line up to cross the border back into the U.S. was long. The back of the line, when we joined it, was about where it would have been a three hour wait a few years ago. Thanks to changes made over the last couple of years, it was a forty minute wait from that point today.
We returned to Yuma and went shopping. First stop was Harbor Freight. Joanne hates shopping at Harbor Freight, so ... I thank her for her patience and assistance today. Next stop was Fry's, to refill with diesel, and buy a few grocery items. Last stop was Walgreen's.
When we got home I tried ... twice ... to phone my sister and wish her a Happy Birthday. Both calls were very brief due to technical difficulties / poor reception. < sigh > First call was using Skype on my laptop, second call was using our cell phone. Poor cell phone reception and poor Wi-Fi plagues this RV park !
After supper we watched the Olympics on TV and gave Bo a bath.
Tuesday ; Sunny and hot. And getting hotter over the next few days.
This morning I did the 246,000 km. inspection on Lanoire. Good truck !
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. No, no ... I did not walk the Catahoula Leopard dogs again. They were still there ... I just didn't want to walk them ! After two hours of dog walking I was tired so I went to the cat wing. Joanne wanted to work another hour or so, so I went to one of the two small rooms containing / featuring only one cat, and .... "cuddled" JetPuff. On perhaps the last afternoon of his existence. JetPuff is an Albino that came in a week ago. He is extremely obese, probably over thirty pounds. And not very healthy, probably due to his obesity. Poor JetPuff. The Humane Society will probably euthanize him soon.
This evening we went out for dinner before shopping. We had supper at Copper Miner Kitchen, a restaurant that we have not been to before, in Historic Downtown Yuma. It was very good. Afterwards we went to Yuma Palms Shopping Center where we bought dog food at PetsMart, and Joanne bought two facecloths at Kohl’s. < scowl > She bought two facecloths that cost eight bucks apiece because she couldn’t find facecloths that “matched” Elsie’s interior elsewhere < scowl >.
Wednesday ; What a very sad day here at Kofa Ko-op. One resident died late last night. Another died this evening. The first one died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The second had been in declining health for awhile. Rest in peace, Michael and Mona. Mona was a neighbour, and we used to walk her dog Bear for her when her health began to decline a couple of years ago.
Today we baked a beautiful loaf of whole wheat bread in the Sun Oven. It was a collaborative effort. Joanne mixed the ingredients and put them into the bread maker to be made into dough. When the dough was ready, I removed it from the bread maker, proofed it, then put it in to bake in the Sun Oven.
We spent the day puttering with minor maintenance chores, some painting, some truck maintenance, some trailer exterior cleaning, etc. Joanne prepared a contribution to the regular Wednesday late afternoon Social Hour / Happy Hour / hors d'oeuvre potluck. We stayed quite awhile after eating, chatting with two newly arrived couples, both new to the full time RV life, one couple from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and one couple from Dallas, Texas.
Thursday ; Another sunny, hot day. People are already complaining about the heat. Not me !
This morning I changed a rear tire on the truck. < sigh > You know how much I hate changing rear tires on the truck. I tightened the screw in valve stem on the tire that has been losing air, and will use it as the spare as soon as I know that I've solved the problem.
As Joanne was leaving with the truck to spend the afternoon running errands, Carol Mae came over and asked if I would go with her to the Humane Society and help her walk the two Catahoula Leopard dogs. Really, Carol Mae ? < sigh >
After we returned from the Humane Society < sigh > I took Bo on the daily pack walk. Today's pack walk was ... me and Bo. HMPH ... small "pack" ! Afterwards I walked over to the storage area to do a teensy bit of work on the truck camper, and I chatted with our new friend from Dallas. He came over to see our Sun Oven in operation. Joanne had prepared a pot of stew before she left and I cooked it in the Sun Oven.
In the evening we went to the pool and chatted more with the couple from Dallas. Afterwards I got into a discussion with a neighbour that lasted way too long into the night, until Joanne stomped over to the clubhouse at 1 AM to find out whey I had gone to check the mailbox four hours earlier and had not returned. UHHHHH ... sorry !
Friday ; Valentine's Day
Sunny and hot.
I was up early to be at the clubhouse at 9 AM for an RV fire safety seminar. The presenter ... was in Lake Havasu, Arizona at 9 AM ! Bit of a scheduling misunderstanding, n'est-ce pas ? ! ? I went home and decided I should have an early nap. HA HA HA ! Joanne left to go shopping at the Gila Mountain United Methodist Church Helping Hands Yard Sale in The Foothills.
Yesterday and today this RV park has been in turmoil. A Canadian leaseholder / lot owner here has been a ****ing a*****e lately ... and on an ongoing basis. Many Americans are upset with his behaviour. Yesterday one of the Americans took his irritation a bit too far. And exercised his second amendment rights < rolling eyes >. The Sheriff got involved. Now all Canadians are getting tarred with the same brush as the Canadian a*****e < sigh >. The pet etiquette seminar I was requested to present next week has come under attack. Much controversy, some opposition. I don't need the grief ! The seminar was not my idea. I cancelled it today ! And the Canadian couple who were planning, executing, and hosting a Valentine's Day Slow Dancing Under The Stars event on the large "south patio" tonight ... cancelled that as well !
This evening we went to Historic Yuma Theater to attend a Romantic Classics concert by the Yuma Civic Orchestra. It was my Valentine's Day treat for Joanne. All I can say about the symphony orchestra in Yuma, Arizona is ... Yuma sure has great weather, doesn't it ? ! ?
Saturday ; Sunny and hot ! It seems as if the entire nation is suffering from horrible winter weather except Arizona and Southern California, where high temperature records have been broken the last few days. Here in Yuma the temperature has been in the mid to high 80's F. / high 20's, low 30's C.
This morning was the Kofa Ko-op yard sale. I put out a few unwanted items for sale. Sold one for five bucks and donated one to a good cause when asked to do so.
This afternoon we worked at the Humane Society of Yuma's Adoption Fair in the parking lot of Yuma Palms Shopping Center, outside the PetsMart store. It was a long, hot, tiring afternoon ! But shortly before the end of the event, Joanne and I working together "sold" Walnut. WOO-HOO ! ! ! What a success story ! What a great match !
Walnut was adopted by a widow whose husband and dog both died eleven months ago. It's been a difficult and lonely year for her. Today she was ready to let Walnut into her life. She needs Walnut ! And Walnut needs her ! Joanne and I are so thrilled !
Well done, Daniel and Joanne ! Congratulations, Ruth and Walnut !
click on this link ; http://fb.me/1V2aqX7Dv
DSK
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
February 2 to 8, 2014
Sunday ; Gila Bend to Yuma, Arizona
This morning before leaving Gila Bend Shell we dumped Elsie's waste holding tanks, refilled the fresh water tank, put air in the tire that's been slowly losing air, and refilled with diesel. We headed west on Interstate 8 back towards Yuma. We stopped at Dateland and had date shakes for lunch. Including Bo. Poor Bo, the last two times we've had date shakes in Dateland, once a week ago and once last year, he was ill or recovering from illness, and we didn't allow him to have any date shake. But today ... WOO-HOO ... Bo had date shake !
Approaching Yuma from the east we stopped at Fry's in The Foothills to buy a few grocery items, then headed to the Humane Society of Yuma for Bo's 3 PM agility class. It was cooler than last Sunday, so all the dogs were more comfortable this week. Bo was not as focussed and disciplined as he was last week, but still did well, and enjoyed the experience. Two more dogs joined the class, so now there were nine. And ... all did quite well ... all "got it". It wasn't so last Sunday, the first week.
We were hopeful that once we got home, Sully would find comfort in his "home" litter box, and his constipation would end. NO ! It's now been eight days, and we're getting very worried.
Instead of watching the Super Bowl ... as everyone else in the United States seemed to be doing tonight ... we watched Doc Martin and Downton Abbey, our regular Sunday evening ritual. And I ate Joanne's wonderful, home made, fresh guacamole with my "custom ordered" flour / vegetable oil tortilla chips. Great !
Monday ; Nine days without a bowel movement, Sully ! Could you be more anal retentive ? ! ?
This morning the first of half a dozen neighbours came over with a copy of yesterday's Yuma Sun newspaper. And there on the front page ... above the fold, yet ... was a large picture of ... ME ! HA HA HA ! It was a photo of me, walking Penguin the Husky at the Humane Society a couple of weeks ago. The photo accompanied an article on the Humane Society of Yuma. Thank you to all the neighbours who brought me a copy.
And ... in desperation ... we tried to end Sully's constipation. First I inserted a petroleum jelly lubricated cotton swab very slowly into his rectum , hoping that would trigger a bowel evacuation. Obviously that caused Sully great distress, but an hour later ... still nothing in the litter box. So ... Plan B ! With great trepidation, I very slowly inserted a gloved, lubricated index finger into his rectum. My entire finger ! Much more distress ! Still no bowel movement. < sigh > After lunch, it was time for Plan C. Because Plan D was an emergency trip to the veterinarian. Plan C was ... I slowly injected a three ounce syringe full of warm water into his rectum. TWICE ! A six ounce warm water enema. Lots of distress, obviously. BUT ... after the second syringe, we put Sully down on the floor and ... he waddled as quickly as he could over to the litter box and ... ten seconds later ...
HALLELUJAH ! ! ! Wow, Sully ... how could you have held that much for that long ? ! ?
We still don't know what caused him to be ill for a couple of days a week ago, and we don't know why such severe constipation resulted but ... we're just very relieved that it's over. As is Sully ! He was very content this afternoon, lying in the sun, grooming and snoozing. Once again I'm hopeful that he can make it to his eighteenth birthday in eight months.
I did not attend this afternoon’s “Cooking For Life” cancer survivors’ cooking class. I’ve “dropped out”. I’m just not a lentils kind of guy !
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.
Well ... I had quite a volunteer shift at the Humane Society today ! Our friend and neighbour Carol Mae came along to do her volunteer shift this week at the same time as us. Our objective was for her and I to walk dogs together. Only one dog can be walked per volunteer, so when there are two dogs in a kennel, as is sometimes the case, it takes a pair of volunteers working together to walk both dogs at the same time.
Carol Mae made the first selection. A pair of Catahoula Leopard dogs in one cage. Big fellas ! Nineteen month old siblings. One large, one huge ! While we were attempting to get leashes around their necks while letting them out of the cage, the huge one leaped out, knocking me over, and charging over top of me in an attempt to get out ! I tackled him. We wrestled. Carol Mae screamed at me to just let him go before I got injured. PHHHHTTTTT ... I don't ****ing think so ! We wrestled ! Powerful fellow ! I lost ! He escaped ! My elbow was smashed ! It hurt ... and still does, many hours later.
Buzz ... or Woody ... no way to tell which was which ... ran out the open door of the building. I picked myself up off the floor and headed out after him, Carol Mae following, with the other dog on a leash. I chased the huge dog around futilely. Carol Mae opened the gate into the small, fenced play area and entered with her dog on the leash. And fortunately, the loose one followed them in. I entered the play area and closed the gate. The dogs ran around feely for a few minutes blowing off steam. I licked my wounds, so to speak. After about five minutes they calmed down, we leashed both of them, and walked them around the grounds for half an hour or so. By the end of half an hour, they were acting sweet and docile. Oh, yeah ... it's all fun and games until somebody's eye gets poked out !
Speaking of which ... next was Louie. I named him. He was a small terrier mix. With a mangled eye. And front claws that were over an inch long. So long that Louie could not put his weight on his front legs. When he attempted to stand, the pain of such overgrown claws forced his feet to turn over sideways. Poor guy. I picked him up, carried him to the grooming room, and clipped his claws. Probably the first time in his two year life that they were trimmed. I also used baby wipes to clean his pus filled eye socket. The eye was still there, but severely damaged. Didn't seem to be causing pain, though. He was another obvious puppy mill dog. Claws never trimmed, damaged eye not treated, had no idea how to interact with humans, wouldn't make eye contact ... ! ! !
I carried him into the small, fenced play area. Within half an hour he was walking happily on grass, making eye contact, wagging his tail ... acting like a regular dog. Carol Mae was astounded at what could be achieved in just half an hour. HEY ... it's all in the wrist action, baby. HA HA HA !
Louie was my success story of the day. But tonight ... my elbow sure hurts !
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne used the Sun Oven to cook two large pots full of Beef Provencal, our contribution to tonight's communal dinner.
I'm a bit stiff and sore from yesterday's "wrestling match" with a Catahoula Leopard dog. My bruised elbow doesn't hurt as much today as it did yesterday.
Joanne spent today cleaning the truck camper after our week long trip, and preparing for tonight's dinner. She was hosting a table of fourteen at Kofa Ko-op's annual Renters' Appreciation Dinner. The leaseholders / lot owners feed the renters / travellers. Our table was four leaseholder couples and three renter couples. As table host Joanne had to provide the main entree, and co-ordinate the contributions of the other three leaseholder women.
I did an obedience session with Bo. I did some minor maintenance and "home improvement" work on Elsie. And I resumed working on some auto body repairs on a neighbour's motorhome. I had previously fixed the damage on the motorhome's front bumper. And the results were ... poor ! So ... I'm redoing the front bumper repair. And undertaking a larger repair on the rear bumper. Wish me luck !
Tonight's Renters' Appreciation Dinner was attended by ... WOW ... about 200 people ! Might be a new clubhouse record ! Afterwards we gave "tours" to some people who were interested in seeing our truck camper, then we spent the evening socializing in our Arizona room with friends from Texas.
Thursday ; Started out cloudy and warm, became sunny and warm.
Did some "home improvement" projects on Elsie the truck camper today. Removed the window blinds' plastic hold down clips and replaced them with custom modified metal clips. Painted the fridge exterior vent door and frame. I wanted to replace it. Joanne wanted it repainted black. Did auto body work on a neighbour's motorhome. Putty, sand, putty, sand, putty, sand. Should be ready for painting tomorrow.
Went shopping after a late supper. Joanne stayed home and did laundry. Bo came along with me for a drivey. Went to Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy, and Lowe's. One of the items I needed was a syringe to administer medicine to Sully. < whispering > I used the one we had to give him an enema on Monday. Walgreens price was seven dollars.
I thought that seemed a bit excessive for a little plastic syringe. I went across the street to CVS. They gave me two ... for free ! Thank you, CVS Pharmacy.
Friday ; Sunny and warm.
Slept late this morning. Got a late start to the day. Headed to The Foothills for the monthly 15% off sale on everything at Al's RV Service & Supply. Also shopped at 99 Cent Only Store. Had lunch at A Touch Of Thai / Vinnipeg Palace. It was GREAT ! Owned and operated by a woman from Thailand, and her Ukrainian husband from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, our hometown. My grandparents' generation of Ukrainians who immigrated to Canada a hundred years ago could not pronounce "W".
It came out sounding like "V". Hence ... Vinnipeg Palace. HA HA HA ... only someone our age, from Winnipeg, and with immigrant grandparents, would "get" Vinnipeg ! We shared a bowl of excellent Thai soup, and an excellent Thai noodle entree, and ...
a plate of perogies. Strange combination ... that works very well together !
Spent the afternoon working on painting the neighbour's motorhome's front and rear bumpers. Coming along very nicely. Almost finished.
Had a neighbour visit this evening to ask me to conduct a pet etiquette seminar in this RV park. Her and many others fed up with irresponsible pet owners. Will gladly conduct pet etiquette seminar. It's pretty simple. There's not a whole lot more to it than ...
PICK UP YOUR DOG'S SHIT ! ! !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm.
This morning I met with Carol Mae to plan and schedule my presentation of a pet etiquette seminar. Then Joanne and I took Elsie ( the truck camper ) off Lanoire ( the truck ). We had an audience. One of our neighbours, whose husband died recently, is going to sell her motorhome and continue travelling in a truck camper she has purchased but not yet taken delivery of. She asked to be taught the process of removing the truck camper from the truck, and later, putting the camper onto the truck.
This afternoon Joanne went shopping to the Dog Track Flea Market with her 93 year old friend Eilene. I did some work on the truck camper, and finished the auto body repair of a neighbour's motorhome.
We spent the evening watching the Olympics, flipping back and forth between Canadian coverage and American coverage.
DSK
This morning before leaving Gila Bend Shell we dumped Elsie's waste holding tanks, refilled the fresh water tank, put air in the tire that's been slowly losing air, and refilled with diesel. We headed west on Interstate 8 back towards Yuma. We stopped at Dateland and had date shakes for lunch. Including Bo. Poor Bo, the last two times we've had date shakes in Dateland, once a week ago and once last year, he was ill or recovering from illness, and we didn't allow him to have any date shake. But today ... WOO-HOO ... Bo had date shake !
Approaching Yuma from the east we stopped at Fry's in The Foothills to buy a few grocery items, then headed to the Humane Society of Yuma for Bo's 3 PM agility class. It was cooler than last Sunday, so all the dogs were more comfortable this week. Bo was not as focussed and disciplined as he was last week, but still did well, and enjoyed the experience. Two more dogs joined the class, so now there were nine. And ... all did quite well ... all "got it". It wasn't so last Sunday, the first week.
We were hopeful that once we got home, Sully would find comfort in his "home" litter box, and his constipation would end. NO ! It's now been eight days, and we're getting very worried.
Instead of watching the Super Bowl ... as everyone else in the United States seemed to be doing tonight ... we watched Doc Martin and Downton Abbey, our regular Sunday evening ritual. And I ate Joanne's wonderful, home made, fresh guacamole with my "custom ordered" flour / vegetable oil tortilla chips. Great !
Monday ; Nine days without a bowel movement, Sully ! Could you be more anal retentive ? ! ?
This morning the first of half a dozen neighbours came over with a copy of yesterday's Yuma Sun newspaper. And there on the front page ... above the fold, yet ... was a large picture of ... ME ! HA HA HA ! It was a photo of me, walking Penguin the Husky at the Humane Society a couple of weeks ago. The photo accompanied an article on the Humane Society of Yuma. Thank you to all the neighbours who brought me a copy.
And ... in desperation ... we tried to end Sully's constipation. First I inserted a petroleum jelly lubricated cotton swab very slowly into his rectum , hoping that would trigger a bowel evacuation. Obviously that caused Sully great distress, but an hour later ... still nothing in the litter box. So ... Plan B ! With great trepidation, I very slowly inserted a gloved, lubricated index finger into his rectum. My entire finger ! Much more distress ! Still no bowel movement. < sigh > After lunch, it was time for Plan C. Because Plan D was an emergency trip to the veterinarian. Plan C was ... I slowly injected a three ounce syringe full of warm water into his rectum. TWICE ! A six ounce warm water enema. Lots of distress, obviously. BUT ... after the second syringe, we put Sully down on the floor and ... he waddled as quickly as he could over to the litter box and ... ten seconds later ...
HALLELUJAH ! ! ! Wow, Sully ... how could you have held that much for that long ? ! ?
We still don't know what caused him to be ill for a couple of days a week ago, and we don't know why such severe constipation resulted but ... we're just very relieved that it's over. As is Sully ! He was very content this afternoon, lying in the sun, grooming and snoozing. Once again I'm hopeful that he can make it to his eighteenth birthday in eight months.
I did not attend this afternoon’s “Cooking For Life” cancer survivors’ cooking class. I’ve “dropped out”. I’m just not a lentils kind of guy !
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.
Well ... I had quite a volunteer shift at the Humane Society today ! Our friend and neighbour Carol Mae came along to do her volunteer shift this week at the same time as us. Our objective was for her and I to walk dogs together. Only one dog can be walked per volunteer, so when there are two dogs in a kennel, as is sometimes the case, it takes a pair of volunteers working together to walk both dogs at the same time.
Carol Mae made the first selection. A pair of Catahoula Leopard dogs in one cage. Big fellas ! Nineteen month old siblings. One large, one huge ! While we were attempting to get leashes around their necks while letting them out of the cage, the huge one leaped out, knocking me over, and charging over top of me in an attempt to get out ! I tackled him. We wrestled. Carol Mae screamed at me to just let him go before I got injured. PHHHHTTTTT ... I don't ****ing think so ! We wrestled ! Powerful fellow ! I lost ! He escaped ! My elbow was smashed ! It hurt ... and still does, many hours later.
Buzz ... or Woody ... no way to tell which was which ... ran out the open door of the building. I picked myself up off the floor and headed out after him, Carol Mae following, with the other dog on a leash. I chased the huge dog around futilely. Carol Mae opened the gate into the small, fenced play area and entered with her dog on the leash. And fortunately, the loose one followed them in. I entered the play area and closed the gate. The dogs ran around feely for a few minutes blowing off steam. I licked my wounds, so to speak. After about five minutes they calmed down, we leashed both of them, and walked them around the grounds for half an hour or so. By the end of half an hour, they were acting sweet and docile. Oh, yeah ... it's all fun and games until somebody's eye gets poked out !
Speaking of which ... next was Louie. I named him. He was a small terrier mix. With a mangled eye. And front claws that were over an inch long. So long that Louie could not put his weight on his front legs. When he attempted to stand, the pain of such overgrown claws forced his feet to turn over sideways. Poor guy. I picked him up, carried him to the grooming room, and clipped his claws. Probably the first time in his two year life that they were trimmed. I also used baby wipes to clean his pus filled eye socket. The eye was still there, but severely damaged. Didn't seem to be causing pain, though. He was another obvious puppy mill dog. Claws never trimmed, damaged eye not treated, had no idea how to interact with humans, wouldn't make eye contact ... ! ! !
I carried him into the small, fenced play area. Within half an hour he was walking happily on grass, making eye contact, wagging his tail ... acting like a regular dog. Carol Mae was astounded at what could be achieved in just half an hour. HEY ... it's all in the wrist action, baby. HA HA HA !
Louie was my success story of the day. But tonight ... my elbow sure hurts !
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne used the Sun Oven to cook two large pots full of Beef Provencal, our contribution to tonight's communal dinner.
I'm a bit stiff and sore from yesterday's "wrestling match" with a Catahoula Leopard dog. My bruised elbow doesn't hurt as much today as it did yesterday.
Joanne spent today cleaning the truck camper after our week long trip, and preparing for tonight's dinner. She was hosting a table of fourteen at Kofa Ko-op's annual Renters' Appreciation Dinner. The leaseholders / lot owners feed the renters / travellers. Our table was four leaseholder couples and three renter couples. As table host Joanne had to provide the main entree, and co-ordinate the contributions of the other three leaseholder women.
I did an obedience session with Bo. I did some minor maintenance and "home improvement" work on Elsie. And I resumed working on some auto body repairs on a neighbour's motorhome. I had previously fixed the damage on the motorhome's front bumper. And the results were ... poor ! So ... I'm redoing the front bumper repair. And undertaking a larger repair on the rear bumper. Wish me luck !
Tonight's Renters' Appreciation Dinner was attended by ... WOW ... about 200 people ! Might be a new clubhouse record ! Afterwards we gave "tours" to some people who were interested in seeing our truck camper, then we spent the evening socializing in our Arizona room with friends from Texas.
Thursday ; Started out cloudy and warm, became sunny and warm.
Did some "home improvement" projects on Elsie the truck camper today. Removed the window blinds' plastic hold down clips and replaced them with custom modified metal clips. Painted the fridge exterior vent door and frame. I wanted to replace it. Joanne wanted it repainted black. Did auto body work on a neighbour's motorhome. Putty, sand, putty, sand, putty, sand. Should be ready for painting tomorrow.
Went shopping after a late supper. Joanne stayed home and did laundry. Bo came along with me for a drivey. Went to Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy, and Lowe's. One of the items I needed was a syringe to administer medicine to Sully. < whispering > I used the one we had to give him an enema on Monday. Walgreens price was seven dollars.
I thought that seemed a bit excessive for a little plastic syringe. I went across the street to CVS. They gave me two ... for free ! Thank you, CVS Pharmacy.
Friday ; Sunny and warm.
Slept late this morning. Got a late start to the day. Headed to The Foothills for the monthly 15% off sale on everything at Al's RV Service & Supply. Also shopped at 99 Cent Only Store. Had lunch at A Touch Of Thai / Vinnipeg Palace. It was GREAT ! Owned and operated by a woman from Thailand, and her Ukrainian husband from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, our hometown. My grandparents' generation of Ukrainians who immigrated to Canada a hundred years ago could not pronounce "W".
It came out sounding like "V". Hence ... Vinnipeg Palace. HA HA HA ... only someone our age, from Winnipeg, and with immigrant grandparents, would "get" Vinnipeg ! We shared a bowl of excellent Thai soup, and an excellent Thai noodle entree, and ...
a plate of perogies. Strange combination ... that works very well together !
Spent the afternoon working on painting the neighbour's motorhome's front and rear bumpers. Coming along very nicely. Almost finished.
Had a neighbour visit this evening to ask me to conduct a pet etiquette seminar in this RV park. Her and many others fed up with irresponsible pet owners. Will gladly conduct pet etiquette seminar. It's pretty simple. There's not a whole lot more to it than ...
PICK UP YOUR DOG'S SHIT ! ! !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm.
This morning I met with Carol Mae to plan and schedule my presentation of a pet etiquette seminar. Then Joanne and I took Elsie ( the truck camper ) off Lanoire ( the truck ). We had an audience. One of our neighbours, whose husband died recently, is going to sell her motorhome and continue travelling in a truck camper she has purchased but not yet taken delivery of. She asked to be taught the process of removing the truck camper from the truck, and later, putting the camper onto the truck.
This afternoon Joanne went shopping to the Dog Track Flea Market with her 93 year old friend Eilene. I did some work on the truck camper, and finished the auto body repair of a neighbour's motorhome.
We spent the evening watching the Olympics, flipping back and forth between Canadian coverage and American coverage.
DSK
Monday, February 3, 2014
January 26 to February 1, 2014 ; Yuma to Roper Lake State Park, Arizona
Sunday ; Yuma to Gila Bend, Arizona
Sunny and hot, temperature up into the 80's !
This morning I removed one of the Aloe Vera plants I had planted in my cactus garden in the dog park behind our back yard fence. Something ate it ... from the roots upward ... from underground ! When it fell over a day or two ago, I thought a dog had run over it. But NOOOOO ... the roots had been eaten ... from underneath.
This afternoon we headed to the Humane Society of Yuma, for the first of seven weekly agility classes Bo and I are attending. HA HA HA ... well done, Bo, good dog ! What a lot of fun we had. As did all the other dogs and their owners. Bo was the star performer today. Well ... of course ! He's the only one of the seven dogs in attendance that has done agility before. And it showed. Today's agility class was limited to hurdles and a big tunnel, both of which Bo has much experience with. One of the other dogs in the class was Zona, one of Bo's "pack members" from Kofa Ko-op. That worked out well for Zona. Since she knows Bo well, she learned a lot by following his example. Hey, Bo, you're a mentor !
The hot weather made the hour long class seem a few minutes too long. With a few minutes to go, Bo faded, physically and mentally. Of course, he is the oldest dog in the group, so it's not surprising that an hour of really enthusiastic agility work under the hot desert sun would wear him right out.
When the agility class ended at 4 PM we drove back to Kofa Ko-op to pick up something Joanne had forgotten to pack ... < fume > ... then we headed east to The Foothills. I bought a birthday card at the 99¢ Only Store, then refilled with diesel at Fry's Fuel Bar. We went inside Fry's for a couple of grocery items. I bought some sushi Summer Rolls for supper tonight.
We headed east on Interstate 8, not getting out of Yuma until 5:30 PM, only an hour of daylight left. We stopped at Dateland where we bought a large date shake to be dessert for tonight's supper. We stopped for the night at Gila Bend, where we boondocked overnight in the large parking lot of the Shell service station. Bo slept a lot while we drove. HA HA HA ... poor, tired out, little agility dog !
Yes, yes ... the Summer Rolls and date shake were good !
Monday ; Gila Bend to Benson, Arizona
Sunny and warm. We had a comfortable night in Elsie.
This morning we refilled our fresh water holding tank and dumped our grey waste holding tank at the Shell station's free sani-dump. Thank you, Gila Bend Shell. As we were leaving the Shell station to get back onto Interstate 8 ... there it was ! HA HA HA ... the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was parked at the front of the Shell station. We've seen it before, many years ago, and I don't remember where. Today ... HA HA HA ... I took a photo of Lanoire & Elsie parked beside the Wienermobile.
From Gila Bend Shell we continued east on Interstate 8 and then Interstate 10 to Tucson. Our initial plan was to stop for one day at Picacho Peak State Park before Tucson, but ... we changed our plan as we drove. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Tucson to have lunch in the parking lot, and then buy a couple of items in the store.
We continued east on I-10 to Benson where we stopped for the night at Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park. We stayed in their unserviced / boondocking area. While Joanne took Bo for a walk in their dog park I took a nap with Sully. Before it got dark we opened the awning on the side of the truck camper for the first time. It's in good condition, although it needs a thorough cleaning. As RV awnings always seem to need ! That's why we didn't shed any tears when we lost the awning on the fifth wheel trailer in 2007. All we ever did with the trailer's awning was open it twice a year for cleaning. We never got in the habit of using it on a regular basis. It will probably be the same with the truck camper.
After supper we went to the park's large clubhouse to use Wi-Fi ... and recharge the computer's battery at the same time. EEEUUUWWW ... ugly looking rockslide extremely close to our summer home at Riverside RV Park Resort near Keremeos, BC.
Tuesday ; Happy 60th Birthday to Joanne
Benson to Roper Lake State Park, Arizona
Sully is ill ... and may be dying. He has neither eaten nor defecated for two days, and by supper time tonight we realized how ill he seems. < sigh > We hope he will survive and recover, but ... at his age ... we expect the end is near.
Today was sunny and warm. This morning, before leaving Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park we dumped our waste holding tanks, refilled the fresh water holding tank, and reinflated a rear tire that had gone flat. Hopefully, it's just a valve extender problem.
I had installed a new valve extender on that tire recently.
We left the RV park and drove into Benson. We refilled the truck with diesel at Scott Fuel. At Ace Hardware I bought a propane fitting that I needed. I bought a birthday cake and candles at Safeway. And some cat food for Sully, since he refused to eat his regular food for the last couple of days. We thought he was stressed and "pouting" about being back on the road again. Tonight we realized it's more that that.
We continued east on Interstate 10. At Wilcox we stopped in a Safeway parking lot to have lunch. Shortly after Wilcox we turned north onto Hwy. 191 and shortly before reaching the city of Safford we reached our objective, Roper Lake State Park. Joanne's request for her sixtieth birthday was to spend a few days at Roper Lake State Park, rest and soak in the mineral hot springs hot tub , and have some meals at restaurants on the Salsa Trail, a series of Mexican and / or New Mexican restaurants in Safford and other nearby towns.
After getting set up in our campsite, I napped briefly with Sully, then we went to soak in the mineral hot springs hot tub. As the sun set we took Bo ... and Sully ... for a walk in the small dog park. That's when we realized how ill Sully really was. < sigh >
We drove into Safford and had a wonderful meal at Casa Mañana. Wonderful name in Spanish, sounds a bit goofy when translated into English ... Tomorrow House. We returned to Roper Lake State Park for birthday cake and gift opening. Joanne spent the remainder of the evening cuddling with Sully in bed. < sigh >
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm ... intense sunlight creating radiant heat, but cooling off a lot after sunset due to 3000 foot altitude.
Sully seems to have decided not to die today ! He seemed near death overnight. He spent most of the night cuddled into Joanne's armpit, his favourite "comfort zone". His breathing was shallow and very slow. This morning he slowly became a bit more alert and active. We took him outside a few times for walks to stimulate a bowel movement. It didn't work, but ... he walked around slowly, exploring the campsite, enjoying the warm sunlight. He continued to refuse food, but ... late this afternoon he accepted Joanne's offer of cat treats. His willingness to eat a bit was a good sign.
This afternoon we did what we could to stimulate a bowel movement. With me holding him, Joanne very slowly and carefully inserted a lubricated, gloved pinky finger about an inch into his rectum. I learned that from a veterinarian. Sully screamed in protest, but ... no bowel movement. She massaged his abdomen a few times this afternoon. That seemed to comfort him, but ... still no bowel movement. At last he didn't seem to be near death as he was yesterday.
C'mon, Sully ... take a shit already ! ! !
We had a slow day today. I attempted a minor repair on Elsie, but couldn't complete the job because I didn't have a tool I needed. We walked around the campground with Bo. We did an obedience session with Bo. We drove over to the day use area and explored the day use "island" / peninsula jutting out into Roper Lake. We soaked in the hot tub.
Thursday ; Roper Lake State Park to Duncan to San Carlos, Arizona
Sunny and warm. Sully still has not had a bowel movement, but ... it's now apparent that his constipation is a result of being ill, not the cause. We don't know what the cause of his illness was, but he has improved a lot, was alert and active and hungry today. As soon as he has a bowel movement, we think he'll be okay.
This morning we dumped ( waste ) and refilled ( water ) and left Roper Lake State Park. We drove north a short distance on Hwy. 191 to Safford. We drove around looking for ... and finding ... some of the restaurants listed in the Salsa Trail handbook, including Mi Casa Tortilla Factory, which isn't really a restaurant but is listed anyway. We bought fresh flour ( as opposed to corn ) tortillas, made with vegetable oil ( as opposed to lard ), whole wheat tortillas, also made with vegetable oil instead of lard, and "custom ordered" a bag of tortilla chips made with the flour / vegetable oil tortillas. That "custom order" would be ready in an hour. As I discovered later in the afternoon, that was a "Mexican hour". HA HA HA !
Before leaving Safford I stopped at a drapery business to buy some mini-blind hold down clips. Joanne broke one yesterday. With the assistance of the owner of the shop, and her installation serviceman, we fabricated "custom" metal replacements for the plastic hold down clips in Elsie. Don't you just love small town independent businesses ? ! ?
We headed east out of Safford on Hwy. 70, about 80 km. / 50 miles to Duncan, just to have lunch at one of the restaurants listed in the Salsa Trail handbook. I was thinking ... lunch at Hilda's Kitchen better be pretty spectacular to justify driving that far just for lunch. And ... it was ! Hilda's Kitchen is a butcher / convenience store / take out restaurant, with sit down restaurant under construction next door. And while the sit down restaurant under construction cannot be entered from outside due to it being under construction, it can be entered from the inside after ordering at the take out window. HA HA HA ... how Mexican is that ? ! ? My lunch, today's special, was a green chile & meat burro, enchilada style. Green chile / chile verde is a specialty of this area / the Salsa Trail. And my green chile & meat ( seasoned ground beef ) burro, enchilada style, was ... < deep breath > ... pretty damn good ! ! !
After lunch we drove west on Hwy. 70 back to Safford to pick up my "custom" tortilla chips at Mi Casa Tortilla Factory. Four hours after placing an order that was supposed to be ready in an hour ... it wasn't ready, but ... they were "working on it" immediately upon my arrival. HA HA HA ... how Mexican is that ? ? ?
After my "custom" tortilla chips were ready we headed out of town, continuing west on Hwy. 70. I stopped at Big "O" Tires on the edge of town to adjust the air pressure in one of the truck tires that has been losing air slowly the last few days. We drove west and northwest on Hwy. 70 to the Apache Gold Casino Resort at San Carlos where we stopped for the night. We refilled with diesel at their Chevron station, found a place to park overnight, then went into the casino to check things out before having supper. We contemplated having supper in the casino's buffet restaurant, but decided against it.
I renewed my casino player's club free membership. My new card included $10 in "free play". After having supper in the camper, we returned to the casino. I tried ... very unsuccessfully ... to get some online work done using the casino's Wi-Fi while Joanne went to play slot machines with my free / imaginary $10. I was unable to get Wi-Fi to work properly, while Joanne ... won $7.78 real money before the "free play" $10 was used up ! Oh, well ... ya win some, ya lose some. HA HA HA ! No Wi-Fi, but $7.78 in the pocket !
Friday ;San Carlos to Sells, Arizona
Cloudy and warm today, a bit windy at times.
Well ... despite not having had a bowel movement in the last six days, Sully seems surprisingly healthy ! He's alert and active, eating and drinking. I suppose nature will take its course. We hope ! Soon ! ! !
This morning I turned on the radio in the truck camper and while searching available radio stations I found an Apache radio station broadcasting from right here on the Apache Reservation. It was enjoyable listening to a mix of classic rock and traditional Apache music and ... they made an announcement about a PowWow this weekend on the Tohono O'odham Reservation south of Tucson. HEY ... let's go ! For a long time Joanne has wanted to visit the Tohono O'odham Nation. AND ... one of the reasons for getting a truck camper was to increase our ability to be spontaneous / impulsive while travelling.
We departed Apache Gold Casino and headed west on Hwy. 70 to Globe, only about eight miles away. I bought an item I need for truck maintenance at Napa Auto Parts then we went to Fry's to buy some advertised grocery specials. Quite a bit of advertised specials actually. Our receipt showed that we bought $67 worth of groceries ... and paid $32 !
From Globe we headed west on Hwy. 60, then south on Hwy. 79. South of Florence we stopped for lunch by just pulling off the highway into the lush desert. The desert between Phoenix and Tucson is lush and lovely, filled with Saguaro Cacti, Palo Verde trees, and lots of Teddy Bear Cholla Cacti. We were far enough off the highway that while Joanne prepared lunch I allowed Bo to wander around off leash, and I allowed Sully to wander around, hoping that some activity / exercise would encourage nature to take its course ! I neglected to allow for Sully's poor vision.
Well ... this is only the second time in the four and a half years that we've had Sully that I've seen him actually run. HA HA HA ... poor Sully. He brushed ... very lightly ... up against a Teddy Bear Cholla, and a segment broke off and impaled itself on his leg. The myth that Teddy Bear Cholla can "jump" onto you is a well deserved fallacy. But the lightest of touch against a Teddy Bear Cholla, and ... BAM ... you're "stuck" ! I grabbed Sully as he ran away from the cactus, and while he howled and squirmed, I hollered for Joanne to come outside and help me remove the cactus segment from Sully's leg. OOOPS ... too late ! Sully squirmed, his leg hit my hand, and the Cholla segment detached from his leg ... where it was very lightly embedded ... and embedded itself deeply into my finger. HA HA HA ... OUCH ! ! !
We reached Tucson ... < sigh > ... right at rush hour. It took about an hour of "stop and go" on the congested freeway to get across Tucson. We entered Tucson from the north heading south on Hwy. 79, a few miles southeast on Interstate 10, a few miles south on Interstate 19, then west on Hwy. 86 onto the Tohono O'odham Nation, and the village of Sells. In Sells we found out that the PowWow tomorrow is at the Fairgrounds, two miles west of town on Hwy. 86. When we arrived at the Fairgrounds ... HEY ! Not only is there a PowWow tomorrow, there is a rodeo and fair today, tomorrow and Sunday.
It was after 6 PM, and dusk when we arrived at the Fairgrounds. The rodeo was finished for the day. We wandered around the fairgrounds, filled with carnival rides and games, and food vendors. Many of the food vendors were Native, and some were offering rather unusual fare. On impulse, we purchased two Navajo dishes to share for supper ; Steamed Corn Stew ( with mutton ) and Green Chile Mutton, barbecued mutton served on Indian Fry Bread with a scrumptious barbecued Green Chile. I'm certain that my ulcerative colitis will be unhappy about it tomorrow, but I ate about a quarter of the large Green Chile. It was SOOOO good ! And not to be confused with Mexican style chile verde / “green chile”, made with tomatillos.
Saturday ; Sells to Gila Bend, Arizona
We had a late start to the day. Mostly because the PowWow didn't start until noon. We had planned to stay at the PowWow for the preliminary Goard Dancing from noon until 1 PM, then the Grand Entry ceremonies at 1 PM. Before today we didn't know what Goard Dancing was. And ... after sitting through more than an hour of it ... we're still not sure what Goard Dancing is ! And ... in the worst case of "Indian time" that we've ever experienced, at 12:45 the 1 PM Grand Entry was rescheduled to 1:15 PM, then at 1:10 PM it was rescheduled to 1:30 PM, and it eventually got underway about 1:40 PM ! HA HA HA !
We watched the Grand Entry until about 2 PM then went back to Elsie to have lunch. We left the fairgrounds about 3 PM, heading west on Hwy. 86. Twice this afternoon, as we drove, we saw a very rare "inverted" or "crested" Saguaro Cactus. Both times
I stopped to take a picture. These were the third and fourth times we've seen an example of the mutant "inverted" or "crested" Saguaro. And considering their rarity, we're very fortunate ! Once was way down the Baja California peninsula, and the rest of the times were all within 100 miles or so of Tucson.
We continued west on Hwy. 86 to Why, then north on Hwy. 85. Near Ajo we stopped to investigate a popular boondocking "campground" out in the desert. The Escapees Boondockers BOF ( Birds Of a Feather ... special interest group ) were having a rally there. We didn't know that until we came upon them there. A short time later we stopped again, pulling off the road into the desert to have a rest break. After a short rest and snack break we were preparing to depart, and both Bo and Sully acted like ... "HEY, aren't we staying here tonight ?" Apparently they both like boondocking out in the desert. HA HA HA !
We continued north on Hwy. 85. Because Hwy. 85 leads directly into Mexico south of Why, there was a Customs & Border Patrol checkpoint a bit north of Ajo. What a waste of American tax dollars ! A bunch of men standing around with their thumbs up their asses, at least one sniffer dog, and a very rambunctious and unfocussed one at that, many vehicles, lots of tax dollars at work accomplishing ... ? ! ? I stopped and rolled down my window, and the agent made a silly remark about Bo. His humour didn't particularly appeal to me so I remained silent. He became stern and wanted to know if
I was not going to answer his question. What question ? There was no question in that remark ! Joanne thinks it's a bad idea for me to show my contempt like that. < shrug >
We reached Gila Bend at Interstate 8. We turned east on I-8 for two miles where we once again spent the night boondocked at Gila Bend Shell.
And no, no ... Sully still hasn't had a bowel movement ! ! !
DSK
Sunny and hot, temperature up into the 80's !
This morning I removed one of the Aloe Vera plants I had planted in my cactus garden in the dog park behind our back yard fence. Something ate it ... from the roots upward ... from underground ! When it fell over a day or two ago, I thought a dog had run over it. But NOOOOO ... the roots had been eaten ... from underneath.
This afternoon we headed to the Humane Society of Yuma, for the first of seven weekly agility classes Bo and I are attending. HA HA HA ... well done, Bo, good dog ! What a lot of fun we had. As did all the other dogs and their owners. Bo was the star performer today. Well ... of course ! He's the only one of the seven dogs in attendance that has done agility before. And it showed. Today's agility class was limited to hurdles and a big tunnel, both of which Bo has much experience with. One of the other dogs in the class was Zona, one of Bo's "pack members" from Kofa Ko-op. That worked out well for Zona. Since she knows Bo well, she learned a lot by following his example. Hey, Bo, you're a mentor !
The hot weather made the hour long class seem a few minutes too long. With a few minutes to go, Bo faded, physically and mentally. Of course, he is the oldest dog in the group, so it's not surprising that an hour of really enthusiastic agility work under the hot desert sun would wear him right out.
When the agility class ended at 4 PM we drove back to Kofa Ko-op to pick up something Joanne had forgotten to pack ... < fume > ... then we headed east to The Foothills. I bought a birthday card at the 99¢ Only Store, then refilled with diesel at Fry's Fuel Bar. We went inside Fry's for a couple of grocery items. I bought some sushi Summer Rolls for supper tonight.
We headed east on Interstate 8, not getting out of Yuma until 5:30 PM, only an hour of daylight left. We stopped at Dateland where we bought a large date shake to be dessert for tonight's supper. We stopped for the night at Gila Bend, where we boondocked overnight in the large parking lot of the Shell service station. Bo slept a lot while we drove. HA HA HA ... poor, tired out, little agility dog !
Yes, yes ... the Summer Rolls and date shake were good !
Monday ; Gila Bend to Benson, Arizona
Sunny and warm. We had a comfortable night in Elsie.
This morning we refilled our fresh water holding tank and dumped our grey waste holding tank at the Shell station's free sani-dump. Thank you, Gila Bend Shell. As we were leaving the Shell station to get back onto Interstate 8 ... there it was ! HA HA HA ... the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was parked at the front of the Shell station. We've seen it before, many years ago, and I don't remember where. Today ... HA HA HA ... I took a photo of Lanoire & Elsie parked beside the Wienermobile.
From Gila Bend Shell we continued east on Interstate 8 and then Interstate 10 to Tucson. Our initial plan was to stop for one day at Picacho Peak State Park before Tucson, but ... we changed our plan as we drove. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Tucson to have lunch in the parking lot, and then buy a couple of items in the store.
We continued east on I-10 to Benson where we stopped for the night at Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park. We stayed in their unserviced / boondocking area. While Joanne took Bo for a walk in their dog park I took a nap with Sully. Before it got dark we opened the awning on the side of the truck camper for the first time. It's in good condition, although it needs a thorough cleaning. As RV awnings always seem to need ! That's why we didn't shed any tears when we lost the awning on the fifth wheel trailer in 2007. All we ever did with the trailer's awning was open it twice a year for cleaning. We never got in the habit of using it on a regular basis. It will probably be the same with the truck camper.
After supper we went to the park's large clubhouse to use Wi-Fi ... and recharge the computer's battery at the same time. EEEUUUWWW ... ugly looking rockslide extremely close to our summer home at Riverside RV Park Resort near Keremeos, BC.
Tuesday ; Happy 60th Birthday to Joanne
Benson to Roper Lake State Park, Arizona
Sully is ill ... and may be dying. He has neither eaten nor defecated for two days, and by supper time tonight we realized how ill he seems. < sigh > We hope he will survive and recover, but ... at his age ... we expect the end is near.
Today was sunny and warm. This morning, before leaving Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park we dumped our waste holding tanks, refilled the fresh water holding tank, and reinflated a rear tire that had gone flat. Hopefully, it's just a valve extender problem.
I had installed a new valve extender on that tire recently.
We left the RV park and drove into Benson. We refilled the truck with diesel at Scott Fuel. At Ace Hardware I bought a propane fitting that I needed. I bought a birthday cake and candles at Safeway. And some cat food for Sully, since he refused to eat his regular food for the last couple of days. We thought he was stressed and "pouting" about being back on the road again. Tonight we realized it's more that that.
We continued east on Interstate 10. At Wilcox we stopped in a Safeway parking lot to have lunch. Shortly after Wilcox we turned north onto Hwy. 191 and shortly before reaching the city of Safford we reached our objective, Roper Lake State Park. Joanne's request for her sixtieth birthday was to spend a few days at Roper Lake State Park, rest and soak in the mineral hot springs hot tub , and have some meals at restaurants on the Salsa Trail, a series of Mexican and / or New Mexican restaurants in Safford and other nearby towns.
After getting set up in our campsite, I napped briefly with Sully, then we went to soak in the mineral hot springs hot tub. As the sun set we took Bo ... and Sully ... for a walk in the small dog park. That's when we realized how ill Sully really was. < sigh >
We drove into Safford and had a wonderful meal at Casa Mañana. Wonderful name in Spanish, sounds a bit goofy when translated into English ... Tomorrow House. We returned to Roper Lake State Park for birthday cake and gift opening. Joanne spent the remainder of the evening cuddling with Sully in bed. < sigh >
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm ... intense sunlight creating radiant heat, but cooling off a lot after sunset due to 3000 foot altitude.
Sully seems to have decided not to die today ! He seemed near death overnight. He spent most of the night cuddled into Joanne's armpit, his favourite "comfort zone". His breathing was shallow and very slow. This morning he slowly became a bit more alert and active. We took him outside a few times for walks to stimulate a bowel movement. It didn't work, but ... he walked around slowly, exploring the campsite, enjoying the warm sunlight. He continued to refuse food, but ... late this afternoon he accepted Joanne's offer of cat treats. His willingness to eat a bit was a good sign.
This afternoon we did what we could to stimulate a bowel movement. With me holding him, Joanne very slowly and carefully inserted a lubricated, gloved pinky finger about an inch into his rectum. I learned that from a veterinarian. Sully screamed in protest, but ... no bowel movement. She massaged his abdomen a few times this afternoon. That seemed to comfort him, but ... still no bowel movement. At last he didn't seem to be near death as he was yesterday.
C'mon, Sully ... take a shit already ! ! !
We had a slow day today. I attempted a minor repair on Elsie, but couldn't complete the job because I didn't have a tool I needed. We walked around the campground with Bo. We did an obedience session with Bo. We drove over to the day use area and explored the day use "island" / peninsula jutting out into Roper Lake. We soaked in the hot tub.
Thursday ; Roper Lake State Park to Duncan to San Carlos, Arizona
Sunny and warm. Sully still has not had a bowel movement, but ... it's now apparent that his constipation is a result of being ill, not the cause. We don't know what the cause of his illness was, but he has improved a lot, was alert and active and hungry today. As soon as he has a bowel movement, we think he'll be okay.
This morning we dumped ( waste ) and refilled ( water ) and left Roper Lake State Park. We drove north a short distance on Hwy. 191 to Safford. We drove around looking for ... and finding ... some of the restaurants listed in the Salsa Trail handbook, including Mi Casa Tortilla Factory, which isn't really a restaurant but is listed anyway. We bought fresh flour ( as opposed to corn ) tortillas, made with vegetable oil ( as opposed to lard ), whole wheat tortillas, also made with vegetable oil instead of lard, and "custom ordered" a bag of tortilla chips made with the flour / vegetable oil tortillas. That "custom order" would be ready in an hour. As I discovered later in the afternoon, that was a "Mexican hour". HA HA HA !
Before leaving Safford I stopped at a drapery business to buy some mini-blind hold down clips. Joanne broke one yesterday. With the assistance of the owner of the shop, and her installation serviceman, we fabricated "custom" metal replacements for the plastic hold down clips in Elsie. Don't you just love small town independent businesses ? ! ?
We headed east out of Safford on Hwy. 70, about 80 km. / 50 miles to Duncan, just to have lunch at one of the restaurants listed in the Salsa Trail handbook. I was thinking ... lunch at Hilda's Kitchen better be pretty spectacular to justify driving that far just for lunch. And ... it was ! Hilda's Kitchen is a butcher / convenience store / take out restaurant, with sit down restaurant under construction next door. And while the sit down restaurant under construction cannot be entered from outside due to it being under construction, it can be entered from the inside after ordering at the take out window. HA HA HA ... how Mexican is that ? ! ? My lunch, today's special, was a green chile & meat burro, enchilada style. Green chile / chile verde is a specialty of this area / the Salsa Trail. And my green chile & meat ( seasoned ground beef ) burro, enchilada style, was ... < deep breath > ... pretty damn good ! ! !
After lunch we drove west on Hwy. 70 back to Safford to pick up my "custom" tortilla chips at Mi Casa Tortilla Factory. Four hours after placing an order that was supposed to be ready in an hour ... it wasn't ready, but ... they were "working on it" immediately upon my arrival. HA HA HA ... how Mexican is that ? ? ?
After my "custom" tortilla chips were ready we headed out of town, continuing west on Hwy. 70. I stopped at Big "O" Tires on the edge of town to adjust the air pressure in one of the truck tires that has been losing air slowly the last few days. We drove west and northwest on Hwy. 70 to the Apache Gold Casino Resort at San Carlos where we stopped for the night. We refilled with diesel at their Chevron station, found a place to park overnight, then went into the casino to check things out before having supper. We contemplated having supper in the casino's buffet restaurant, but decided against it.
I renewed my casino player's club free membership. My new card included $10 in "free play". After having supper in the camper, we returned to the casino. I tried ... very unsuccessfully ... to get some online work done using the casino's Wi-Fi while Joanne went to play slot machines with my free / imaginary $10. I was unable to get Wi-Fi to work properly, while Joanne ... won $7.78 real money before the "free play" $10 was used up ! Oh, well ... ya win some, ya lose some. HA HA HA ! No Wi-Fi, but $7.78 in the pocket !
Friday ;San Carlos to Sells, Arizona
Cloudy and warm today, a bit windy at times.
Well ... despite not having had a bowel movement in the last six days, Sully seems surprisingly healthy ! He's alert and active, eating and drinking. I suppose nature will take its course. We hope ! Soon ! ! !
This morning I turned on the radio in the truck camper and while searching available radio stations I found an Apache radio station broadcasting from right here on the Apache Reservation. It was enjoyable listening to a mix of classic rock and traditional Apache music and ... they made an announcement about a PowWow this weekend on the Tohono O'odham Reservation south of Tucson. HEY ... let's go ! For a long time Joanne has wanted to visit the Tohono O'odham Nation. AND ... one of the reasons for getting a truck camper was to increase our ability to be spontaneous / impulsive while travelling.
We departed Apache Gold Casino and headed west on Hwy. 70 to Globe, only about eight miles away. I bought an item I need for truck maintenance at Napa Auto Parts then we went to Fry's to buy some advertised grocery specials. Quite a bit of advertised specials actually. Our receipt showed that we bought $67 worth of groceries ... and paid $32 !
From Globe we headed west on Hwy. 60, then south on Hwy. 79. South of Florence we stopped for lunch by just pulling off the highway into the lush desert. The desert between Phoenix and Tucson is lush and lovely, filled with Saguaro Cacti, Palo Verde trees, and lots of Teddy Bear Cholla Cacti. We were far enough off the highway that while Joanne prepared lunch I allowed Bo to wander around off leash, and I allowed Sully to wander around, hoping that some activity / exercise would encourage nature to take its course ! I neglected to allow for Sully's poor vision.
Well ... this is only the second time in the four and a half years that we've had Sully that I've seen him actually run. HA HA HA ... poor Sully. He brushed ... very lightly ... up against a Teddy Bear Cholla, and a segment broke off and impaled itself on his leg. The myth that Teddy Bear Cholla can "jump" onto you is a well deserved fallacy. But the lightest of touch against a Teddy Bear Cholla, and ... BAM ... you're "stuck" ! I grabbed Sully as he ran away from the cactus, and while he howled and squirmed, I hollered for Joanne to come outside and help me remove the cactus segment from Sully's leg. OOOPS ... too late ! Sully squirmed, his leg hit my hand, and the Cholla segment detached from his leg ... where it was very lightly embedded ... and embedded itself deeply into my finger. HA HA HA ... OUCH ! ! !
We reached Tucson ... < sigh > ... right at rush hour. It took about an hour of "stop and go" on the congested freeway to get across Tucson. We entered Tucson from the north heading south on Hwy. 79, a few miles southeast on Interstate 10, a few miles south on Interstate 19, then west on Hwy. 86 onto the Tohono O'odham Nation, and the village of Sells. In Sells we found out that the PowWow tomorrow is at the Fairgrounds, two miles west of town on Hwy. 86. When we arrived at the Fairgrounds ... HEY ! Not only is there a PowWow tomorrow, there is a rodeo and fair today, tomorrow and Sunday.
It was after 6 PM, and dusk when we arrived at the Fairgrounds. The rodeo was finished for the day. We wandered around the fairgrounds, filled with carnival rides and games, and food vendors. Many of the food vendors were Native, and some were offering rather unusual fare. On impulse, we purchased two Navajo dishes to share for supper ; Steamed Corn Stew ( with mutton ) and Green Chile Mutton, barbecued mutton served on Indian Fry Bread with a scrumptious barbecued Green Chile. I'm certain that my ulcerative colitis will be unhappy about it tomorrow, but I ate about a quarter of the large Green Chile. It was SOOOO good ! And not to be confused with Mexican style chile verde / “green chile”, made with tomatillos.
Saturday ; Sells to Gila Bend, Arizona
We had a late start to the day. Mostly because the PowWow didn't start until noon. We had planned to stay at the PowWow for the preliminary Goard Dancing from noon until 1 PM, then the Grand Entry ceremonies at 1 PM. Before today we didn't know what Goard Dancing was. And ... after sitting through more than an hour of it ... we're still not sure what Goard Dancing is ! And ... in the worst case of "Indian time" that we've ever experienced, at 12:45 the 1 PM Grand Entry was rescheduled to 1:15 PM, then at 1:10 PM it was rescheduled to 1:30 PM, and it eventually got underway about 1:40 PM ! HA HA HA !
We watched the Grand Entry until about 2 PM then went back to Elsie to have lunch. We left the fairgrounds about 3 PM, heading west on Hwy. 86. Twice this afternoon, as we drove, we saw a very rare "inverted" or "crested" Saguaro Cactus. Both times
I stopped to take a picture. These were the third and fourth times we've seen an example of the mutant "inverted" or "crested" Saguaro. And considering their rarity, we're very fortunate ! Once was way down the Baja California peninsula, and the rest of the times were all within 100 miles or so of Tucson.
We continued west on Hwy. 86 to Why, then north on Hwy. 85. Near Ajo we stopped to investigate a popular boondocking "campground" out in the desert. The Escapees Boondockers BOF ( Birds Of a Feather ... special interest group ) were having a rally there. We didn't know that until we came upon them there. A short time later we stopped again, pulling off the road into the desert to have a rest break. After a short rest and snack break we were preparing to depart, and both Bo and Sully acted like ... "HEY, aren't we staying here tonight ?" Apparently they both like boondocking out in the desert. HA HA HA !
We continued north on Hwy. 85. Because Hwy. 85 leads directly into Mexico south of Why, there was a Customs & Border Patrol checkpoint a bit north of Ajo. What a waste of American tax dollars ! A bunch of men standing around with their thumbs up their asses, at least one sniffer dog, and a very rambunctious and unfocussed one at that, many vehicles, lots of tax dollars at work accomplishing ... ? ! ? I stopped and rolled down my window, and the agent made a silly remark about Bo. His humour didn't particularly appeal to me so I remained silent. He became stern and wanted to know if
I was not going to answer his question. What question ? There was no question in that remark ! Joanne thinks it's a bad idea for me to show my contempt like that. < shrug >
We reached Gila Bend at Interstate 8. We turned east on I-8 for two miles where we once again spent the night boondocked at Gila Bend Shell.
And no, no ... Sully still hasn't had a bowel movement ! ! !
DSK
Sunday, January 26, 2014
January 19 to 25, 2014
Sunday ; Yes, yes ... still sunny and very warm, temperature about 80 degrees.
We slept very late this morning. This afternoon we went to the truck camper in the storage area of our RV park to leak test all the propane connections. I expected the job to take just a few minutes. WRONG ! I discovered two persistent leaks, both right at the propane tank valves. Tightening the connections wouldn't stop the leaks. I had to use Teflon tape for gas fittings, which isn't really intended for use on propane compression fittings, but ... it was the only way I could stop the leaks. I don't intend to refill either of the two propane tanks. When each becomes empty, I will replace them with new tanks. I did a bit of research tonight and found that horizontal mount propane tanks with gauges, for use in truck campers, cost over $200 each ! YIKES !
I also started working on converting the two fluorescent light fixtures in Elsie to LED.
I was almost finished the first when it was time to quit because of the ice cream social. We had to go early to the ice cream social, because as the winners of last week’s
50 / 50 draw, we were obliged to sell 50 / 50 tickets this week.
We had a late dinner while watching Doc Martin and Downton Abbey on PBS, our regular Sunday evening ritual.
Monday ; Sunny and hot ! Joanne cooked a really superb pot roast in the Sun Oven today. Steaks and roasts down here in the Desert Southwest seem particularly nice. Better beef ?
This morning and again late in the afternoon I worked on ... and finished ... converting the two fluorescent light fixtures in Elsie to LED. Two fluorescent and eleven incandescent fixtures have now been converted to LED. Well done, Daniel. Although
I did spend almost two hundred bucks on LED bulbs ! The fluorescent LED conversion bulbs are about thirty bucks apiece !
This afternoon I attended the first of four cooking classes I signed up for at a satellite facility of the Yuma Regional Medical Center a.k.a. Yuma Hospital. The cooking class program is called "Food For Life" and is specifically targeted at cancer survivors. It's cooking and foods to help prevent the occurrence ... and recurrence ... of cancer. The class was ... okay. < shrug> It promotes elimination / minimization of meats and dairy products, and significant increase in consumption of fiber and vegetables.
Did I mention how superb tonight’s pot roast was ? ! ? HA HA HA ! Now you tell me ... do I look like the kind of guy who wants to really significantly increase my consumption of garbanzo beans ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.
Last night, in bed, I perused the Food For Life cancer prevention / cancer survivor's cookbook I received at yesterday's cooking class. What an awful lot of unappealing recipes !
A few nights ago, after doing some online research, I booked an appointment online at Meineke to have the truck's tailpipe reattached to the muffler. I did not want to go to a muffler shop. They would simply want to replace the muffler and tailpipe. I didn't feel replacement of either was necessary. A skilled welder should be able to reattach the tailpipe to the muffler.
When I arrived at Meineke and explained what I wanted, they recommended that I take the truck to a different shop they recommended because the other shop had a welder skilled in exhaust system welding repairs. This is the second time that I have dealt with a Meineke repair shop, and both times I was very impressed with their integrity.
I drove to the other shop. They could do the work, but not until later in the afternoon.
I made an appointment for tomorrow morning. On the way home I stopped at Watch Hospital and picked up my Bulova Accutron watch, my father's Post Office retirement "gold watch", now repaired. Just before I arrived back home at Kofa Ko-op ...
WOO-HOO ... Yuma road kill ! HA HA HA ... I picked up about half a dozen lemons that had spilled out of a truck. There were more, but ... one can use only so many lemons at a time, n'est-ce pas ?
After lunch we headed to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. WHEW ... tiring work ! Walking a "puller" is fatiguing !
I walked five dogs, one of them twice, two of them "pullers". I was photographed by a newspaper reporter while I was walking Penguin, a lovely Husky. I wonder if my picture will be in tomorrow's newspaper ?
When we returned home we worked on cleaning the trailer kitchen's Fantastic Fan, including removing, cleaning, and reinstalling the roof vent MaxxAir cover. I went bicycling at dusk, as I often do. What a magnificent sunset !
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot !
This morning I headed across town to Arizona Auto Clinic. Very impressive shop. Owned by a 62 year old Mexican American. All employees Mexican American. A small, old, independent auto repair shop that believes in fixing things, not just replacing them. Rare in this day and age, in this country. I had the detached tailpipe reattached to the muffler by a skilled welder specializing in exhaust system custom repairs. Repair done promptly at appointed time, done well, at fair price.
This afternoon, after a nap with the cat ( haven't done that in awhile ) I crawled underneath the truck and figured out how to lower the spare tire when the truck camper is on the truck. Difficult, but can be done !
Went to the late afternoon Social Hour / Happy Hour / potluck. Worked on bill paying in the evening. Stock market doing well again this month !
Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.
Poor Bo ! He was up five times during the night, needing to be let out. Diarrhea attacks ! I woke up and took him out four times, Joanne once. By morning, he seemed to be improving. We fed him a home cooked meal designed to stop diarrhea. By evening he was completely fine. I threw out the bag of Charlie Bear dog treats that I had picked up off the bargain table and fed to him yesterday during an obedience training session.
Yesterday Joanne responded to an ad selling Birkenstock sandals. It was a lady who was previously a vendor at the Arizona MarketPlace, now out of business and selling her remaining small amount of leftover inventory. Today she came over ... to our home ... with a good selection in Joanne's size and sold Joanne a pair of Birkenstock sandals for less than half of what the local shoe store that carries Birkenstocks is charging for them. Unfortunately, she did not have any men's models in my size.
This afternoon we put Elsie the truck camper back onto Lanoire the truck. I have a service appointment tomorrow morning to have the Dometic fridge recall retrofit done. After we were finished putting the camper onto the truck I was reading the turnbuckle documentation I downloaded from the Internet and realized that I made some mounting mistakes. HMPH ! I'll have to remove the front and rear mounting turnbuckles and correct my errors, either tomorrow or the next day. Of course ... I could have read the instructions FIRST, but ... ! ! !
Tonight Joanne wanted to go to Famous Dave's Barbecue for supper. She received a Happy Birthday discount coupon by e-mail. On the way to Famous Dave's we stopped at CVS Pharmacy where I bought another WaterPik Water Flosser, this one to take home to Canada. I used a $10 off WaterPik coupon that I got online, and a 25% off any one item CVS coupon that I received by e-mail to buy a $50 item for $27.50 ! Supper at Famous Dave's was very good, as it always is.
Friday ; Cloudy and warm. Cloudy days are rare here.
Once again Bo was sick overnight. Frequently ! We were convinced last night that he was feeling better, and we fed him dog food. We were "conned" by his "I'm SOOOOO hungry" routine ! His digestive system was not yet ready for regular food. He's back on the home cooked ground beef and rice recipe today, and will be for the next three days.
I was up WAY too early this morning to head for an early morning appointment at Al's RV Service & Supply in The Foothills. I had the Dometic fridge recall retrofit kit installed. It should have been done years ago by a previous owner. Then I had one of their licensed propane fitters inspect my propane system additions and modifications to ensure all were safe and legal. They were. From there I headed to Cactus Propane where I once again had a licensed propane fitter examine my additions and modifications to ensure everything was safe and legal. It was ! It never hurts to have a second opinion. I bought two new propane regulator to tank "pigtail" hoses, and ... got the truck camper's two old propane tanks inspected and recertified, another item that should have been taken care of years ago. The propane tanks' certification "expired" in 2008 !
At home this afternoon I installed the two new pigtail hoses, and remounted the propane regulator mounting bracket. Until replacing the two pigtail hoses I was unable to reinstall the regulator mounting bracket because of space restrictions caused by the additional hose and fittings I installed for the Wave 6 heater installation. At last, all is well ... and safe and legal ... with the truck camper's propane system.
I spent the late part of the afternoon up on the roof of the truck camper working on cleaning the kitchen's Fantastic Fan roof vent, the bathroom fan roof vent, and the bedroom escape hatch roof vent, then installing a new MaxxAir style cover on the Fantastic Fan kitchen roof vent. WHEW ... sixteen or seventeen years of accumulated grime on the roof vents !
Elsie is just about ready for our upcoming week long camping trip !
Saturday ; Sunny and hot.
This morning we headed to the Humane Society to attend a training session for volunteers. When it was finished we ran some errands in The Foothills.
This afternoon we worked on the truck camper, doing some minor maintenance and preparing it for our upcoming camping trip. I did some routine preventive maintenance on the truck camper's battery for the first time and discovered that the battery was quite new, seemed to be of good quality and ... < sigh > ... was not the correct type of battery for an RV application. Guess I'll be replacing it sooner rather than later !
Too bad we spent so much time and energy angering one another and sniping today !
DSK
We slept very late this morning. This afternoon we went to the truck camper in the storage area of our RV park to leak test all the propane connections. I expected the job to take just a few minutes. WRONG ! I discovered two persistent leaks, both right at the propane tank valves. Tightening the connections wouldn't stop the leaks. I had to use Teflon tape for gas fittings, which isn't really intended for use on propane compression fittings, but ... it was the only way I could stop the leaks. I don't intend to refill either of the two propane tanks. When each becomes empty, I will replace them with new tanks. I did a bit of research tonight and found that horizontal mount propane tanks with gauges, for use in truck campers, cost over $200 each ! YIKES !
I also started working on converting the two fluorescent light fixtures in Elsie to LED.
I was almost finished the first when it was time to quit because of the ice cream social. We had to go early to the ice cream social, because as the winners of last week’s
50 / 50 draw, we were obliged to sell 50 / 50 tickets this week.
We had a late dinner while watching Doc Martin and Downton Abbey on PBS, our regular Sunday evening ritual.
Monday ; Sunny and hot ! Joanne cooked a really superb pot roast in the Sun Oven today. Steaks and roasts down here in the Desert Southwest seem particularly nice. Better beef ?
This morning and again late in the afternoon I worked on ... and finished ... converting the two fluorescent light fixtures in Elsie to LED. Two fluorescent and eleven incandescent fixtures have now been converted to LED. Well done, Daniel. Although
I did spend almost two hundred bucks on LED bulbs ! The fluorescent LED conversion bulbs are about thirty bucks apiece !
This afternoon I attended the first of four cooking classes I signed up for at a satellite facility of the Yuma Regional Medical Center a.k.a. Yuma Hospital. The cooking class program is called "Food For Life" and is specifically targeted at cancer survivors. It's cooking and foods to help prevent the occurrence ... and recurrence ... of cancer. The class was ... okay. < shrug> It promotes elimination / minimization of meats and dairy products, and significant increase in consumption of fiber and vegetables.
Did I mention how superb tonight’s pot roast was ? ! ? HA HA HA ! Now you tell me ... do I look like the kind of guy who wants to really significantly increase my consumption of garbanzo beans ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.
Last night, in bed, I perused the Food For Life cancer prevention / cancer survivor's cookbook I received at yesterday's cooking class. What an awful lot of unappealing recipes !
A few nights ago, after doing some online research, I booked an appointment online at Meineke to have the truck's tailpipe reattached to the muffler. I did not want to go to a muffler shop. They would simply want to replace the muffler and tailpipe. I didn't feel replacement of either was necessary. A skilled welder should be able to reattach the tailpipe to the muffler.
When I arrived at Meineke and explained what I wanted, they recommended that I take the truck to a different shop they recommended because the other shop had a welder skilled in exhaust system welding repairs. This is the second time that I have dealt with a Meineke repair shop, and both times I was very impressed with their integrity.
I drove to the other shop. They could do the work, but not until later in the afternoon.
I made an appointment for tomorrow morning. On the way home I stopped at Watch Hospital and picked up my Bulova Accutron watch, my father's Post Office retirement "gold watch", now repaired. Just before I arrived back home at Kofa Ko-op ...
WOO-HOO ... Yuma road kill ! HA HA HA ... I picked up about half a dozen lemons that had spilled out of a truck. There were more, but ... one can use only so many lemons at a time, n'est-ce pas ?
After lunch we headed to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. WHEW ... tiring work ! Walking a "puller" is fatiguing !
I walked five dogs, one of them twice, two of them "pullers". I was photographed by a newspaper reporter while I was walking Penguin, a lovely Husky. I wonder if my picture will be in tomorrow's newspaper ?
When we returned home we worked on cleaning the trailer kitchen's Fantastic Fan, including removing, cleaning, and reinstalling the roof vent MaxxAir cover. I went bicycling at dusk, as I often do. What a magnificent sunset !
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot !
This morning I headed across town to Arizona Auto Clinic. Very impressive shop. Owned by a 62 year old Mexican American. All employees Mexican American. A small, old, independent auto repair shop that believes in fixing things, not just replacing them. Rare in this day and age, in this country. I had the detached tailpipe reattached to the muffler by a skilled welder specializing in exhaust system custom repairs. Repair done promptly at appointed time, done well, at fair price.
This afternoon, after a nap with the cat ( haven't done that in awhile ) I crawled underneath the truck and figured out how to lower the spare tire when the truck camper is on the truck. Difficult, but can be done !
Went to the late afternoon Social Hour / Happy Hour / potluck. Worked on bill paying in the evening. Stock market doing well again this month !
Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.
Poor Bo ! He was up five times during the night, needing to be let out. Diarrhea attacks ! I woke up and took him out four times, Joanne once. By morning, he seemed to be improving. We fed him a home cooked meal designed to stop diarrhea. By evening he was completely fine. I threw out the bag of Charlie Bear dog treats that I had picked up off the bargain table and fed to him yesterday during an obedience training session.
Yesterday Joanne responded to an ad selling Birkenstock sandals. It was a lady who was previously a vendor at the Arizona MarketPlace, now out of business and selling her remaining small amount of leftover inventory. Today she came over ... to our home ... with a good selection in Joanne's size and sold Joanne a pair of Birkenstock sandals for less than half of what the local shoe store that carries Birkenstocks is charging for them. Unfortunately, she did not have any men's models in my size.
This afternoon we put Elsie the truck camper back onto Lanoire the truck. I have a service appointment tomorrow morning to have the Dometic fridge recall retrofit done. After we were finished putting the camper onto the truck I was reading the turnbuckle documentation I downloaded from the Internet and realized that I made some mounting mistakes. HMPH ! I'll have to remove the front and rear mounting turnbuckles and correct my errors, either tomorrow or the next day. Of course ... I could have read the instructions FIRST, but ... ! ! !
Tonight Joanne wanted to go to Famous Dave's Barbecue for supper. She received a Happy Birthday discount coupon by e-mail. On the way to Famous Dave's we stopped at CVS Pharmacy where I bought another WaterPik Water Flosser, this one to take home to Canada. I used a $10 off WaterPik coupon that I got online, and a 25% off any one item CVS coupon that I received by e-mail to buy a $50 item for $27.50 ! Supper at Famous Dave's was very good, as it always is.
Friday ; Cloudy and warm. Cloudy days are rare here.
Once again Bo was sick overnight. Frequently ! We were convinced last night that he was feeling better, and we fed him dog food. We were "conned" by his "I'm SOOOOO hungry" routine ! His digestive system was not yet ready for regular food. He's back on the home cooked ground beef and rice recipe today, and will be for the next three days.
I was up WAY too early this morning to head for an early morning appointment at Al's RV Service & Supply in The Foothills. I had the Dometic fridge recall retrofit kit installed. It should have been done years ago by a previous owner. Then I had one of their licensed propane fitters inspect my propane system additions and modifications to ensure all were safe and legal. They were. From there I headed to Cactus Propane where I once again had a licensed propane fitter examine my additions and modifications to ensure everything was safe and legal. It was ! It never hurts to have a second opinion. I bought two new propane regulator to tank "pigtail" hoses, and ... got the truck camper's two old propane tanks inspected and recertified, another item that should have been taken care of years ago. The propane tanks' certification "expired" in 2008 !
At home this afternoon I installed the two new pigtail hoses, and remounted the propane regulator mounting bracket. Until replacing the two pigtail hoses I was unable to reinstall the regulator mounting bracket because of space restrictions caused by the additional hose and fittings I installed for the Wave 6 heater installation. At last, all is well ... and safe and legal ... with the truck camper's propane system.
I spent the late part of the afternoon up on the roof of the truck camper working on cleaning the kitchen's Fantastic Fan roof vent, the bathroom fan roof vent, and the bedroom escape hatch roof vent, then installing a new MaxxAir style cover on the Fantastic Fan kitchen roof vent. WHEW ... sixteen or seventeen years of accumulated grime on the roof vents !
Elsie is just about ready for our upcoming week long camping trip !
Saturday ; Sunny and hot.
This morning we headed to the Humane Society to attend a training session for volunteers. When it was finished we ran some errands in The Foothills.
This afternoon we worked on the truck camper, doing some minor maintenance and preparing it for our upcoming camping trip. I did some routine preventive maintenance on the truck camper's battery for the first time and discovered that the battery was quite new, seemed to be of good quality and ... < sigh > ... was not the correct type of battery for an RV application. Guess I'll be replacing it sooner rather than later !
Too bad we spent so much time and energy angering one another and sniping today !
DSK
Sunday, January 19, 2014
January 12 to 18, 2014
Sunday ; Sunny and very warm, another gorgeous Yuma winter day. HA HA HA !
This morning we went to the Indoor Market Place, a more "upscale" flea market than Arizona Market Place or Yuma Park N Swap. Joanne wanted to buy some of her beloved Rada knives for Elsie the truck camper. I wanted to buy a new fanny pack. The fanny pack that I like comes from a vendor in the Indoor Market Place. The fanny packs I buy only have a one year life, but ... they only cost eight bucks, so ... I buy a new one every year. After the Indoor Market Place we headed for Harbor Freight Tools where
I wanted to buy an item that was on sale this weekend. Joanne waited in the truck because I was going in for only one item. HA ! Not likely ! It's Harbor Freight ! HA HA HA !
This afternoon I completed the truck bumper repair. I masked and painted the now repaired corner of the truck bumper. It's imperfect, as amateur auto body repair always is, but Lanoire is no longer a "spring chicken" so to speak, and this auto body repair is as good as any I've ever done. And certainly a lot better than just leaving a big chunk gouged out of the corner of the bumper.
Our next door neighbour, who's not much of a "dog person", was dog sitting another neighbour's dog, Domino the Boston Terrier. Domino and Bo are dog park / pack walk buddies, so we took Domino on the pack walk with us today.
Late this afternoon Carol Mae came over to discuss some Humane Society fund raising ideas she had. She's ill with a cold.
Tonight we attended the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. Each Sunday at the ice cream social Joanne buys a ticket on the weekly 50 / 50 draw. Tonight Joanne's ticket won. WOO-HOO ! Thirty five bucks ! We chatted with a couple from Ontario, Canada that are new full time RV'ers and new arrivals here at Kofa Ko-op and Yuma, Arizona. After the ice cream social we had a very late supper while watching Downton Abbey.
Monday ; Still the same ... sunny and very warm.
This afternoon I continued working on installing the Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater in Elsie. I had to drill a hole through the back of the propane tank compartment and through a cupboard to get the propane hose to the heater. The job did not go as smoothly as I would have liked, but ... it could have been a lot worse, given the nature of what I was doing. All that is left now is to leak test all the propane fittings and connections, and test fire the heater.
This afternoon I went to my first ... and definitely my last ... geneology class here in the Kofa Ko-op clubhouse. To me, "class" implies ... teacher, students, teacher imparts educational information of value to students. This class was a 45 minute waste of my time. Old women gabbing and bitching. A teacher not "teaching" ! And ... I don't think
I have enough patience or interest to do geneological research.
This evening we had our new friends Bill and Lynn over for supper. They are leaving Kofa Ko-op and Yuma tomorrow morning, heading for Quartzsite. Joanne prepared Chicken Chile Verde for supper, cooked in the Sun Oven, as was the rice that went along with it. Lynn baked cookies for dessert. MMMMM ! ! ! Rather unusually, Sully cuddled up against Lynn on the sofa. How odd ... he's NEVER friendly towards strangers.
Tuesday ; Weather is ... you know !
This morning I decided that my heater installation in the truck camper needs ... revision. I was bothered by one component of the installation and this morning figured out a better way to do it. I will need to buy some more propane brass fittings and remount the heater about 5/8 of an inch lower on the wall than it currently is. Lots of "undo" and "redo" work, but ... I think "Plan B" will result in a safer installation.
I took two of my three watches to the Watch Hospital today. My Dad's retirement "gold watch", a Bulova Accutron needs a minor repair. It will cost twenty bucks. Okay ! My Rolex needs a cleaning and adjustment. It's running a teensy bit fast. It will cost ... WHAT ? ! ? Six hundred bucks for a cleaning and adjustment ? ? ? ! ! ! HMPH ! Maybe it's time to sell the Rolex ? ! ?
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our weekly volunteer work as dog walker and cat cuddler. I started my shift by ... getting bit by Otto ! ****ing little ****head Chihuahua ! That sharp little tooth went pretty deeply into the back of my thumb ! ****ing little ****head Chihuahua ! ! !
Wednesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning my dog bite appeared infected. Great ! Just what I needed ! ! ! I started taking Cipro, an antibioitic.
This morning I set up the Sun Oven and put in some marinated salmon. When we returned from Mexico late in the afternoon ... voilà ... Sun Oven dried, maple syrup glazed candied salmon. Well ... it wasn't maple syrup glazed when we got home ... but it was soon thereafter.
After an early lunch we headed for Mexico. I got a haircut and beard trim ... four bucks ! We bought some Amoxicillin ... one dollar for twenty- four tablets ! The border crossing line up back into the U.S. was very long ... < sigh >. It's January ! BUT ... the length of today's line up would have been a three hour wait a couple of years ago. Today ... WOW ... thirty-five minutes. Great improvement ! Amazing what a bit of "political will" can accomplish !
We attended the regular Wednesday late afternoon Happy Hour / Social Hour and heavy appetizers potluck.
Thursday ; Joanne spent the day shopping again. Alone, thankfully !
I spent the afternoon removing, repositioning, and remounting the Wave 6 catalytic heater in Elsie the truck camper. Then I did some auto body work on the bumper of George and Betty's motorhome.
In the evening I went to a jazz concert. Tonight was the first of about a dozen weekly free jazz concerts in the courtyard of Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Tonight's performers were Yuma Jazz Band. Big band sound ! Joanne went with Carol Mae and Larry to a fund raiser event for the Humane Society, a trained bird show at The Palms RV Park.
Friday ; Happy 15th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
This morning we headed to The Foothills where we ran a variety of errands until it was time to go for lunch at the home of our friends Lynn and Micha, and their dog Gypsy. We spent the afternoon visiting with them.
Saturday ; Still sunny and very warm.
Recently I've been working on repairing some minor damage on the corner of the bumper of the Class A motorhome belonging to our neighbours / friends George and Betty. Today should have been the final step of the repair ; painting it. This afternoon
I painted it and ... the finished result was ... absolutely terrible ! I'm very embarrassed.
I will have to sand it down, and start over. < sigh > George and Betty are leaving tomorrow for a week, and just as they return, Joanne and I will be leaving for a week. So ... < sigh > ... it will be at least two weeks before I can start the job over.
Today we had a new dog join our daily pack walk. Our neighbours / friends Tom and Pat have a new beagle, named Lola. She has separation anxiety, and manifests it by howling when left alone, and ... eating the upholstery in the truck. Not funny ! I've offered my dog knowledge and skills to help Lola overcome her separation anxiety.
This afternoon I finished the installation of the Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater in the truck camper. WOO-HOO ! Finally ! It's about time ! I also installed a new smoke and carbon monoxide detector.
I finally got around to opening the "scratch & dent" / demo model / test model Sun Oven I recently ordered and received. It's the same as our existing Sun Oven, and that's now a "non-current" model. Sun Oven was selling these "scratch & dent" / demo model / test model units at a greatly reduced price. However, the "scratch & dent" / demo model / test model unit that I received and unpacked today is ... none of the above ! It's a perfectly brand new, never been out of the box unit !
DSK
This morning we went to the Indoor Market Place, a more "upscale" flea market than Arizona Market Place or Yuma Park N Swap. Joanne wanted to buy some of her beloved Rada knives for Elsie the truck camper. I wanted to buy a new fanny pack. The fanny pack that I like comes from a vendor in the Indoor Market Place. The fanny packs I buy only have a one year life, but ... they only cost eight bucks, so ... I buy a new one every year. After the Indoor Market Place we headed for Harbor Freight Tools where
I wanted to buy an item that was on sale this weekend. Joanne waited in the truck because I was going in for only one item. HA ! Not likely ! It's Harbor Freight ! HA HA HA !
This afternoon I completed the truck bumper repair. I masked and painted the now repaired corner of the truck bumper. It's imperfect, as amateur auto body repair always is, but Lanoire is no longer a "spring chicken" so to speak, and this auto body repair is as good as any I've ever done. And certainly a lot better than just leaving a big chunk gouged out of the corner of the bumper.
Our next door neighbour, who's not much of a "dog person", was dog sitting another neighbour's dog, Domino the Boston Terrier. Domino and Bo are dog park / pack walk buddies, so we took Domino on the pack walk with us today.
Late this afternoon Carol Mae came over to discuss some Humane Society fund raising ideas she had. She's ill with a cold.
Tonight we attended the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. Each Sunday at the ice cream social Joanne buys a ticket on the weekly 50 / 50 draw. Tonight Joanne's ticket won. WOO-HOO ! Thirty five bucks ! We chatted with a couple from Ontario, Canada that are new full time RV'ers and new arrivals here at Kofa Ko-op and Yuma, Arizona. After the ice cream social we had a very late supper while watching Downton Abbey.
Monday ; Still the same ... sunny and very warm.
This afternoon I continued working on installing the Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater in Elsie. I had to drill a hole through the back of the propane tank compartment and through a cupboard to get the propane hose to the heater. The job did not go as smoothly as I would have liked, but ... it could have been a lot worse, given the nature of what I was doing. All that is left now is to leak test all the propane fittings and connections, and test fire the heater.
This afternoon I went to my first ... and definitely my last ... geneology class here in the Kofa Ko-op clubhouse. To me, "class" implies ... teacher, students, teacher imparts educational information of value to students. This class was a 45 minute waste of my time. Old women gabbing and bitching. A teacher not "teaching" ! And ... I don't think
I have enough patience or interest to do geneological research.
This evening we had our new friends Bill and Lynn over for supper. They are leaving Kofa Ko-op and Yuma tomorrow morning, heading for Quartzsite. Joanne prepared Chicken Chile Verde for supper, cooked in the Sun Oven, as was the rice that went along with it. Lynn baked cookies for dessert. MMMMM ! ! ! Rather unusually, Sully cuddled up against Lynn on the sofa. How odd ... he's NEVER friendly towards strangers.
Tuesday ; Weather is ... you know !
This morning I decided that my heater installation in the truck camper needs ... revision. I was bothered by one component of the installation and this morning figured out a better way to do it. I will need to buy some more propane brass fittings and remount the heater about 5/8 of an inch lower on the wall than it currently is. Lots of "undo" and "redo" work, but ... I think "Plan B" will result in a safer installation.
I took two of my three watches to the Watch Hospital today. My Dad's retirement "gold watch", a Bulova Accutron needs a minor repair. It will cost twenty bucks. Okay ! My Rolex needs a cleaning and adjustment. It's running a teensy bit fast. It will cost ... WHAT ? ! ? Six hundred bucks for a cleaning and adjustment ? ? ? ! ! ! HMPH ! Maybe it's time to sell the Rolex ? ! ?
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our weekly volunteer work as dog walker and cat cuddler. I started my shift by ... getting bit by Otto ! ****ing little ****head Chihuahua ! That sharp little tooth went pretty deeply into the back of my thumb ! ****ing little ****head Chihuahua ! ! !
Wednesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning my dog bite appeared infected. Great ! Just what I needed ! ! ! I started taking Cipro, an antibioitic.
This morning I set up the Sun Oven and put in some marinated salmon. When we returned from Mexico late in the afternoon ... voilà ... Sun Oven dried, maple syrup glazed candied salmon. Well ... it wasn't maple syrup glazed when we got home ... but it was soon thereafter.
After an early lunch we headed for Mexico. I got a haircut and beard trim ... four bucks ! We bought some Amoxicillin ... one dollar for twenty- four tablets ! The border crossing line up back into the U.S. was very long ... < sigh >. It's January ! BUT ... the length of today's line up would have been a three hour wait a couple of years ago. Today ... WOW ... thirty-five minutes. Great improvement ! Amazing what a bit of "political will" can accomplish !
We attended the regular Wednesday late afternoon Happy Hour / Social Hour and heavy appetizers potluck.
Thursday ; Joanne spent the day shopping again. Alone, thankfully !
I spent the afternoon removing, repositioning, and remounting the Wave 6 catalytic heater in Elsie the truck camper. Then I did some auto body work on the bumper of George and Betty's motorhome.
In the evening I went to a jazz concert. Tonight was the first of about a dozen weekly free jazz concerts in the courtyard of Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Tonight's performers were Yuma Jazz Band. Big band sound ! Joanne went with Carol Mae and Larry to a fund raiser event for the Humane Society, a trained bird show at The Palms RV Park.
Friday ; Happy 15th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
This morning we headed to The Foothills where we ran a variety of errands until it was time to go for lunch at the home of our friends Lynn and Micha, and their dog Gypsy. We spent the afternoon visiting with them.
Saturday ; Still sunny and very warm.
Recently I've been working on repairing some minor damage on the corner of the bumper of the Class A motorhome belonging to our neighbours / friends George and Betty. Today should have been the final step of the repair ; painting it. This afternoon
I painted it and ... the finished result was ... absolutely terrible ! I'm very embarrassed.
I will have to sand it down, and start over. < sigh > George and Betty are leaving tomorrow for a week, and just as they return, Joanne and I will be leaving for a week. So ... < sigh > ... it will be at least two weeks before I can start the job over.
Today we had a new dog join our daily pack walk. Our neighbours / friends Tom and Pat have a new beagle, named Lola. She has separation anxiety, and manifests it by howling when left alone, and ... eating the upholstery in the truck. Not funny ! I've offered my dog knowledge and skills to help Lola overcome her separation anxiety.
This afternoon I finished the installation of the Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater in the truck camper. WOO-HOO ! Finally ! It's about time ! I also installed a new smoke and carbon monoxide detector.
I finally got around to opening the "scratch & dent" / demo model / test model Sun Oven I recently ordered and received. It's the same as our existing Sun Oven, and that's now a "non-current" model. Sun Oven was selling these "scratch & dent" / demo model / test model units at a greatly reduced price. However, the "scratch & dent" / demo model / test model unit that I received and unpacked today is ... none of the above ! It's a perfectly brand new, never been out of the box unit !
DSK
Sunday, January 12, 2014
January 5 to 11, 2014
Sunday ; Still sunny and warm. I baked a beautiful loaf of bread today, using the bread maker to mix the dough, and the Sun Oven to bake it. Gorgeous !
I started the day with a back yard Bo-gility session. Well done, Bo, good dog. I wrapped Joanne's birthday gifts. It's her sixtieth birthday in three and a half weeks. I did a bit of work on Elsie ( the truck camper ). I paid our December electrical and propane bills.
I compiled our previous dental and eye exam records for our trip to Mexico tomorrow.
We went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. We had supper while watching Doc Martin on PBS. After supper Joanne went to clean the laundromat, a daily chore she volunteered to do this week. Then ... the long awaited season four premiere of Downton Abbey !
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning we picked up our friends Bill and Lynn and headed for Mexico. First stop was Best Optical. Bill and I each picked out new eyeglass frames, then each had an eye exam with Dra. Ana < pant pant >. After we both finished ordering and paying for new eyeglasses, the four of us walked across town to Farmacia Veterinaria Safari to buy some pet medications. We walked back "downtown", Bill and Lynn went for haircuts, Joanne and I went for dental cleanings and examinations. For the last few years I have been seeing Dra. Esther Estolano, a periodontist from nearby San Luis Rio Colorado, but now ... my Los Algodones dentist's daughter has just joined the family practice. She has recently graduated as a periodontist. Joanne had a dental cleaning, followed by a dental examination by Dr. Juan Camacho. I had a dental cleaning followed by a periodontal examination by his daughter, Dra. Lilia Camacho.
When we were finished Bill and Lynn were waiting for us. We went with them for a late lunch to a restaurant that Joanne and I like. After lunch we returned to Best Optical to pick up our new eyeglasses. My prescription trifocal glasses with Transitions lenses in new frames cost $119. My prescription trifocal sunglasses in new frames cost $49. The eye exam and glaucoma test ... were included at no additional charge. Great deal !
We shopped for and bought some medications ... and chocolate bars, of course. When we arrived at the border crossing back into the United States at 5 PM there was ... NO LINE UP ! ! ! WOO-HOO ! We were home before 6 PM.
After supper we ... Joanne, I, and Bo ... went to PetsMart to buy some dog food. Bo LOOOOOVES shopping at PetsMart. HA HA HA !
Tuesday ; Cloudy and warm, chilly in the evening.
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society of Yuma for our weekly session as dog walker and cat cuddler. I walked six dogs ... none of whom wanted to walk once I got them outside. SHEESH ! I named five of them. They were new. Only one of the six dogs was here last week ( and the week before ). Most of the dogs were "new" inventory, suggesting an inventory "turnover" about every two weeks or so. Joanne said it was the same thing in the cat area. Most of the cats in there today were "new".
We took Bill and Lynn out to have supper at an EL Salvadoran food truck. House specialty ; papusas. Joanne and I have been there a few times before. We like it. So did Bill and Lynn. After some papusas we went in search of some more interesting "street food" amongst the food trucks area in the vicinity of Avenue B and 8th Street. We stopped at a Mexican food truck and had some tacos and burritos. Back at Kofa Ko-op we spent the rest of the evening visiting with Bill and Lynn in their motorhome.
Wednesday ; Still sunny and warm.
I started the day with an obedience session in the dog park. Well done, Bo, good dog.
At noon we headed for the Humane Society with Bo to attend their vaccination clinic.
I wanted to give it a try, if the line up wasn't too long. It's a no frills, first come, first served, low cost vaccination clinic. I thought the line up was too long, but Joanne wanted to wait it out. And it wasn't too bad, maybe fifteen minutes. They were cranking dogs through like an assembly line. Bo got his annual vaccinations, and a 2014 Yuma winter visitor dog license valid for six months. Guess I'll cancel next week's appointment at our regular veterinarian. Bo's now taken care of, and we've decided not to subject Sully to any more vaccinations at his very advanced age.
After lunch I worked on the truck bumper repair. It's coming along slowly. Today
I applied Bondo body putty, and after it dried, sanded it. Not bad, but will need another application. I won't be seeking employment as an auto body repairman any time soon ! HA HA HA !
Late in the afternoon we went to the clubhouse to host the weekly Happy Hour / Social Hour and heavy appetizers potluck. As "host" I changed some of the regular "procedures". You know me ... I believe "change is good" ! Joanne had some advance anxiety about my intentions / plans, but my changes were well received. Especially by the "new arrivals", to whom I gave special attention and recognition.
In the evening we tried ... for the third time ... to watch The Lone Ranger on a borrowed DVD. The DVD must be damaged. It was frequently "crashing". Maybe the problem is the DVD player, or my computer, or the software, but ... I don't think so. In frustration we finally gave up. I guess we'll have to see the movie some other time, some other place.
Thursday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne cooked an excellent beef bourguignon in the Sun Oven for supper tonight.
I spent most of the day running shopping errands. First stop was the brand new to Yuma Tractor Supply Company to buy a rubber bed mat for the truck. Next was Al's RV Supply & Service to return some items for a refund and revise an appointment for service. Then over to Cactus Propane to get some propane fittings and hoses custom made for the truck camper. Late lunch at Burger King was ... mediocre at best. Last stop was Wal-Mart, where most of the items I needed were out of stock. HMPH ! On the way home I stopped at our regular veterinarian's office to cancel next week's appointment.
I was home in time for the daily pack walk in the dog park. As soon as we returned form the pack walk our neighbour / friend who is from Thailand brought over freshly made ( still piping hot ) spring rolls and peanut sauce. OH MY GOODNESS, her Thai cooking is great !
Friday ; Well ... her Thai cooking might be great, but ... I guess I should have asked if she put pork in the spring rolls. Obviously, the answer to that question was "yes". I was sick today as a consequence. Oh, well.
Another sunny and warm day. And forecast to be the same for the next two weeks. This morning I used the bread maker to mix a batch of raisin bread dough, and this afternoon I baked it in the Sun Oven. Nice looking loaf of raisin bread.
Joanne spent all afternoon out running errands and shopping. I worked on the truck camper, mostly working on reinstalling the propane regulator and new propane hoses. I've added a new hose, for the catalytic heater I intend to install, and that new hose created difficult to resolve reinstallation and space / fit problems in the propane tank compartment.
While bicycling, I visited with Bill and Lynn, Carol Mae, Pat and her dog Lola, and a newly arrived couple from British Columbia's Gulf Islands, in a Lance truck camper similar to Elsie. Late in the evening we gave Bo a bath, his first since we recently gave him a short haircut. It certainly is easier to bathe him when he has short hair.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm, no wind, gorgeous sunset tonight. I like to go bicycling at dusk, and watch the sun set over the desert as I bicycle down East County 17th Street, the road on which Kofa Ko-op is located.
This morning I worked on Lanoire the truck's damaged bumper, finishing the sanding and preparation for painting. When I was finished I went over to the storage area to do some minor auto body work on a neighbour's motorhome. My truck isn't the only one with a "boo-boo" on the corner of the front bumper !
This afternoon Joanne went to the Humane Society for a training course on cat safety, made necessary by some recent incidents of volunteer cat cuddlers getting bit by cats. While she was gone I worked on installing the Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater in Elsie the truck camper. Custom hose is made and installed in the propane tank compartment, heater is wall mounted, next step is drill through the back wall of the propane tank compartment and through a cupboard wall to get the hose to the heater. Wish me luck !
This evening, after a late supper of barbecued chicken, with refried beans, and seasoned rice / pollo asado, con frijoles y arroz, we went to Wal-Mart to buy a few items, once again violating my "no Wal-Martin' on weekends" rule. It was okay, that late in the evening there were few shoppers.
DSK
I started the day with a back yard Bo-gility session. Well done, Bo, good dog. I wrapped Joanne's birthday gifts. It's her sixtieth birthday in three and a half weeks. I did a bit of work on Elsie ( the truck camper ). I paid our December electrical and propane bills.
I compiled our previous dental and eye exam records for our trip to Mexico tomorrow.
We went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. We had supper while watching Doc Martin on PBS. After supper Joanne went to clean the laundromat, a daily chore she volunteered to do this week. Then ... the long awaited season four premiere of Downton Abbey !
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning we picked up our friends Bill and Lynn and headed for Mexico. First stop was Best Optical. Bill and I each picked out new eyeglass frames, then each had an eye exam with Dra. Ana < pant pant >. After we both finished ordering and paying for new eyeglasses, the four of us walked across town to Farmacia Veterinaria Safari to buy some pet medications. We walked back "downtown", Bill and Lynn went for haircuts, Joanne and I went for dental cleanings and examinations. For the last few years I have been seeing Dra. Esther Estolano, a periodontist from nearby San Luis Rio Colorado, but now ... my Los Algodones dentist's daughter has just joined the family practice. She has recently graduated as a periodontist. Joanne had a dental cleaning, followed by a dental examination by Dr. Juan Camacho. I had a dental cleaning followed by a periodontal examination by his daughter, Dra. Lilia Camacho.
When we were finished Bill and Lynn were waiting for us. We went with them for a late lunch to a restaurant that Joanne and I like. After lunch we returned to Best Optical to pick up our new eyeglasses. My prescription trifocal glasses with Transitions lenses in new frames cost $119. My prescription trifocal sunglasses in new frames cost $49. The eye exam and glaucoma test ... were included at no additional charge. Great deal !
We shopped for and bought some medications ... and chocolate bars, of course. When we arrived at the border crossing back into the United States at 5 PM there was ... NO LINE UP ! ! ! WOO-HOO ! We were home before 6 PM.
After supper we ... Joanne, I, and Bo ... went to PetsMart to buy some dog food. Bo LOOOOOVES shopping at PetsMart. HA HA HA !
Tuesday ; Cloudy and warm, chilly in the evening.
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society of Yuma for our weekly session as dog walker and cat cuddler. I walked six dogs ... none of whom wanted to walk once I got them outside. SHEESH ! I named five of them. They were new. Only one of the six dogs was here last week ( and the week before ). Most of the dogs were "new" inventory, suggesting an inventory "turnover" about every two weeks or so. Joanne said it was the same thing in the cat area. Most of the cats in there today were "new".
We took Bill and Lynn out to have supper at an EL Salvadoran food truck. House specialty ; papusas. Joanne and I have been there a few times before. We like it. So did Bill and Lynn. After some papusas we went in search of some more interesting "street food" amongst the food trucks area in the vicinity of Avenue B and 8th Street. We stopped at a Mexican food truck and had some tacos and burritos. Back at Kofa Ko-op we spent the rest of the evening visiting with Bill and Lynn in their motorhome.
Wednesday ; Still sunny and warm.
I started the day with an obedience session in the dog park. Well done, Bo, good dog.
At noon we headed for the Humane Society with Bo to attend their vaccination clinic.
I wanted to give it a try, if the line up wasn't too long. It's a no frills, first come, first served, low cost vaccination clinic. I thought the line up was too long, but Joanne wanted to wait it out. And it wasn't too bad, maybe fifteen minutes. They were cranking dogs through like an assembly line. Bo got his annual vaccinations, and a 2014 Yuma winter visitor dog license valid for six months. Guess I'll cancel next week's appointment at our regular veterinarian. Bo's now taken care of, and we've decided not to subject Sully to any more vaccinations at his very advanced age.
After lunch I worked on the truck bumper repair. It's coming along slowly. Today
I applied Bondo body putty, and after it dried, sanded it. Not bad, but will need another application. I won't be seeking employment as an auto body repairman any time soon ! HA HA HA !
Late in the afternoon we went to the clubhouse to host the weekly Happy Hour / Social Hour and heavy appetizers potluck. As "host" I changed some of the regular "procedures". You know me ... I believe "change is good" ! Joanne had some advance anxiety about my intentions / plans, but my changes were well received. Especially by the "new arrivals", to whom I gave special attention and recognition.
In the evening we tried ... for the third time ... to watch The Lone Ranger on a borrowed DVD. The DVD must be damaged. It was frequently "crashing". Maybe the problem is the DVD player, or my computer, or the software, but ... I don't think so. In frustration we finally gave up. I guess we'll have to see the movie some other time, some other place.
Thursday ; Sunny and warm. Joanne cooked an excellent beef bourguignon in the Sun Oven for supper tonight.
I spent most of the day running shopping errands. First stop was the brand new to Yuma Tractor Supply Company to buy a rubber bed mat for the truck. Next was Al's RV Supply & Service to return some items for a refund and revise an appointment for service. Then over to Cactus Propane to get some propane fittings and hoses custom made for the truck camper. Late lunch at Burger King was ... mediocre at best. Last stop was Wal-Mart, where most of the items I needed were out of stock. HMPH ! On the way home I stopped at our regular veterinarian's office to cancel next week's appointment.
I was home in time for the daily pack walk in the dog park. As soon as we returned form the pack walk our neighbour / friend who is from Thailand brought over freshly made ( still piping hot ) spring rolls and peanut sauce. OH MY GOODNESS, her Thai cooking is great !
Friday ; Well ... her Thai cooking might be great, but ... I guess I should have asked if she put pork in the spring rolls. Obviously, the answer to that question was "yes". I was sick today as a consequence. Oh, well.
Another sunny and warm day. And forecast to be the same for the next two weeks. This morning I used the bread maker to mix a batch of raisin bread dough, and this afternoon I baked it in the Sun Oven. Nice looking loaf of raisin bread.
Joanne spent all afternoon out running errands and shopping. I worked on the truck camper, mostly working on reinstalling the propane regulator and new propane hoses. I've added a new hose, for the catalytic heater I intend to install, and that new hose created difficult to resolve reinstallation and space / fit problems in the propane tank compartment.
While bicycling, I visited with Bill and Lynn, Carol Mae, Pat and her dog Lola, and a newly arrived couple from British Columbia's Gulf Islands, in a Lance truck camper similar to Elsie. Late in the evening we gave Bo a bath, his first since we recently gave him a short haircut. It certainly is easier to bathe him when he has short hair.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm, no wind, gorgeous sunset tonight. I like to go bicycling at dusk, and watch the sun set over the desert as I bicycle down East County 17th Street, the road on which Kofa Ko-op is located.
This morning I worked on Lanoire the truck's damaged bumper, finishing the sanding and preparation for painting. When I was finished I went over to the storage area to do some minor auto body work on a neighbour's motorhome. My truck isn't the only one with a "boo-boo" on the corner of the front bumper !
This afternoon Joanne went to the Humane Society for a training course on cat safety, made necessary by some recent incidents of volunteer cat cuddlers getting bit by cats. While she was gone I worked on installing the Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater in Elsie the truck camper. Custom hose is made and installed in the propane tank compartment, heater is wall mounted, next step is drill through the back wall of the propane tank compartment and through a cupboard wall to get the hose to the heater. Wish me luck !
This evening, after a late supper of barbecued chicken, with refried beans, and seasoned rice / pollo asado, con frijoles y arroz, we went to Wal-Mart to buy a few items, once again violating my "no Wal-Martin' on weekends" rule. It was okay, that late in the evening there were few shoppers.
DSK
Sunday, January 5, 2014
December 29, 2013 to January 4, 2014
Sunday ; Still sunny and warm.
This morning we headed out to Yuma Park N Swap a.k.a. Dog Track Flea Market ... again ... to exchange a couple of items purchased yesterday ; wrong size socks ( her ) and wrong size J bolt ( me ).
In the afternoon we gave Bo an overdue haircut. Like a bath, he hates the process of getting a haircut but loves the results. He had a lot of desert grass "quills" embedded in his skin underneath his long hair, especially in his "armpits" and on his abdomen. Poor Bo.
At 6 PM we attended the regular Sunday ice cream social then spent the evening chatting with friends in the clubhouse. Until 9 PM when we had to cover the pool and hot tub, a job Joanne signed us up to do this week. We had a very late supper while watching Downton Abbey on PBS.
Monday ; Still sunny and warm. Joanne cooked a wonderful Mexican seasoned rice and vegetable medley in the Sun Oven today.
She did a lot of cleaning chores today. I puttered around with gardening chores and did some "home improvement" project work on Elsie. And for the first in quite awhile I napped after lunch with Sully. He appreciated it and was very cuddly. This afternoon I installed a headlight and a flashing taillight on my bicycle. And at dusk when I went for my daily bicycle ride I felt much safer.
Tuesday ; New Year's Eve
Still sunny and warm. Joanne cooked a marvellous Mexican Chicken Chile Verde in the Sun Oven for supper tonight.
We spent the morning at the Humane Society, doing our weekly dog walking and cat cuddling.
In the afternoon while Joanne did a lot of laundry I worked on repairing the damaged corner of the truck bumper. Previously I had applied fiberglass gel to the damaged area, then sanded it. I applied fiberglass gel a second time, and today sanded that second application. It's coming along nicely, and I think I'm just about ready to apply Bondo body putty.
As we do every day we took Bo for a walk around the dog park, walking the perimeter of the seven acre dog park twice. Great physical exercise and socialization for people and dogs. I went cycling at dusk, up and down each road in the RV park, then down East County 17th Street to Avenue 4E and back to Kofa Ko-op. I started a little later than I usually do, enjoying the security of my new headlight and taillight. I did some online banking work, getting all bills paid before year end, even some that aren't due yet. Year end finances look pretty good. While eating dinner we watched the holiday edition of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, a Canadian comedy show. Hilarious year end episode ! The show has improved over the years.
After Joanne washed dishes we headed to the clubhouse for Kofa Ko-op's New Year's Eve party. Along with the "eat & run" mentality of this RV park, the New Year's Eve mentality is one of the very few things I can bitch about. At midnight New York time, everybody "celebrates" Happy New Year ! It's 10 PM here ! ! ! About 75 % of the people leave a few minutes later. At midnight New Orleans time the process is repeated. It's 11 PM here ! ! ! Most of the remaining 25 % leave at that time. At "real" midnight, we were two of the only TEN people still left in the clubhouse !
Because we had volunteered to be the swimming pool and hot tub "closers" this week, we covered the swimming pool at 9 PM but left the hot tub uncovered. A few minutes after midnight, everybody left the clubhouse. Joanne and I went home, changed into bathing suits, and went to spend about a half an hour in the hot tub, musing on what a good year 2013 had been for us.
Wednesday ; Happy New Year / Bonne Heureuse Année / Feliz Año Nuevo
Another lovely day, still sunny and warm.
We had a fun obedience session with Bo in the dog park behind our back yard. Our 93 year old friend ( mostly Joanne's friend, actually ) Eilene brought over some freshly baked date cookies, her specialty. MMMMMM ! ! ! Never met a date cookie of Eilene's that I didn't like. HA HA HA ! Our new friend Connie and her Golden Retriever Sassy stopped by for a visit in our Arizona room. I did some home improvement / refurbishment work on Elsie this afternoon. We had a pleasant daily pack walk, twice around the perimeter of the seven acre dog park, with a pack of four dogs.
This evening we went to the regular weekly Wednesday Social Hour & Potluck. We sat and chatted with new friends Bill and Lynne for five hours !
My ambitious "to do" list for today got thwarted by too much socializing.
Thursday ; Still lovely weather. Joanne cooked an Italian Sausage casserole / stew in the Sun Oven for supper tonight.
This morning I went out to Pep Boys to buy some auto body repair materials to continue work on the damaged corner of the truck bumper. And I have a neighbour who would like my help to repair some minor damage on the corner of the bumper of his fairly new Class A motorhome.
This afternoon Joanne went out to shop and run errands by herself. I spent the afternoon mounting artwork in the Arizona room. We brought to Yuma some of our artwork that had been in storage in Winnipeg for the last 9½ years.
Our friend and neighbour Shauna asked for my help today to remove a tick from her dog Zona's ear. Odd shaped tick, from my perspective. Not the same shape as the ticks I'm used to seeing in Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia throughout my life. Shauna ( and her husband ) and Zona were in Southern California during the Christmas and New Year's season. Must have been a Southern California tick. I wonder if it was a bad driver ? Or an asshole tick ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
I ordered another Sun Oven today ! Sun Oven sent an e-mail to their previous customers advertising a "scratch & dent" sale on a discontinued model of Sun Oven, selling test units and demo units. It seemed like a good opportunity to not have to cart our Sun Oven back and forth from Arizona to British Columbia every year. We'll leave our "old" one here, and take the "new" one home in the spring, and leave it there.
In the evening I printed year end banking and financial data, and worked on year end reconciliation and analysis.
Friday ; Still sunny and warm.
This morning we headed to The Foothills, the eastern side of Yuma. Today was the monthly 15% off everything sale at Al's RV Service & Supply. And I had a lot of supplies to buy for Elsie the truck camper. Including about $150 worth of LED light bulbs ! They're not cheap ! Especially the fluorescent conversion kits !
While I shopped at Al's RV Joanne shopped at the 99¢ Only Store. After finishing at Al's we went to Foothills Shoes to look at Birkenstock sandals for me. Too expensive here in Yuma. I'll get them in Laughlin, Nevada in the spring. I withdrew cash from the Bank of America ATM to pay for my eyeglasses and our dental cleanings next week in Mexico. We drove to a thrift shop Joanne wanted to browse in. We went to Wally's World and I bought more truck camper stuff. We came home for a very late lunch.
With what little there was left of the afternoon I worked on refurbishing the truck camper's propane regulator and hoses, as well as sorting and prioritizing today's purchases. A neighbour and his dog came over to visit. Well ... first the dog came over looking for Bo. Then the neighbour came over looking for his dog. HA HA HA ! We went on the daily dog pack walk. Afterwards I went for a bicycle ride.
In the evening I installed and configured my new Wi-Fi booster antenna / external adaptor ... that Santa brought me. Should have much better range and reception of
Wi-Fi now.
Saturday ; Warm but mostly cloudy today. Unable to use the Sun Oven to bake bread as planned.
Joanne defrosted fridge in trailer. We worked on Elsie again today. I changed all incandescent light bulbs to LED. Joanne cleaned dinette upholstery. I flushed scale out of water heater, installed new sacrificial anode.
Late in the afternoon Joanne went to run some shopping errands. I connected computer to TV with HDMI cable purchased on Thanksgiving. Spent most of evening trying to download DVD player software. Didn't know until trying to set up DVD for "movie date" tonight that ****ing Windows 8 doesn't have DVD player software. I downloaded three different software programs ( and deleted two of them ) before I found one that worked properly on my computer and DVD drive configuration.
By the time we were finished supper, and I finally succeeded in getting the damn DVD to play properly, it was quite late. Our "movie date" was supposed to be a viewing of borrowed copy of Lone Ranger. Halfway through movie had a malfunction, and by the time I rectified that problem, Joanne was asleep on the sofa with cat. < sigh > Sent her to bed. Will watch remainder of movie some other time, I guess.
DSK
This morning we headed out to Yuma Park N Swap a.k.a. Dog Track Flea Market ... again ... to exchange a couple of items purchased yesterday ; wrong size socks ( her ) and wrong size J bolt ( me ).
In the afternoon we gave Bo an overdue haircut. Like a bath, he hates the process of getting a haircut but loves the results. He had a lot of desert grass "quills" embedded in his skin underneath his long hair, especially in his "armpits" and on his abdomen. Poor Bo.
At 6 PM we attended the regular Sunday ice cream social then spent the evening chatting with friends in the clubhouse. Until 9 PM when we had to cover the pool and hot tub, a job Joanne signed us up to do this week. We had a very late supper while watching Downton Abbey on PBS.
Monday ; Still sunny and warm. Joanne cooked a wonderful Mexican seasoned rice and vegetable medley in the Sun Oven today.
She did a lot of cleaning chores today. I puttered around with gardening chores and did some "home improvement" project work on Elsie. And for the first in quite awhile I napped after lunch with Sully. He appreciated it and was very cuddly. This afternoon I installed a headlight and a flashing taillight on my bicycle. And at dusk when I went for my daily bicycle ride I felt much safer.
Tuesday ; New Year's Eve
Still sunny and warm. Joanne cooked a marvellous Mexican Chicken Chile Verde in the Sun Oven for supper tonight.
We spent the morning at the Humane Society, doing our weekly dog walking and cat cuddling.
In the afternoon while Joanne did a lot of laundry I worked on repairing the damaged corner of the truck bumper. Previously I had applied fiberglass gel to the damaged area, then sanded it. I applied fiberglass gel a second time, and today sanded that second application. It's coming along nicely, and I think I'm just about ready to apply Bondo body putty.
As we do every day we took Bo for a walk around the dog park, walking the perimeter of the seven acre dog park twice. Great physical exercise and socialization for people and dogs. I went cycling at dusk, up and down each road in the RV park, then down East County 17th Street to Avenue 4E and back to Kofa Ko-op. I started a little later than I usually do, enjoying the security of my new headlight and taillight. I did some online banking work, getting all bills paid before year end, even some that aren't due yet. Year end finances look pretty good. While eating dinner we watched the holiday edition of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, a Canadian comedy show. Hilarious year end episode ! The show has improved over the years.
After Joanne washed dishes we headed to the clubhouse for Kofa Ko-op's New Year's Eve party. Along with the "eat & run" mentality of this RV park, the New Year's Eve mentality is one of the very few things I can bitch about. At midnight New York time, everybody "celebrates" Happy New Year ! It's 10 PM here ! ! ! About 75 % of the people leave a few minutes later. At midnight New Orleans time the process is repeated. It's 11 PM here ! ! ! Most of the remaining 25 % leave at that time. At "real" midnight, we were two of the only TEN people still left in the clubhouse !
Because we had volunteered to be the swimming pool and hot tub "closers" this week, we covered the swimming pool at 9 PM but left the hot tub uncovered. A few minutes after midnight, everybody left the clubhouse. Joanne and I went home, changed into bathing suits, and went to spend about a half an hour in the hot tub, musing on what a good year 2013 had been for us.
Wednesday ; Happy New Year / Bonne Heureuse Année / Feliz Año Nuevo
Another lovely day, still sunny and warm.
We had a fun obedience session with Bo in the dog park behind our back yard. Our 93 year old friend ( mostly Joanne's friend, actually ) Eilene brought over some freshly baked date cookies, her specialty. MMMMMM ! ! ! Never met a date cookie of Eilene's that I didn't like. HA HA HA ! Our new friend Connie and her Golden Retriever Sassy stopped by for a visit in our Arizona room. I did some home improvement / refurbishment work on Elsie this afternoon. We had a pleasant daily pack walk, twice around the perimeter of the seven acre dog park, with a pack of four dogs.
This evening we went to the regular weekly Wednesday Social Hour & Potluck. We sat and chatted with new friends Bill and Lynne for five hours !
My ambitious "to do" list for today got thwarted by too much socializing.
Thursday ; Still lovely weather. Joanne cooked an Italian Sausage casserole / stew in the Sun Oven for supper tonight.
This morning I went out to Pep Boys to buy some auto body repair materials to continue work on the damaged corner of the truck bumper. And I have a neighbour who would like my help to repair some minor damage on the corner of the bumper of his fairly new Class A motorhome.
This afternoon Joanne went out to shop and run errands by herself. I spent the afternoon mounting artwork in the Arizona room. We brought to Yuma some of our artwork that had been in storage in Winnipeg for the last 9½ years.
Our friend and neighbour Shauna asked for my help today to remove a tick from her dog Zona's ear. Odd shaped tick, from my perspective. Not the same shape as the ticks I'm used to seeing in Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia throughout my life. Shauna ( and her husband ) and Zona were in Southern California during the Christmas and New Year's season. Must have been a Southern California tick. I wonder if it was a bad driver ? Or an asshole tick ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
I ordered another Sun Oven today ! Sun Oven sent an e-mail to their previous customers advertising a "scratch & dent" sale on a discontinued model of Sun Oven, selling test units and demo units. It seemed like a good opportunity to not have to cart our Sun Oven back and forth from Arizona to British Columbia every year. We'll leave our "old" one here, and take the "new" one home in the spring, and leave it there.
In the evening I printed year end banking and financial data, and worked on year end reconciliation and analysis.
Friday ; Still sunny and warm.
This morning we headed to The Foothills, the eastern side of Yuma. Today was the monthly 15% off everything sale at Al's RV Service & Supply. And I had a lot of supplies to buy for Elsie the truck camper. Including about $150 worth of LED light bulbs ! They're not cheap ! Especially the fluorescent conversion kits !
While I shopped at Al's RV Joanne shopped at the 99¢ Only Store. After finishing at Al's we went to Foothills Shoes to look at Birkenstock sandals for me. Too expensive here in Yuma. I'll get them in Laughlin, Nevada in the spring. I withdrew cash from the Bank of America ATM to pay for my eyeglasses and our dental cleanings next week in Mexico. We drove to a thrift shop Joanne wanted to browse in. We went to Wally's World and I bought more truck camper stuff. We came home for a very late lunch.
With what little there was left of the afternoon I worked on refurbishing the truck camper's propane regulator and hoses, as well as sorting and prioritizing today's purchases. A neighbour and his dog came over to visit. Well ... first the dog came over looking for Bo. Then the neighbour came over looking for his dog. HA HA HA ! We went on the daily dog pack walk. Afterwards I went for a bicycle ride.
In the evening I installed and configured my new Wi-Fi booster antenna / external adaptor ... that Santa brought me. Should have much better range and reception of
Wi-Fi now.
Saturday ; Warm but mostly cloudy today. Unable to use the Sun Oven to bake bread as planned.
Joanne defrosted fridge in trailer. We worked on Elsie again today. I changed all incandescent light bulbs to LED. Joanne cleaned dinette upholstery. I flushed scale out of water heater, installed new sacrificial anode.
Late in the afternoon Joanne went to run some shopping errands. I connected computer to TV with HDMI cable purchased on Thanksgiving. Spent most of evening trying to download DVD player software. Didn't know until trying to set up DVD for "movie date" tonight that ****ing Windows 8 doesn't have DVD player software. I downloaded three different software programs ( and deleted two of them ) before I found one that worked properly on my computer and DVD drive configuration.
By the time we were finished supper, and I finally succeeded in getting the damn DVD to play properly, it was quite late. Our "movie date" was supposed to be a viewing of borrowed copy of Lone Ranger. Halfway through movie had a malfunction, and by the time I rectified that problem, Joanne was asleep on the sofa with cat. < sigh > Sent her to bed. Will watch remainder of movie some other time, I guess.
DSK
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)