Sunday ; This morning I did an agility session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog.
This afternoon Joanne went by herself to run some errands. I tested the DISH NETWORK satellite dish mounted on our shed roof and the DISH NETWORK receiver I picked up off the bargain table recently. That involved connecting a very long TV cable to the dish on the shed roof and running it into the trailer. Well, the satellite dish and receiver both work fine. But I doubt that we will subscribe to the DISH NETWORK satellite TV service. Firstly, we don't have a phone jack to connect the receiver to a phone line, which is a requirement. Secondly, the DISH NETWORK service cannot be turned on and off seasonally / at will. That's my requirement.
We attended the late afternoon / early evening ( depends upon one's perspective ) regular Sunday ice cream social. Afterwards we used the barbecue to make supper.
I haven't used the barbecue since we got the Sun Oven just after Christmas. Afterwards was "TV time". Sully and Bo wrapped in a "blankie", cuddled against my leg on the sofa while we watched the season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice.
Monday ; In preparation for tomorrow's Annual General Meeting ( AGM ) today was the annual spring cleaning day in the clubhouse. There were many jobs to be done, and a sign up sheet had been established for volunteers to pick and choose their jobs. Joanne and I had signed up to clean the water cooler machine. So ... this morning we headed over to the clubhouse, disassembled the water cooler, cleaned in, under, and around it, reassembled and reinstalled it. Just the sort of job I don't mind volunteering to do. Done at our own pace, figuring out our own way to do it, no one supervising and telling us "how it's always been done".
Afterwards Bo and I went for a pack walk with Carol Mae and Dulce. Dulce so enjoyed the pack walk with Bo that she was inspired to crouch and play pounce at Bo. WOW ... that was great ! Dulce is old and stiff, and "can't get along with all other dogs". It's been a very long time since Carol Mae has seen Dulce attempt to play with another dog.
Joanne and I then left for a day of running errands. First stop was PetsMart for dog food and cat glucosamine treats. Then Family Dollar to look at TracFone cell phones. I think we're about to buy a new cell phone / switch to a new cell phone service provider. Then Smart & Final to buy some supplies for the Cajun meal we will be preparing at the upcoming SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally. Over to Harbor Freight Tools to buy some more neat guy stuff, then Burger King to sit in their parking lot and use their Wi-Fi to make a Skype / VoIP phone call. We went for a very late lunch / very early supper to Golden Corral. We have had many recommendations to try their buffet restaurant as an alternative to Hometown Buffet. It was a very good buffet meal, at a reasonable price. ETYS ! HA HA HA !
When we got home, Joanne went for a long nap, complaining of an upset stomach. Maybe you should have had more marshmallows dipped into the chocolate fountain, dear ! I went for a long bicycle ride then worked on the computer until it was "TV time".
Tuesday ; Mardi Gras
Today was the Kofa Ko-op Annual General Meeting. It started at 9 AM and, including a break for lunch, was completed around 2 PM. A lot of business was conducted ... relatively smoothly. It was well planned and well executed. What a relief. We were dreading attending this AGM having given up, in frustration and exasperation, on attending the AGMs at Riverside RV Park Resort two years ago.
After the AGM, and squabbling in disagreement, we did not attend the afternoon's "Western Days" fun events. After supper Joanne was "down in the dumps" so I went by myself to the Hail & Farewell celebration in the clubhouse. The retiring outgoing board members were "roasted" and thanked, and the newly elected incoming board members were "roasted" and welcomed.
Wednesday ; This morning I went to my regular Wednesday morning Tai Chi class. By the time I returned Joanne had taken Bo on two pack walks. One with Spanky and one with Dulce. Joanne left to go Wal-Martin'. I did an obedience session with Bo. Excellent, Bo, good dog !
This afternoon I repainted the water heater exterior access panel and the stove top cover. No, no ... my spray painting skills haven't improved any ! Joanne made sun dried tomatoes in the Sun Oven, and then a cake. She did not properly balance the cake pan on the "levelator" tray in the Sun Oven so the cake pan was "lopsided". The cake baked very thin on one side of the pan and very thick on the other. OOOOOPS ! We took Bo for today's pack walk then I went bicycling. What lovely weather ! People are starting to complain that it's getting too hot, but I love it ! Intense desert sunshine and temperature in the low 80's.
When I took Bo for his bedtime walk late in the evening, we climbed over the back fence into the dog park, and while Bo wandered around, I kicked off my sandals, sunk my bare feet into the cool desert sand, and did a few minutes of Tai Chi in the dark. WOW ... my Yin and my Yang are in harmony !
Thursday ; Another beautiful, hot day. Late in the morning we headed to The Foothills to have lunch with our friends Lynn and Mischa at their home. We had lunch and visited with them for the afternoon. We invited them to join us tonight at Yuma Palms Shopping Center for the weekly Thursday evening free jazz concert. They accepted.
We drove home and dropped off Bo, then headed over to Yuma Palms where we met Lynn and Mischa again. We sat in the folding lawn chairs we had brought, listening to jazz as the sun set on a warm evening. The music wasn't all that great, so we left at the intermission after the first of two sets. On the way home, Joanne and I stopped to buy some take home dinner at Arby's. We had dinner at home in front of the TV while watching Doc Martin, a quirky British show we have recently begun to follow on PBS.
Well ... it was just a matter of time ! ! ! Could have seen that one coming ! ! ! Two Marine helicopters on a night training mission had a mid-air collision and crashed in the desert nearby. Seven Marines were killed ! I wonder how long it's going to be until a fighter jet or other Yuma MCAS ( Marine Corps Air Station ) aircraft crashes into a local RV park ? ! ?
Friday ; Late this morning we headed to the clubhouse for a presentation and free lunch by Sky Med, an emergency medical air transport "insurance". Too expensive a luxury for us. Nice pizza lunch though ! Thank you, Sky Med.
Afterwards we went to run some errands. The primary objective was to buy a new TracFone cell phone at Family Dollar. We also did a small amount of grocery shopping at Albertsons. When we returned home Joanne discovered that the tomatoes she had left to sun dry in the Sun Oven were sun burned, not dried. OOOPS ! Desert sun in the spring time is pretty intense !
After today's pack walk ... with just the "rat pack" ... I went for a long bicycle ride. Once around the perimeter then up and down every road in the RV park, then out of the RV park to Ave. 3E, to Ave. 4E, then back to the park. Kofa Ko-op to Ave. 3E to Ave. 4E to Kofa Ko-op is two miles, so a total of somewhere in the vicinity of three miles, I guess.
I have named the "founders" of the daily pack walk ... Bo, Spanky, Riley, and Maizie ... the "rat pack". Bo is "Dean Martin". HA HA HA ! < singing > Everybody loves somebody sometime !
In the evening I spent WAY too long activating our new cell phone. Did I mention ... I hate activating cell phones, especially with a very bad Wi-Fi connection !
Saturday ; Another beautiful, hot day.
This morning we went to the clubhouse for a brunch potluck. Too bad it wasn't better attended. Maybe the 50/50 draw jackpot would have been larger. Joanne won it ! Long after everyone else had left we were still sitting there chatting with a couple from Golden, BC who have been here for most of this winter season and a newly arrived couple from Lethbridge, Alberta.
This afternoon I did a couple of very minor maintenance projects, did a little bit of computer work, then took a long nap with Sully and Bo. Sully thinks I should be napping with him more often. I agree ! HA HA HA !
On this afternoon's pack walk we had a new "pack member", Gracie, and her owners. We invited them to visit with us in our Arizona room after the pack walk. Afterwards we went over to a neighbour's "Happy Hour" where four couples sat around and chatted about their travel adventures. We were surprised by how adventurous an elderly neighbour couple were "back in the day". We should know better than to assume that old, slow people were always that way !
After a late supper we drove to Arby's ( slightly closer than Burger King ) to use their
Wi-Fi to make a phone call.
DSK
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
February 12 to 18, 2012
Sunday ; This morning I did a few minor maintenance chores before we headed out to Yuma Park N Swap ( a.k.a. Dog Track Flea Market ). Today was the busiest we've ever seen it. We were dismayed to see how many boxes and baskets of puppies there were for sale. If the stupid gringos would stop buying puppy farm bred dogs for a hundred and fifty bucks at the flea markets, maybe the Mexicans would stop breeding them ! ! ! All the dogs looked like Kaydee !
From the "Dog Track" we drove over to the Indoor Marketplace, the "new" flea market to buy a Rada knife and a citrus grater. Then over to see Yuma Conservation Gardens, a desert horticultural preserve near Yuma Fairgrounds. Nice ! Needs money and labour !
We got home just in time for the daily pack walk. Afterwards we headed over to the clubhouse for a spaghetti dinner, followed by the regular Sunday evening ice cream social.
The desert is blooming. Sully and I are beginning to suffer "hay fever".
Monday ; Late this morning Joanne went grocery shopping without me. Three stores, all for advertised specials. I did an agility session with Bo. I disinfected the fresh water holding tank. And since I tightened a connection a few days ago there has been no more leaking around the fresh water holding tank. I cooked some eggs in the Sun Oven. After lunch I concocted a supper to cook in the Sun Oven. I sharpened Joanne's kitchen knives. I did some computer work online.
After today's pack walk we spread six buckets of finishing gravel in the back yard. DARN ... that was about half as much as we need. We'll have to buy six more buckets. The fish concoction I cooked for supper turned out quite well. Better lucky than smart, I guess ! After supper we went to Wal-Mart < sigh >.
Tuesday ; Happy Valentine's Day ... AND ... Happy 100th Birthday to Arizona
Apparently there was an earthquake overnight. None of us felt it !
Today I did some minor maintenance projects on the trailer, including applying new weatherstripping around the exterior edge of the bedroom slide. While doing that ... I stabbed myself in the palm of my left hand with a dental tool. It was a small but very deep wound at the base of the thumb that bled profusely for a long time. And the tissue around the wound is very bruised and sore. Two days ago I bought a bag of grapefruits at the Dog Track Flea Market. Today I juiced them. MMMMM ... fresh pink grapefruit juice ! A neighbour from three lots over offered us a set of steps today. They got new ones. We gratefully accepted and now we have steps on both sides of our back yard fence into the dog park. I installed a one square foot patio stone in the dog park behind our fence today. It’s for the large bowl of water we place in the dog park every day at the beginning of the daily pack walk. All the dogs know that there is a bowl of water there, and eagerly have a drink every day as the pack walk passes by our place. It’s become known as “the oasis”.
Late this afternoon one of the Marine fighter jets practicing manoeuvers high above our RV park broke the sound barrier. OOOOOPS ! The resultant sonic boom was enough to set off car alarms in the park. Bet some young Marine pilot got his / her wrist slapped tonight !
Wednesday ; This morning after Tai Chi ( still the only male in a rapidly dwindling group ... ya gotta give me points for determination ) I did an obedience session with Bo. WOW ... some days he's just "spot on". Well done, Bo, good dog !
We had visitors for lunch ; Dave & Joy and Paul & Kolly, neighbours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home in Keremeos, BC. Joanne prepared gumbo, as a sort of "test run" of the meal we will prepare for fifty or so people at the SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally out in the desert in a month.
After our visitors left we went on the daily pack walk then I transplanted some cacti from out in the dog park behind our back fence to my new front patio cactus garden. The installation of new steps behind our back fence yesterday necessitated some relocation of plants. I went for a long bicycle ride before we left to go into town to Burger King ... to use their free Wi-Fi to make a Skype / VoIP phone call.
Thursday ; Today was cloudy and cool with a few drops of rain. A good excuse to indulge in a day of doing not much of anything. Our major accomplishment of today was taking a long afternoon nap. We went for our daily pack walk in the dog park. Joanne did laundry. I went for a long ( for me ) bicycle ride.
Once again I made the half hour "commute" ( in each direction ) to Burger King late in the evening to use their Wi-Fi.
Friday ; Our inactivity yesterday was certainly not repeated today. It was a pretty busy day. First thing this morning we headed east to The Foothills to the Helping Hands Yard Sale at Gila Mountain United Methodist Church. We were looking for some specific items. Didn't find them ! From there we went to Fry's to buy some groceries and refill with diesel. Then over to Walgreens for a couple of items. On the way back to Kofa
Ko-op we stopped at an RV consignment sale business. I wanted to look at a couple of old motorhomes they had advertised for sale. Not to buy, just because I was curious. One of the old motorhomes is the same as a friend has.
When we arrived back home at Kofa Ko-op, our friends Everett and Tina asked if they could impose upon us to pick up a sofa they had purchased ... at the Helping Hands Yard Sale ( rolling eyes ). Joanne jumped out of the truck, Everett jumped in, and we headed back to The Foothills to pick up the sofa. After returning to Kofa Ko-op and unloading the sofa Joanne and I accepted Everett's and Tina's invitation to have a chilled glass of white wine. In the middle of the afternoon, on a completely empty stomach ( I hadn't eaten yet today ) ! Well ... there went my plan to drive over to Yuma Nursery Supply to buy some gravel.
After having a large glass of wine we wobbled home. Joanne's friend Eilene was bicycling by and stopped to chat for a few minutes. As she and Joanne discussed tomorrow's park wide "garage sale" ... a deal was struck. Eilene could have the heavy, large, metal stair railing found in our shed when we took possession of lot 52, AND ... wait for it ... Joanne's handy husband would install the railing on Eilene's entrance steps. Oh boy, just what I wanted. Another job to do ! HA HA HA !
We took Bo on today's pack walk. I went for a long bicycle ride. We had another wonderful dinner cooked in the Sun Oven.
< sigh > For the third night in a row we headed to Burger King in the evening to use their Wi-Fi, this time again to make a phone call. The Wi-Fi at Kofa Ko-op is not working most of the time, and when it is working, there certainly isn't enough bandwidth to make Skype / VoIP phone calls.
Saturday ; This morning was the Kofa Ko-op spring "yard sale". Joanne was up early this morning to set up a table with our unwanted items for sale. She sold no items. She gave some away at no charge. While she took a short break, I sold one item ... for three dollars. Joanne was wandering around the park ... spending two dollars and fifty cents. Today's net proceeds ; fifty cents. HA HA HA ! After the yard sale was over I put the remaining / unsold items on the bargain table. Good riddance !
I drove to Yuma Nursery Supply and bought six more buckets of finishing gravel for the back yard. Bo came along for the drivey. AND ... < whispering > ... we drove by a field of alfalfa ... with sheep in it ... and I pulled over to the shoulder and stopped ... and Bo barked until the sheep stampeded. HA HA HA ... he loooooves doing that. Bad Daniel ! We poured and spread the gravel this afternoon. Six more buckets were enough. Yard looks good !
There was a wedding in the clubhouse this afternoon. Two residents of the park got married. While much of the park attended the ceremony, we didn't. It doesn't make sense to us to attend the wedding of people we don't really know.
With Joanne's assistance I installed the railing onto Eilene's rear entrance steps.
DSK
From the "Dog Track" we drove over to the Indoor Marketplace, the "new" flea market to buy a Rada knife and a citrus grater. Then over to see Yuma Conservation Gardens, a desert horticultural preserve near Yuma Fairgrounds. Nice ! Needs money and labour !
We got home just in time for the daily pack walk. Afterwards we headed over to the clubhouse for a spaghetti dinner, followed by the regular Sunday evening ice cream social.
The desert is blooming. Sully and I are beginning to suffer "hay fever".
Monday ; Late this morning Joanne went grocery shopping without me. Three stores, all for advertised specials. I did an agility session with Bo. I disinfected the fresh water holding tank. And since I tightened a connection a few days ago there has been no more leaking around the fresh water holding tank. I cooked some eggs in the Sun Oven. After lunch I concocted a supper to cook in the Sun Oven. I sharpened Joanne's kitchen knives. I did some computer work online.
After today's pack walk we spread six buckets of finishing gravel in the back yard. DARN ... that was about half as much as we need. We'll have to buy six more buckets. The fish concoction I cooked for supper turned out quite well. Better lucky than smart, I guess ! After supper we went to Wal-Mart < sigh >.
Tuesday ; Happy Valentine's Day ... AND ... Happy 100th Birthday to Arizona
Apparently there was an earthquake overnight. None of us felt it !
Today I did some minor maintenance projects on the trailer, including applying new weatherstripping around the exterior edge of the bedroom slide. While doing that ... I stabbed myself in the palm of my left hand with a dental tool. It was a small but very deep wound at the base of the thumb that bled profusely for a long time. And the tissue around the wound is very bruised and sore. Two days ago I bought a bag of grapefruits at the Dog Track Flea Market. Today I juiced them. MMMMM ... fresh pink grapefruit juice ! A neighbour from three lots over offered us a set of steps today. They got new ones. We gratefully accepted and now we have steps on both sides of our back yard fence into the dog park. I installed a one square foot patio stone in the dog park behind our fence today. It’s for the large bowl of water we place in the dog park every day at the beginning of the daily pack walk. All the dogs know that there is a bowl of water there, and eagerly have a drink every day as the pack walk passes by our place. It’s become known as “the oasis”.
Late this afternoon one of the Marine fighter jets practicing manoeuvers high above our RV park broke the sound barrier. OOOOOPS ! The resultant sonic boom was enough to set off car alarms in the park. Bet some young Marine pilot got his / her wrist slapped tonight !
Wednesday ; This morning after Tai Chi ( still the only male in a rapidly dwindling group ... ya gotta give me points for determination ) I did an obedience session with Bo. WOW ... some days he's just "spot on". Well done, Bo, good dog !
We had visitors for lunch ; Dave & Joy and Paul & Kolly, neighbours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home in Keremeos, BC. Joanne prepared gumbo, as a sort of "test run" of the meal we will prepare for fifty or so people at the SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally out in the desert in a month.
After our visitors left we went on the daily pack walk then I transplanted some cacti from out in the dog park behind our back fence to my new front patio cactus garden. The installation of new steps behind our back fence yesterday necessitated some relocation of plants. I went for a long bicycle ride before we left to go into town to Burger King ... to use their free Wi-Fi to make a Skype / VoIP phone call.
Thursday ; Today was cloudy and cool with a few drops of rain. A good excuse to indulge in a day of doing not much of anything. Our major accomplishment of today was taking a long afternoon nap. We went for our daily pack walk in the dog park. Joanne did laundry. I went for a long ( for me ) bicycle ride.
Once again I made the half hour "commute" ( in each direction ) to Burger King late in the evening to use their Wi-Fi.
Friday ; Our inactivity yesterday was certainly not repeated today. It was a pretty busy day. First thing this morning we headed east to The Foothills to the Helping Hands Yard Sale at Gila Mountain United Methodist Church. We were looking for some specific items. Didn't find them ! From there we went to Fry's to buy some groceries and refill with diesel. Then over to Walgreens for a couple of items. On the way back to Kofa
Ko-op we stopped at an RV consignment sale business. I wanted to look at a couple of old motorhomes they had advertised for sale. Not to buy, just because I was curious. One of the old motorhomes is the same as a friend has.
When we arrived back home at Kofa Ko-op, our friends Everett and Tina asked if they could impose upon us to pick up a sofa they had purchased ... at the Helping Hands Yard Sale ( rolling eyes ). Joanne jumped out of the truck, Everett jumped in, and we headed back to The Foothills to pick up the sofa. After returning to Kofa Ko-op and unloading the sofa Joanne and I accepted Everett's and Tina's invitation to have a chilled glass of white wine. In the middle of the afternoon, on a completely empty stomach ( I hadn't eaten yet today ) ! Well ... there went my plan to drive over to Yuma Nursery Supply to buy some gravel.
After having a large glass of wine we wobbled home. Joanne's friend Eilene was bicycling by and stopped to chat for a few minutes. As she and Joanne discussed tomorrow's park wide "garage sale" ... a deal was struck. Eilene could have the heavy, large, metal stair railing found in our shed when we took possession of lot 52, AND ... wait for it ... Joanne's handy husband would install the railing on Eilene's entrance steps. Oh boy, just what I wanted. Another job to do ! HA HA HA !
We took Bo on today's pack walk. I went for a long bicycle ride. We had another wonderful dinner cooked in the Sun Oven.
< sigh > For the third night in a row we headed to Burger King in the evening to use their Wi-Fi, this time again to make a phone call. The Wi-Fi at Kofa Ko-op is not working most of the time, and when it is working, there certainly isn't enough bandwidth to make Skype / VoIP phone calls.
Saturday ; This morning was the Kofa Ko-op spring "yard sale". Joanne was up early this morning to set up a table with our unwanted items for sale. She sold no items. She gave some away at no charge. While she took a short break, I sold one item ... for three dollars. Joanne was wandering around the park ... spending two dollars and fifty cents. Today's net proceeds ; fifty cents. HA HA HA ! After the yard sale was over I put the remaining / unsold items on the bargain table. Good riddance !
I drove to Yuma Nursery Supply and bought six more buckets of finishing gravel for the back yard. Bo came along for the drivey. AND ... < whispering > ... we drove by a field of alfalfa ... with sheep in it ... and I pulled over to the shoulder and stopped ... and Bo barked until the sheep stampeded. HA HA HA ... he loooooves doing that. Bad Daniel ! We poured and spread the gravel this afternoon. Six more buckets were enough. Yard looks good !
There was a wedding in the clubhouse this afternoon. Two residents of the park got married. While much of the park attended the ceremony, we didn't. It doesn't make sense to us to attend the wedding of people we don't really know.
With Joanne's assistance I installed the railing onto Eilene's rear entrance steps.
DSK
Sunday, February 12, 2012
February 5 to 11, 2012
Sunday ; I've just retrieved the mail from our mailbox. A letter from my sister and a card from her husband. WOO-HOO ! ! ! Great news ! Bud's pathology was ... everything's okay ! Cancer's gone, nothing in the lymph nodes, nothing in the margins. Congratulations, Bud ! Or, as it would be pronounced in Mexico ... Bood ! HA HA HA ... new family joke !
Today I did the last transplanting of this winter season. There's only two months left before we will be leaving Yuma. Only two months to nurture the plantings before they have to be abandoned to fend for themselves over the 115 degree summer. Joanne doesn't think anything transplanted after this date would be rooted sufficiently to survive the summer. So, I have to stop my cactus gardening projects with only thirty-nine plantings in the ground. HA HA HA ! More next year !
Joanne did some laundry, including washing the Arizona room's sofa throw that a neighbour's dog peed on. That wasn't really a big deal. What annoyed both of us was the neighbour's lack of a simple apology and offer to pay for the laundering. I did an agility session with Bo. I puttered around with some landscaping. I took some photos of my cactus gardening. We took Bo on the daily pack walk. I did monthly computer backup chores, working at the desk in the Arizona room. We went to the Sunday ice cream social. There wasn't much of an ice cream social today because most people were engrossed in watching the Super Bowl.
Late in the evening I updated my investment files. HMMM ... January was a pretty good month in the stock market !
Monday ; This morning I discovered what seems likely to be < sigh > a leak in the freshwater holding tank. I really hate discovering a problem that is likely to result in a huge maintenance project !
This afternoon we ran a few errands ; Lowe's and Bank of America. After our regular daily pack walk, Bo and I went on a second pack walk with Carol Mae and her dog Dulce. Dulce has anxiety around other dogs so it's pretty special that she can pack walk with Bo.
Tuesday ; We got up earlier than usual this morning to be ready to leave at 8:40 AM to head for the Farm Smart Tour. We picked up Eilene, Terry, and Judy, who "car pooled" with us. We headed west on Interstate 8, crossing the Colorado River into California, and driving for a bit more than an hour to reach the University Of California Desert Research Center near El Centro.
The rest of the morning was taken up with an indoor audio-visual presentation on farming in the Yuma and Imperial Valley area. Lunch was a huge salad. After lunch we headed out into the fields on hay wagons towed by tractors, stopping frequently to learn about the crops, farming practices, and research activities. Last stop was the "pick your own" fields where we were each given a large bag to fill with a variety of vegetables we picked ourselves. Lots of Romaine lettuce, Iceberg lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, Swiss Chard, radish, Daikon radish ... what did I miss ? We returned to the main building to be served ice cream to end the "day at the farm".
We drove to Holtville, bought some pan dulce at the panaderia in town, then over to Holtville Taco Shop to buy a couple of burritos to take home for supper. Between Holtville and Yuma there were six CHP cruisers with traffic stops pulled over. What ? Traffic ticket quotas ? Easy money for a state with budget problems ? The local donut shops were closed for the day ?
Wednesday ; It's beginning to get warmer. Sunny and warm has become sunny and very warm. Spring is on its way ! Plants in my new cactus garden are blooming. My ocotillo has little buds on it. WOO-HOO !
First thing this morning was Tai Chi for me. It makes my knees hurt !
I brushed Bo's teeth. I took a propane tank for refilling. I put everything back into the back of the truck that Joanne had removed to make room for passengers for the trip to the Farm Smart Tour yesterday. Can't believe that we have a truck this big and ... we need a bigger truck ! HA HA HA ! I did an obedience session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog.
I trimmed my beard. Bo and I went for an impromptu pack walk with Wolfgang the Doberman Pinscher and Duke the Golden Retriever. We had an unexpected visit from Robby and Christine, neighbours of ours back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
After lunch Joanne went shopping and ... WHEW ... I laid sixteen feet of walkway using one square foot patio stones. Tougher job than I thought ! Warmer day than I expected !
I think that will be my last yard project of this winter season. It's time to switch to some trailer maintenance projects. Joanne completed her latest painting project, the doorway between the Arizona room and the shed. We went for our regular daily pack walk. I went for a bicycle ride, an exercise and relaxation activity I try to do daily.
Thursday ; Happy 8th Birthday to Bo
What a beautiful day ! Brilliant sunshine and temperature in the mid 80's. Spring has indeed arrived in Yuma.
This morning Joanne whipped up a batch of her favourite brownies recipe and baked it in the Sun Oven. It turned out excellent ! It's going to be the recipe we use for our Sun Oven cooking demonstration at the SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally in
mid-March. After removing the tray of brownies we put a pot filled with beef short ribs, vegetables, and sweet potatoes into the Sun Oven to cook for tonight's supper.
The leak that I discovered at the fresh water holding tank a few days ago might be nothing more than a loose connection. I can't seem to find anything more sinister than that.
After lunch we headed out to cross the Colorado River to Bard, California ... for Bo's birthday gift. A date shake ! WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ! ! ! There's nothing that Bo loves more than a date shake. Date farms / date trees must emit a fragrance. As we approached the area of date farms, Bo sniffed the truck's air vent and began wagging his tail furiously. HA HA HA ... Happy Birthday, Bo !
As we were on Interstate 8 crossing over the Colorado River from Arizona into California, following a commercial tractor-trailer, a beer can flew out of the truck's window. Then another ! THEN ANOTHER ! THEN ANOTHER ! ! ! Just before the truck had to pull into the California inspection station ! ***hole !
Bo ate date shake until he couldn't eat any more. UH-OH ... HA HA HA ! Guess we'll see the effect of that on tomorrow's pack walk, won't we Bo. Maybe even sooner ! HA HA HA ! We returned home just in time for today's daily pack walk around the dog park. Bo and we were the only ones who made two circuits around the dog park. Everybody else thought it was too hot for a second circuit. I thought it was perfect ... at 83 degrees !
Friday ; Happy 63rd Birthday to my sister Sharon
Today was sunny and hot ! I love it !
I puttered around today with some minor maintenance and landscaping chores. Joanne worked on "spring cleaning" our closet. She discovered that her leather coat and my leather coat are both ruined. She has an expensive, full length leather coat. I have an expensive, ¾ length leather coat. Both are quite lovely. They harken back to our successful small business owner days in Ottawa. We haven't worn them in eight years. They were stored at the back of the bedroom closet in garment bags. Yearly we remove them to inspect them and air them out. This year they have ... some kind of mysterious, severe "puckering". We don't know if it's insect damage or mould damage or heat damage or ... ? ? ? But ... they're ruined now. We were walking with them to dispose of them in the dumpster when our friend Eilene suggested that we donate them to one of the local charities. A homeless person or some economically disadvantaged Mexican wouldn't care about the puckering, she suggested. Okay ... we threw them in the truck and will deposit them in a donation box.
Joanne and I were the only humans on today's pack walk, although there were two other dogs in addition to Bo. Too hot for everybody else, I guess. After the pack walk we gave Bo a bath. Oh boy ... the one day a month that Bo smells nice. HA HA HA !
Saturday ; This morning we headed out to Arizona Market Place, the nearby flea market, for one specific item. We returned home with that item ... and half a dozen others. My fault ! "Oh ... I need that ! And that !" And .. so on ! We stopped at Habitat For Humanity ReStore to browse and drop off some recyclables. Kofa Ko-op has no provision for recycling ... and we're throwing far too much recyclable plastic ( like milk jugs ) into the garbage
This afternoon we trimmed Sully's and Bo's claws. Gee, Sully can complain loudly !
Another hot day. And ... my cactus garden is blooming ! I took photos !
After today's pack walk we headed out to Yuma Nursery Supply to buy six more buckets of finishing gravel for the back yard. Then over to Goodwill Industries to donate our leather coats. We went to The Salvation Army first, but they didn't have an after hours drop off box. Then it was over to Harbor Freight Tools. WOW ... around 6 PM on Saturday is a good time to shop at Harbor Freight Tools, which is usually crowded, busy, and understaffed. We had a quick bite to eat at Burger King then headed "downtown" to Historic Yuma Theater, the fourth time this winter season we have attended an event there. Tonight was a "Romantic Classics" concert by Yuma Civic Orchestra in honour of Valentine's Day next Tuesday. And it was also billed as a symphonic celebration of Yuma's 100th Birthday, also on Tuesday. So ... the "theme" of the evening's music was ... more "old west / cowboy" than "romantic". < sigh > < whispering > I'm a symphony snob ! Perhaps I need to lower my symphonic standards. Oh, well ... it was nice to have another "date night".
DSK
Today I did the last transplanting of this winter season. There's only two months left before we will be leaving Yuma. Only two months to nurture the plantings before they have to be abandoned to fend for themselves over the 115 degree summer. Joanne doesn't think anything transplanted after this date would be rooted sufficiently to survive the summer. So, I have to stop my cactus gardening projects with only thirty-nine plantings in the ground. HA HA HA ! More next year !
Joanne did some laundry, including washing the Arizona room's sofa throw that a neighbour's dog peed on. That wasn't really a big deal. What annoyed both of us was the neighbour's lack of a simple apology and offer to pay for the laundering. I did an agility session with Bo. I puttered around with some landscaping. I took some photos of my cactus gardening. We took Bo on the daily pack walk. I did monthly computer backup chores, working at the desk in the Arizona room. We went to the Sunday ice cream social. There wasn't much of an ice cream social today because most people were engrossed in watching the Super Bowl.
Late in the evening I updated my investment files. HMMM ... January was a pretty good month in the stock market !
Monday ; This morning I discovered what seems likely to be < sigh > a leak in the freshwater holding tank. I really hate discovering a problem that is likely to result in a huge maintenance project !
This afternoon we ran a few errands ; Lowe's and Bank of America. After our regular daily pack walk, Bo and I went on a second pack walk with Carol Mae and her dog Dulce. Dulce has anxiety around other dogs so it's pretty special that she can pack walk with Bo.
Tuesday ; We got up earlier than usual this morning to be ready to leave at 8:40 AM to head for the Farm Smart Tour. We picked up Eilene, Terry, and Judy, who "car pooled" with us. We headed west on Interstate 8, crossing the Colorado River into California, and driving for a bit more than an hour to reach the University Of California Desert Research Center near El Centro.
The rest of the morning was taken up with an indoor audio-visual presentation on farming in the Yuma and Imperial Valley area. Lunch was a huge salad. After lunch we headed out into the fields on hay wagons towed by tractors, stopping frequently to learn about the crops, farming practices, and research activities. Last stop was the "pick your own" fields where we were each given a large bag to fill with a variety of vegetables we picked ourselves. Lots of Romaine lettuce, Iceberg lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, Swiss Chard, radish, Daikon radish ... what did I miss ? We returned to the main building to be served ice cream to end the "day at the farm".
We drove to Holtville, bought some pan dulce at the panaderia in town, then over to Holtville Taco Shop to buy a couple of burritos to take home for supper. Between Holtville and Yuma there were six CHP cruisers with traffic stops pulled over. What ? Traffic ticket quotas ? Easy money for a state with budget problems ? The local donut shops were closed for the day ?
Wednesday ; It's beginning to get warmer. Sunny and warm has become sunny and very warm. Spring is on its way ! Plants in my new cactus garden are blooming. My ocotillo has little buds on it. WOO-HOO !
First thing this morning was Tai Chi for me. It makes my knees hurt !
I brushed Bo's teeth. I took a propane tank for refilling. I put everything back into the back of the truck that Joanne had removed to make room for passengers for the trip to the Farm Smart Tour yesterday. Can't believe that we have a truck this big and ... we need a bigger truck ! HA HA HA ! I did an obedience session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog.
I trimmed my beard. Bo and I went for an impromptu pack walk with Wolfgang the Doberman Pinscher and Duke the Golden Retriever. We had an unexpected visit from Robby and Christine, neighbours of ours back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
After lunch Joanne went shopping and ... WHEW ... I laid sixteen feet of walkway using one square foot patio stones. Tougher job than I thought ! Warmer day than I expected !
I think that will be my last yard project of this winter season. It's time to switch to some trailer maintenance projects. Joanne completed her latest painting project, the doorway between the Arizona room and the shed. We went for our regular daily pack walk. I went for a bicycle ride, an exercise and relaxation activity I try to do daily.
Thursday ; Happy 8th Birthday to Bo
What a beautiful day ! Brilliant sunshine and temperature in the mid 80's. Spring has indeed arrived in Yuma.
This morning Joanne whipped up a batch of her favourite brownies recipe and baked it in the Sun Oven. It turned out excellent ! It's going to be the recipe we use for our Sun Oven cooking demonstration at the SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally in
mid-March. After removing the tray of brownies we put a pot filled with beef short ribs, vegetables, and sweet potatoes into the Sun Oven to cook for tonight's supper.
The leak that I discovered at the fresh water holding tank a few days ago might be nothing more than a loose connection. I can't seem to find anything more sinister than that.
After lunch we headed out to cross the Colorado River to Bard, California ... for Bo's birthday gift. A date shake ! WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ! ! ! There's nothing that Bo loves more than a date shake. Date farms / date trees must emit a fragrance. As we approached the area of date farms, Bo sniffed the truck's air vent and began wagging his tail furiously. HA HA HA ... Happy Birthday, Bo !
As we were on Interstate 8 crossing over the Colorado River from Arizona into California, following a commercial tractor-trailer, a beer can flew out of the truck's window. Then another ! THEN ANOTHER ! THEN ANOTHER ! ! ! Just before the truck had to pull into the California inspection station ! ***hole !
Bo ate date shake until he couldn't eat any more. UH-OH ... HA HA HA ! Guess we'll see the effect of that on tomorrow's pack walk, won't we Bo. Maybe even sooner ! HA HA HA ! We returned home just in time for today's daily pack walk around the dog park. Bo and we were the only ones who made two circuits around the dog park. Everybody else thought it was too hot for a second circuit. I thought it was perfect ... at 83 degrees !
Friday ; Happy 63rd Birthday to my sister Sharon
Today was sunny and hot ! I love it !
I puttered around today with some minor maintenance and landscaping chores. Joanne worked on "spring cleaning" our closet. She discovered that her leather coat and my leather coat are both ruined. She has an expensive, full length leather coat. I have an expensive, ¾ length leather coat. Both are quite lovely. They harken back to our successful small business owner days in Ottawa. We haven't worn them in eight years. They were stored at the back of the bedroom closet in garment bags. Yearly we remove them to inspect them and air them out. This year they have ... some kind of mysterious, severe "puckering". We don't know if it's insect damage or mould damage or heat damage or ... ? ? ? But ... they're ruined now. We were walking with them to dispose of them in the dumpster when our friend Eilene suggested that we donate them to one of the local charities. A homeless person or some economically disadvantaged Mexican wouldn't care about the puckering, she suggested. Okay ... we threw them in the truck and will deposit them in a donation box.
Joanne and I were the only humans on today's pack walk, although there were two other dogs in addition to Bo. Too hot for everybody else, I guess. After the pack walk we gave Bo a bath. Oh boy ... the one day a month that Bo smells nice. HA HA HA !
Saturday ; This morning we headed out to Arizona Market Place, the nearby flea market, for one specific item. We returned home with that item ... and half a dozen others. My fault ! "Oh ... I need that ! And that !" And .. so on ! We stopped at Habitat For Humanity ReStore to browse and drop off some recyclables. Kofa Ko-op has no provision for recycling ... and we're throwing far too much recyclable plastic ( like milk jugs ) into the garbage
This afternoon we trimmed Sully's and Bo's claws. Gee, Sully can complain loudly !
Another hot day. And ... my cactus garden is blooming ! I took photos !
DSK
Sunday, February 5, 2012
January 29 to February 4, 2012
Sunday ; WOW ! ! ! Who would have thought that was possible ? ? ? To meet a work colleague from Canada Post in Ottawa, twenty-one years after leaving Canada Post ! And to meet him here at Kofa Ko-op in Yuma, Arizona ! ! ! AND ... < sputter > ... that he would be the son of Escapee friends of ours from Maple Leaf Chapter 18 in Ontario that we've known since our first days as Escapees eight years ago ! WOW ! ! !
Today was one of those days where not much went according to plan. We slept late. When I did today's regular preventive maintenance I discovered that the truck had a flat tire. And you know how much I hate changing a tire on the truck ! Especially a rear tire ! < sigh > With help from Joanne I changed the flat tire. Joanne left to go Wal-Martin'. Fine ... as long as I don't have to go along ! Our friend Terry brought back my bicycle after he had completed some refurbishment work. Thank you, Terry. I spent some time playing around with the bicycle, doing some minor adjustments and riding it around the park. I did some other minor maintenance work then took Bo on the pack walk. It wasn't very well attended today because there was a park wide barbecue scheduled at 4 PM. Joanne and I have stopped attending park "dinners" scheduled at 4 PM. That's three ( or more ) hours earlier than our normal supper time.
We did, however, attend the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. Where we met Gerald and Helen. New retirees. New Escapees. New visitors to Kofa Ko-op. I worked with Gerald at Canada Post in Ottawa ! More than twenty-one years ago ! And his parents are Escapee friends of ours ! Joanne and I chatted with Gerald and Helen for a couple of hours after the ice cream social.
Monday ; < YAWN > ... Didn't sleep well last night. Chatting with Gerald yesterday conjured up all sorts of Canada Post ghosts and goblins that kept me tossing and turning and having bad dreams. Oh, well ... I suppose that validates my decision over twenty-one years ago to leave Canada Post and open our first pet food and supply store.
I spent the day creating a new garden along the front of the front patio. When this park was developed about twenty seven years ago, the lots were sprayed with an oil based sealant to stabilize the sandy soil, seal against weeds, and reduce dust. Over time this sealant interacted with the sand and gravel to form a layer almost like asphalt just a few inches below the surface. So ... much of today's effort was using a pick axe to smash through this layer where I wanted to create the garden. WHEW ... hard work !
I excavated and hauled heavy pails full of the excavated material to the dumpster. I built the border using scalloped edge concrete curbing. Then I hauled heavy pails full of sand from the dog park over the fence and to the front yard to "back fill" the new garden. I'm too old to work that hard ! I walked over to the park's landscaped gardens to snap off some segments of cacti to transplant into my garden and while I was doing that a resident within the park offered me a lovely Barrel Cactus that he had just excavated from his yard and was going to discard. WOO-HOO ... thank you very much. I wanted a Barrel Cactus but balked at the $35 price tag at Yuma Nursery Supply.
While doing all this I learned a fundamental Cactus Landscaping 101 lesson ; WEAR LEATHER GLOVES ! OUCH ! ! ! . Joanne was out shopping and my leather work gloves were in the truck. I wore rubberized "grip" gloves to handle the cacti. The needles on the Prickly Pears that I was handling are microscopic and easily penetrated the gloves ... and then my t-shirt, it seems. My hands and my abdomen were itching like crazy all afternoon. I took a pair of tweezers with me on the daily pack walk and as we walked around the dog park I was yanking near invisible cactus needles out of my fingers. When Joanne returned home from her shopping errands she helped me finish up and clean up.
Nice cactus garden ! With a Barrel Cactus flanked by two Aloe Veras. More to come !
Tuesday ; Another in a long string of beautiful, sunny days. It's amusing to look at the daily newspaper's weather page to see how many different ways the weather people can forecast "sunny and warm" for each of the next seven days. HA HA HA !
Today Joanne cooked rice pudding in the Sun Oven. I worked on demineralising the shower head and the outside water pressure regulator. Yuma's water has such a high mineral content that "scale" / mineral deposits form inside fixtures. I soak them in CLR
( Calcium, Lime, Rust remover ) every few months. I reinstalled the wheel liner, valve extenders, and hub cap on the spare tire that is now on the truck. I decided to leave it on the truck and move the flat tire to the "spare" position after I have it repaired. I installed the framed screen I recently fabricated, onto the shed ceiling under the "Whirlybird" roof vent. And in a few days I will climb up on the shed roof and repair the holes I made in the shed roof / ceiling by using screws that were too long < fume > !
Early this afternoon Carol Mae walked by with her dog Dulce ( Spanish for "sweet" ). We chatted for awhile, then Bo and I joined Carol Mae and Dulce on a walk to and into the dog park. Carol Mae has maintained ... until now ... that Dulce has such anxiety around other dogs that she can't "pack walk". I wanted to prove to her that Bo is such a good pack walker that Bo and Dulce could walk "together" and Dulce wouldn't "freak out" and attack. I was right ! Carol Mae was very pleasantly surprised ! Good dog, Bo !
Our Riverside RV Park Resort neighbours Dave and Joy came by for a brief visit this afternoon. And brought us a house warming gift of two small potted cacti. Great ... thank you ... I will plant them in the new front patio cactus garden between the Barrel Cactus and the Aloe Veras. I excused myself during their visit to take Bo on the daily pack walk. When the pack walkers had completed the first circuit around the perimeter of the dog park, some were preparing to continue on a second circuit and others were leashing their dogs to leave the dog park, I looked around and ... HEY ... where's Bo ? ? ? Well ... as we had passed by our yard on the first circuit he had decided to abandon the pack walk in favour of going back into our yard to visit Dave and Joy. Thanks to the steps I've installed he can climb over our back fence without any help. And I hadn't noticed that he went home ! Way to make me look stupid, Bo ... thanks a lot !
Wednesday ; Week five ( of ten ) of Tai Chi first thing this morning. Still the only male. The instructor is a "healing arts" practitioner and today incorporated "healing sounds" into the Tai Chi movements. Stretched her credibility a bit there, I thought !
Feeling a bit ill today again. Took a nap after Tai Chi hoping that would make me feel better. It didn't. So ... headed out for a day of errands. First stop was Yuma Nursery Supply to buy a couple of buckets of decorative finishing gravel and some ice plants, both for my new front patio cactus garden. Then to Sears to have the truck's punctured tire repaired. Twenty-two bucks ? I don't think so ! Over to Purcell Tire. Twelve fifty ? Yeah, that's more like it !
Kofa Ko-op's Wi-Fi has been out of order for a few days, so I brought my computer along today, planning to have lunch at Burger King and use their free Wi-Fi. Purcell Tire had free Wi-Fi so I got quite a bit of work done online there while I waited for the tire to be repaired. WOW ... you should see the size of the bolt they pulled out of the tire. We went to Burger King for lunch and I finished my online work using Wi-Fi there. Last two stops were Walgreens and Albertsons for advertised specials and groceries. I'm so impressed with Joanne's careful shopping, taking advantage of coupons and advertised specials. Albertson's cash register receipt shows "savings". Today our bill was $35, with savings of $40. Well done !
We arrived home just as today's pack walk was ending. We took Bo for a walk in the dog park, and there were two other dogs in the park, so we had a pack walk with a small pack of three. Afterwards Joanne finished planting in the new front patio cactus garden.
Thursday ; Well ! ! ! First thing this morning I discovered ... the floor of the cupboard underneath the sink was wet ! < sigh > Joanne emptied the cupboard. I stuck my head in and searched for a leak. It wasn't hard to find. It was hard to repair, just because of its inaccessibility. And the amount of time it took to find and repair the leak upset my day’s work plans. I accomplished quite a bit less than I had planned.
I remounted the spare tire underneath the truck. I watered the front yard ocotillo and cactus plantings. WOO-HOO ... the ocotillo has two little buds on it ! It’s alive ! And perhaps coming out of winter dormancy. I spread decorative red gravel in my new front patio cactus garden. Very nice ! I “plucked” old blossoms off the Barrel Cactus. Easier said than done ! My new front patio cactus garden looks great !
Early this afternoon our friends Lynn and Micha came over for a late lunch. And to join us on our daily pack walk with their dog Gypsy. We had a very pleasant lunch, and visit, and pack walk. After they left, I decided on impulse to offer Joanne an unplanned “date night”. She accepted. We went to Historic Yuma Theatre for their once per month foreign film screening. Tonight’s film was “Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity”. A “foreign” film from Canada. HA HA HA ! From Vancouver, BC ! HA HA HA ! From “Chinatown” in Vancouver. Some of the dialogue was in Chinese, with English subtitles. The characters were Chinese Canadian. The title is a Chinese “wish” extended to others. It was a story of hope and faith. Good movie !
Friday ; This morning I fabricated and installed a metal "guard" under the sink to protect the water tank fittings, to prevent a recurrence of a leak caused by pots and pans and cans against water lines. In the afternoon I did a minor repair on the shed roof then spent the rest of the afternoon working on my cactus gardens. I moved three of my plantings from one location to another. I dug up some plants that a neighbour wanted to get rid of and transplanted them into my gardens. I now have thirty-six cactus and succulent plantings in our yard.
After today's pack walk we headed to The Foothills to look at a couple of used items for sale. We didn't buy either of them.
Saturday ; Today was one of those days where, despite our best efforts to the contrary, we intermittently squabbled and made one another miserable.
Joanne worked on a new painting project today. I continued working on landscaping. Tonight we went to the annual Yuma Accordion Band concert at Historic Yuma Theatre, an annual fund raising event for Habitat For Humanity. Well ... there goes sixteen bucks and another two hours of my life that I’ll never get back ! Thirteen accordions, a tuba, and a banjo. Two hours of “oom pah pah” music. Come on, people, the accordion is a much more versatile instrument that that ! At least my money went to a good cause.
DSK
Today was one of those days where not much went according to plan. We slept late. When I did today's regular preventive maintenance I discovered that the truck had a flat tire. And you know how much I hate changing a tire on the truck ! Especially a rear tire ! < sigh > With help from Joanne I changed the flat tire. Joanne left to go Wal-Martin'. Fine ... as long as I don't have to go along ! Our friend Terry brought back my bicycle after he had completed some refurbishment work. Thank you, Terry. I spent some time playing around with the bicycle, doing some minor adjustments and riding it around the park. I did some other minor maintenance work then took Bo on the pack walk. It wasn't very well attended today because there was a park wide barbecue scheduled at 4 PM. Joanne and I have stopped attending park "dinners" scheduled at 4 PM. That's three ( or more ) hours earlier than our normal supper time.
We did, however, attend the regular Sunday evening ice cream social. Where we met Gerald and Helen. New retirees. New Escapees. New visitors to Kofa Ko-op. I worked with Gerald at Canada Post in Ottawa ! More than twenty-one years ago ! And his parents are Escapee friends of ours ! Joanne and I chatted with Gerald and Helen for a couple of hours after the ice cream social.
Monday ; < YAWN > ... Didn't sleep well last night. Chatting with Gerald yesterday conjured up all sorts of Canada Post ghosts and goblins that kept me tossing and turning and having bad dreams. Oh, well ... I suppose that validates my decision over twenty-one years ago to leave Canada Post and open our first pet food and supply store.
I spent the day creating a new garden along the front of the front patio. When this park was developed about twenty seven years ago, the lots were sprayed with an oil based sealant to stabilize the sandy soil, seal against weeds, and reduce dust. Over time this sealant interacted with the sand and gravel to form a layer almost like asphalt just a few inches below the surface. So ... much of today's effort was using a pick axe to smash through this layer where I wanted to create the garden. WHEW ... hard work !
I excavated and hauled heavy pails full of the excavated material to the dumpster. I built the border using scalloped edge concrete curbing. Then I hauled heavy pails full of sand from the dog park over the fence and to the front yard to "back fill" the new garden. I'm too old to work that hard ! I walked over to the park's landscaped gardens to snap off some segments of cacti to transplant into my garden and while I was doing that a resident within the park offered me a lovely Barrel Cactus that he had just excavated from his yard and was going to discard. WOO-HOO ... thank you very much. I wanted a Barrel Cactus but balked at the $35 price tag at Yuma Nursery Supply.
While doing all this I learned a fundamental Cactus Landscaping 101 lesson ; WEAR LEATHER GLOVES ! OUCH ! ! ! . Joanne was out shopping and my leather work gloves were in the truck. I wore rubberized "grip" gloves to handle the cacti. The needles on the Prickly Pears that I was handling are microscopic and easily penetrated the gloves ... and then my t-shirt, it seems. My hands and my abdomen were itching like crazy all afternoon. I took a pair of tweezers with me on the daily pack walk and as we walked around the dog park I was yanking near invisible cactus needles out of my fingers. When Joanne returned home from her shopping errands she helped me finish up and clean up.
Nice cactus garden ! With a Barrel Cactus flanked by two Aloe Veras. More to come !
Tuesday ; Another in a long string of beautiful, sunny days. It's amusing to look at the daily newspaper's weather page to see how many different ways the weather people can forecast "sunny and warm" for each of the next seven days. HA HA HA !
Today Joanne cooked rice pudding in the Sun Oven. I worked on demineralising the shower head and the outside water pressure regulator. Yuma's water has such a high mineral content that "scale" / mineral deposits form inside fixtures. I soak them in CLR
( Calcium, Lime, Rust remover ) every few months. I reinstalled the wheel liner, valve extenders, and hub cap on the spare tire that is now on the truck. I decided to leave it on the truck and move the flat tire to the "spare" position after I have it repaired. I installed the framed screen I recently fabricated, onto the shed ceiling under the "Whirlybird" roof vent. And in a few days I will climb up on the shed roof and repair the holes I made in the shed roof / ceiling by using screws that were too long < fume > !
Early this afternoon Carol Mae walked by with her dog Dulce ( Spanish for "sweet" ). We chatted for awhile, then Bo and I joined Carol Mae and Dulce on a walk to and into the dog park. Carol Mae has maintained ... until now ... that Dulce has such anxiety around other dogs that she can't "pack walk". I wanted to prove to her that Bo is such a good pack walker that Bo and Dulce could walk "together" and Dulce wouldn't "freak out" and attack. I was right ! Carol Mae was very pleasantly surprised ! Good dog, Bo !
Our Riverside RV Park Resort neighbours Dave and Joy came by for a brief visit this afternoon. And brought us a house warming gift of two small potted cacti. Great ... thank you ... I will plant them in the new front patio cactus garden between the Barrel Cactus and the Aloe Veras. I excused myself during their visit to take Bo on the daily pack walk. When the pack walkers had completed the first circuit around the perimeter of the dog park, some were preparing to continue on a second circuit and others were leashing their dogs to leave the dog park, I looked around and ... HEY ... where's Bo ? ? ? Well ... as we had passed by our yard on the first circuit he had decided to abandon the pack walk in favour of going back into our yard to visit Dave and Joy. Thanks to the steps I've installed he can climb over our back fence without any help. And I hadn't noticed that he went home ! Way to make me look stupid, Bo ... thanks a lot !
Wednesday ; Week five ( of ten ) of Tai Chi first thing this morning. Still the only male. The instructor is a "healing arts" practitioner and today incorporated "healing sounds" into the Tai Chi movements. Stretched her credibility a bit there, I thought !
Feeling a bit ill today again. Took a nap after Tai Chi hoping that would make me feel better. It didn't. So ... headed out for a day of errands. First stop was Yuma Nursery Supply to buy a couple of buckets of decorative finishing gravel and some ice plants, both for my new front patio cactus garden. Then to Sears to have the truck's punctured tire repaired. Twenty-two bucks ? I don't think so ! Over to Purcell Tire. Twelve fifty ? Yeah, that's more like it !
Kofa Ko-op's Wi-Fi has been out of order for a few days, so I brought my computer along today, planning to have lunch at Burger King and use their free Wi-Fi. Purcell Tire had free Wi-Fi so I got quite a bit of work done online there while I waited for the tire to be repaired. WOW ... you should see the size of the bolt they pulled out of the tire. We went to Burger King for lunch and I finished my online work using Wi-Fi there. Last two stops were Walgreens and Albertsons for advertised specials and groceries. I'm so impressed with Joanne's careful shopping, taking advantage of coupons and advertised specials. Albertson's cash register receipt shows "savings". Today our bill was $35, with savings of $40. Well done !
We arrived home just as today's pack walk was ending. We took Bo for a walk in the dog park, and there were two other dogs in the park, so we had a pack walk with a small pack of three. Afterwards Joanne finished planting in the new front patio cactus garden.
Thursday ; Well ! ! ! First thing this morning I discovered ... the floor of the cupboard underneath the sink was wet ! < sigh > Joanne emptied the cupboard. I stuck my head in and searched for a leak. It wasn't hard to find. It was hard to repair, just because of its inaccessibility. And the amount of time it took to find and repair the leak upset my day’s work plans. I accomplished quite a bit less than I had planned.
I remounted the spare tire underneath the truck. I watered the front yard ocotillo and cactus plantings. WOO-HOO ... the ocotillo has two little buds on it ! It’s alive ! And perhaps coming out of winter dormancy. I spread decorative red gravel in my new front patio cactus garden. Very nice ! I “plucked” old blossoms off the Barrel Cactus. Easier said than done ! My new front patio cactus garden looks great !
Friday ; This morning I fabricated and installed a metal "guard" under the sink to protect the water tank fittings, to prevent a recurrence of a leak caused by pots and pans and cans against water lines. In the afternoon I did a minor repair on the shed roof then spent the rest of the afternoon working on my cactus gardens. I moved three of my plantings from one location to another. I dug up some plants that a neighbour wanted to get rid of and transplanted them into my gardens. I now have thirty-six cactus and succulent plantings in our yard.
Saturday ; Today was one of those days where, despite our best efforts to the contrary, we intermittently squabbled and made one another miserable.
Joanne worked on a new painting project today. I continued working on landscaping. Tonight we went to the annual Yuma Accordion Band concert at Historic Yuma Theatre, an annual fund raising event for Habitat For Humanity. Well ... there goes sixteen bucks and another two hours of my life that I’ll never get back ! Thirteen accordions, a tuba, and a banjo. Two hours of “oom pah pah” music. Come on, people, the accordion is a much more versatile instrument that that ! At least my money went to a good cause.
DSK
Monday, January 30, 2012
January 22 to 28, 2012
Sunday ; Sick today ! Spent the day in bed. Except when I was in the bathroom !
Monday ; Still sick today. Stayed in bed until 6 PM.
Tuesday ; Felt a teensy bit healthier today, although weak from being sick for the last couple of days. Had an early lunch then set off for San Luis, a town on the Mexican border about 20 miles south of Yuma. Mexico is both west and south of Yuma. Look at a map of Arizona. I attended a seminar at the San Luis Library, sponsored by the Yuma Sun newspaper, on using social media like Facebook and Twitter to market small business. I was somewhat surprised to find that my "knowledge" of Facebook and Twitter was higher than most of the other attendees, most of whom were a lot younger than me. Yuma is apparently not a "tech savvy" town. And while Twitter seems more popular than Facebook amongst the BC Okanagan / Similkameen small business community, down here in the Yuma area Twitter has not yet really "caught on".
On the way back home I stopped at the tiny Somerton Airport to see if there was an airplane rental business there. Apparently not. I also stopped at a recently harvested lettuce field and picked a couple of heads of "oversized" Romaine lettuce left in the field. WOO-HOO ... fresh salad tonight.
Wednesday ; Still not feeling healthy yet. Went to Tai Chi first thing this morning. Was the only male again, for the third time in four sessions. On the way out the clubhouse door afterwards I was stopped by a couple of women who wanted me to give Joanne a message regarding tonight's potluck dinner. I made the mistake of telling them that Joanne had decided that we were not going to be attending. That unleashed a reaction akin to "the sky is falling". And that drama repeated itself twice more during the day. Sorry, Joanne !
Despite feeling somewhat poorly, and the presence of strong winds today ... and against Joanne's advice ... I climbed up on the roof of the trailer repeatedly today to do some work up there. I finished cleaning the Fantastic Fan and its roof vent from above. I reinstalled the MaxxAir cover over it. I did some minor roof repairs with rubber roof patching compound.
It was sunny today so this morning I cooked some eggs in the Sun Oven just to have some cooked eggs on hand, then in the afternoon Joanne put tonight's supper in to cook. And as expected, the marinated beef short ribs and roasted potatoes were excellent.
As a result of yesterday's seminar, tonight I "mobile optimized" my Similkameen Day Tours website.
Thursday ; Well, still feeling sick for an hour or two following each meal. Isn't a "broken" intestine a wonderful thing ? ! ?
Today was sunny, so ... time to put the Sun Oven to work. Joanne invited Terry and Judy to join us for supper tonight, and a jazz concert afterwards, then we put a "pollo asado" into the Sun Oven to roast. "Pollo asado" is "roasted chicken", but in the Mexican context, it's barbecued chicken that has been marinated in a fruit juice and achiotte powder mixture which is then used to baste the chicken while it barbecues. Joanne made a fruit juice and achiotte powder marinade yesterday and left a chicken in it overnight. Today she put the chicken and marinade into a roaster and into the Sun Oven by 1 PM. At 5 PM it was ... superb ! ! !
This afternoon I began work on reconstructing the "flower garden" across the front of our "front patio". I disassembled the existing flower garden border, then walked over to the landscape shed to borrow some gardening tools. DARN ... the landscape shed was locked. BUT ... a neighbour had a set of mobile home steps and a bicycle on their driveway with "for sale" signs. I bought them both. I placed the steps in our back yard against the fence, to improve our "dog park entrance". The bicycle will need some refurbishment / repairs. More now that I've got it ! I put air in the bicycle's tires, and then, just a few minutes later ... thanks to carelessness, and / or laziness, and / or stupidity ... or a bit of all three ... I blew the rear tire ! I have difficulty forgiving myself for carelessness / laziness / stupidity.
We had our largest "pack" today on the daily pack walk. At least thirteen dogs, maybe more. It was a bit hard to keep track ! After the pack walk Terry and Judy took Spanky home, then came over for supper. We had our wonderful pollo asado supper in our Arizona room, then loaded into our truck to go to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to attend tonight's free jazz concert featuring Yuma Jazz Band. And ... a special dance exhibition by three couples from a local Latin Salsa dance company. WOW ... young Mexican women dancing "jazz salsa" in spike heels and short black halter dresses are ... WHEW ... < shaking fingertips > ... HAWT ! ! !
Friday ; Still not quite healthy, but slowly improving, I suppose. Today started out sunny, so we put supper into the Sun Oven before we left late this morning for a day of errands. It wasn't long before there was a thin layer of cloud diffusing the sunlight. However ... when we got home at 4 PM supper was cooked despite the cloudiness. Pretty impressive !
First stop was Yuma's Bargain Warehouse, a nearby discount "guy stuff" store to buy a new inner tube for my "new" bicycle. Following Terry's recommendation I bought a heavy duty bicycle inner tube that is supposed to be "thorn resistant". Apparently the little Goat's Head Cactus quills found in abundance here can puncture through a regular bicycle inner tube. Next door to the discount store was the Habitat For Humanity RE-Store. Joanne wanted to browse as we had never been to an HHH RE-Store. Very interesting and commendable concept. We actually bought a large cat litter pail containing some miscellaneous hardware ... for $1 ... because Joanne has a use for the pail. Most of the miscellaneous hardware I threw in the garbage, a bit of it went to the Kofa Ko-op bargain table, and I kept a bit. Pretty good value for a buck !
We headed east towards The Foothills, making a stop at Wally's World to buy some screening I need. In The Foothills we shopped for some advertised specials at Walgreens before going to Burger King for lunch. Then it was over to Fry's for some groceries, sushi, and diesel. AND ... shhhhh ... < whispering > ... a birthday cake. During a colitis flare up I always need to be within "spitting distance" of a restroom. While shopping I needed to make a restroom visit ... < sigh > ... so what else is new ? ... and that gave me an opportunity to secretly buy a birthday cake.
We got home just in time for the daily pack walk. While I took Bo on the pack walk ( ten dogs today ) Joanne went to visit at a neighbour's "Open House" which was ending at 4 PM.
HMPH ... can’t find any birthday cake candles in the trailer ! Will have to buy some tomorrow.
Saturday ; Happy 58th Birthday to Joanne
I put some effort into making this a special day for Joanne. I hope I succeeded. First thing this morning, after walking Bo, I set up the Sun Oven and put some cinnamon buns in to bake. By the time we were finished our morning routines ... fresh baked cinnamon buns were ready !
Late this morning we headed out to Yuma Palms Shopping Center. First stop was ... WOO-HOO ... PetsMart ! From there we went to Mr. B's Bicycles where I bought two gear cables that Terry advised me this morning were necessary to refurbish my bicycle which he is doing for me. Thank you, Terry. Then we stopped at Dollar Tree where I ran in to buy a package of birthday candles. HUH ? A musical birthday candle ? ? ? Okay ... what a neat idea !
I drove Joanne to Yuma School of Beauty. I had purchased her a gift certificate for a "makeover" as a birthday gift. It was an entire afternoon of pampering. She liked it. After dropping off Joanne I headed for Harbor Freight to buy some advertised specials.
WOO-HOO ... neat "guy stuff" ! From there it was over to Yuma Nursery Supply to buy some coloured concrete scalloped edge curbing and some coloured concrete patio stones. I returned home for awhile and soon had to leave again to pick up Joanne at Yuma School of Beauty. WOW ... nice makeover ! Wanna climb in the back seat ?
I suggested a very early dinner at Olive Garden at Yuma Palms. We arrived at Olive Garden about 4:30 PM and ... what ? ! ? A lengthy line up ? ! ? At 4:30 ? ! ? What's wrong with Yuma ? ? ? We went to Famous Dave's Barbecue instead. MMMMM ...
I looooove Famous Dave's ! Service was much quicker than I had planned and so we were out of there by 5:30. I had purchased tickets to a play tonight, and had planned to go there directly after having an early dinner.
We drove across town to Gila Ridge High School Performing Arts Center and ... were in their parking lot at 6 PM ! For a 7 PM performance ! Oh, well ... we listened to Prairie Home Companion on NPR Radio.
The play was The King and I by Rodgers & Hammerstein, performed by Yuma Community Theater. EXCELLENT production by a community theater group, especially considering the large number of young children in the cast. And ... the Gila Ridge High School Performing Arts Center ... WOW ! ! ! Our high school gymnasium didn't look like that ! The play lasted for three hours, until 10 PM.
When we arrived home I took Bo for a quick walk then rushed out to the shed where I had stashed Joanne's birthday cake in the "auxiliary" fridge. I lit the candles ... and turned on the musical one ... then tried to get into the trailer quickly before the musical candle's off key rendition of HAPPY BIRTDHAY woke the neighbours. The cake, musical candle, and card were all a success. As the whole day had been, I guess.
Happy Birthday, my love !
DSK
Monday ; Still sick today. Stayed in bed until 6 PM.
Tuesday ; Felt a teensy bit healthier today, although weak from being sick for the last couple of days. Had an early lunch then set off for San Luis, a town on the Mexican border about 20 miles south of Yuma. Mexico is both west and south of Yuma. Look at a map of Arizona. I attended a seminar at the San Luis Library, sponsored by the Yuma Sun newspaper, on using social media like Facebook and Twitter to market small business. I was somewhat surprised to find that my "knowledge" of Facebook and Twitter was higher than most of the other attendees, most of whom were a lot younger than me. Yuma is apparently not a "tech savvy" town. And while Twitter seems more popular than Facebook amongst the BC Okanagan / Similkameen small business community, down here in the Yuma area Twitter has not yet really "caught on".
On the way back home I stopped at the tiny Somerton Airport to see if there was an airplane rental business there. Apparently not. I also stopped at a recently harvested lettuce field and picked a couple of heads of "oversized" Romaine lettuce left in the field. WOO-HOO ... fresh salad tonight.
Wednesday ; Still not feeling healthy yet. Went to Tai Chi first thing this morning. Was the only male again, for the third time in four sessions. On the way out the clubhouse door afterwards I was stopped by a couple of women who wanted me to give Joanne a message regarding tonight's potluck dinner. I made the mistake of telling them that Joanne had decided that we were not going to be attending. That unleashed a reaction akin to "the sky is falling". And that drama repeated itself twice more during the day. Sorry, Joanne !
Despite feeling somewhat poorly, and the presence of strong winds today ... and against Joanne's advice ... I climbed up on the roof of the trailer repeatedly today to do some work up there. I finished cleaning the Fantastic Fan and its roof vent from above. I reinstalled the MaxxAir cover over it. I did some minor roof repairs with rubber roof patching compound.
It was sunny today so this morning I cooked some eggs in the Sun Oven just to have some cooked eggs on hand, then in the afternoon Joanne put tonight's supper in to cook. And as expected, the marinated beef short ribs and roasted potatoes were excellent.
As a result of yesterday's seminar, tonight I "mobile optimized" my Similkameen Day Tours website.
Thursday ; Well, still feeling sick for an hour or two following each meal. Isn't a "broken" intestine a wonderful thing ? ! ?
Today was sunny, so ... time to put the Sun Oven to work. Joanne invited Terry and Judy to join us for supper tonight, and a jazz concert afterwards, then we put a "pollo asado" into the Sun Oven to roast. "Pollo asado" is "roasted chicken", but in the Mexican context, it's barbecued chicken that has been marinated in a fruit juice and achiotte powder mixture which is then used to baste the chicken while it barbecues. Joanne made a fruit juice and achiotte powder marinade yesterday and left a chicken in it overnight. Today she put the chicken and marinade into a roaster and into the Sun Oven by 1 PM. At 5 PM it was ... superb ! ! !
This afternoon I began work on reconstructing the "flower garden" across the front of our "front patio". I disassembled the existing flower garden border, then walked over to the landscape shed to borrow some gardening tools. DARN ... the landscape shed was locked. BUT ... a neighbour had a set of mobile home steps and a bicycle on their driveway with "for sale" signs. I bought them both. I placed the steps in our back yard against the fence, to improve our "dog park entrance". The bicycle will need some refurbishment / repairs. More now that I've got it ! I put air in the bicycle's tires, and then, just a few minutes later ... thanks to carelessness, and / or laziness, and / or stupidity ... or a bit of all three ... I blew the rear tire ! I have difficulty forgiving myself for carelessness / laziness / stupidity.
We had our largest "pack" today on the daily pack walk. At least thirteen dogs, maybe more. It was a bit hard to keep track ! After the pack walk Terry and Judy took Spanky home, then came over for supper. We had our wonderful pollo asado supper in our Arizona room, then loaded into our truck to go to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to attend tonight's free jazz concert featuring Yuma Jazz Band. And ... a special dance exhibition by three couples from a local Latin Salsa dance company. WOW ... young Mexican women dancing "jazz salsa" in spike heels and short black halter dresses are ... WHEW ... < shaking fingertips > ... HAWT ! ! !
Friday ; Still not quite healthy, but slowly improving, I suppose. Today started out sunny, so we put supper into the Sun Oven before we left late this morning for a day of errands. It wasn't long before there was a thin layer of cloud diffusing the sunlight. However ... when we got home at 4 PM supper was cooked despite the cloudiness. Pretty impressive !
First stop was Yuma's Bargain Warehouse, a nearby discount "guy stuff" store to buy a new inner tube for my "new" bicycle. Following Terry's recommendation I bought a heavy duty bicycle inner tube that is supposed to be "thorn resistant". Apparently the little Goat's Head Cactus quills found in abundance here can puncture through a regular bicycle inner tube. Next door to the discount store was the Habitat For Humanity RE-Store. Joanne wanted to browse as we had never been to an HHH RE-Store. Very interesting and commendable concept. We actually bought a large cat litter pail containing some miscellaneous hardware ... for $1 ... because Joanne has a use for the pail. Most of the miscellaneous hardware I threw in the garbage, a bit of it went to the Kofa Ko-op bargain table, and I kept a bit. Pretty good value for a buck !
We headed east towards The Foothills, making a stop at Wally's World to buy some screening I need. In The Foothills we shopped for some advertised specials at Walgreens before going to Burger King for lunch. Then it was over to Fry's for some groceries, sushi, and diesel. AND ... shhhhh ... < whispering > ... a birthday cake. During a colitis flare up I always need to be within "spitting distance" of a restroom. While shopping I needed to make a restroom visit ... < sigh > ... so what else is new ? ... and that gave me an opportunity to secretly buy a birthday cake.
We got home just in time for the daily pack walk. While I took Bo on the pack walk ( ten dogs today ) Joanne went to visit at a neighbour's "Open House" which was ending at 4 PM.
HMPH ... can’t find any birthday cake candles in the trailer ! Will have to buy some tomorrow.
Saturday ; Happy 58th Birthday to Joanne
I put some effort into making this a special day for Joanne. I hope I succeeded. First thing this morning, after walking Bo, I set up the Sun Oven and put some cinnamon buns in to bake. By the time we were finished our morning routines ... fresh baked cinnamon buns were ready !
Late this morning we headed out to Yuma Palms Shopping Center. First stop was ... WOO-HOO ... PetsMart ! From there we went to Mr. B's Bicycles where I bought two gear cables that Terry advised me this morning were necessary to refurbish my bicycle which he is doing for me. Thank you, Terry. Then we stopped at Dollar Tree where I ran in to buy a package of birthday candles. HUH ? A musical birthday candle ? ? ? Okay ... what a neat idea !
I drove Joanne to Yuma School of Beauty. I had purchased her a gift certificate for a "makeover" as a birthday gift. It was an entire afternoon of pampering. She liked it. After dropping off Joanne I headed for Harbor Freight to buy some advertised specials.
WOO-HOO ... neat "guy stuff" ! From there it was over to Yuma Nursery Supply to buy some coloured concrete scalloped edge curbing and some coloured concrete patio stones. I returned home for awhile and soon had to leave again to pick up Joanne at Yuma School of Beauty. WOW ... nice makeover ! Wanna climb in the back seat ?
I suggested a very early dinner at Olive Garden at Yuma Palms. We arrived at Olive Garden about 4:30 PM and ... what ? ! ? A lengthy line up ? ! ? At 4:30 ? ! ? What's wrong with Yuma ? ? ? We went to Famous Dave's Barbecue instead. MMMMM ...
I looooove Famous Dave's ! Service was much quicker than I had planned and so we were out of there by 5:30. I had purchased tickets to a play tonight, and had planned to go there directly after having an early dinner.
We drove across town to Gila Ridge High School Performing Arts Center and ... were in their parking lot at 6 PM ! For a 7 PM performance ! Oh, well ... we listened to Prairie Home Companion on NPR Radio.
The play was The King and I by Rodgers & Hammerstein, performed by Yuma Community Theater. EXCELLENT production by a community theater group, especially considering the large number of young children in the cast. And ... the Gila Ridge High School Performing Arts Center ... WOW ! ! ! Our high school gymnasium didn't look like that ! The play lasted for three hours, until 10 PM.
When we arrived home I took Bo for a quick walk then rushed out to the shed where I had stashed Joanne's birthday cake in the "auxiliary" fridge. I lit the candles ... and turned on the musical one ... then tried to get into the trailer quickly before the musical candle's off key rendition of HAPPY BIRTDHAY woke the neighbours. The cake, musical candle, and card were all a success. As the whole day had been, I guess.
Happy Birthday, my love !
DSK
Monday, January 23, 2012
January 15 to 21, 2012
Sunday ; Today was cloudy again, second day in a row. A few drops of rain even fell. And I do mean ... quite literally ... a few !
This morning after doing an agility session with Bo I went out into the dog park with a spade to dig out a huge pile of barbed wire that I discovered sticking up out of the desert sand a few days ago. When we do our daily pack walks the dogs run and romp. I was concerned that one would eventually run blindly into this pile of barbed wire sticking up out of the sand. I was hoping that it wasn't going to be too large to dig out by hand. As it turned out, what was visible above the sand was about a third of the pile of rusted, old barbed wire, and I was able to dig the whole mess out and haul it to a dumpster. I'm guessing that it was buried in the sand since before this was an RV park's large dog park, which it has been for about 27 years. Shifting desert sand uncover all kinds of "finds" around here. Apparently there is an old car completely buried underneath this RV park's storage area.
This afternoon we went to the Yuma Home & Garden Show at Yuma Civic Center. It was ... disappointing. There was nothing "Home" that was relevant to RV'ers. And there was nothing "Garden" that was relevant to us.
This evening we went to the weekly ice cream social.
Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. AHHHHH ! First thing this morning I set up the Sun Oven and cooked some eggs. Then ... I baked some potatoes. Eggs and potatoes both are for a potato salad tomorrow or the next day. After the potatoes were done we put tonight's supper into the Sun Oven, a baked fish and zucchini dish. Lots of work for the Sun Oven today.
Carol Mae came over to take our picture for the Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 newsletter story about Kaydee and to discuss the agenda / schedule for the upcoming Spring Rally. Joanne and I will be conducting a solar cooking demonstration that will result in dessert, and a "participation" Cajun cooking class that will result in dinner for the group of fifty or so attendees.
This morning I dug out our dead ocotillo. This afternoon we went to Yuma Nursery Supply and exchanged it for one that is obviously alive. The staff were apologetic about the dead one. Seems ours wasn't the only dead ocotillo they sold recently. They received a batch of dead ocotillos from a supplier that is usually trustworthy. One has to examine quite carefully to tell the difference between a dormant ocotillo and a dead one. And at this time of they year, they're dormant, especially potted nursery stock. I got the new one planted. Wish me luck !
I'm having a bit of a problem with our daily pack walks. A few of the "participants" don't seem to understand the "rules" without having them spelled out to them explicitly. So today I "explained" the rules to one of them quite explicitly. We "started" the daily pack walk ritual. But we're not the resident "pack walkers". Dogs and their owners are invited to join us daily at 4 PM for a pack walk around the dog park. That doesn't mean ... bring your dog to the dog park at 4 PM and then abandon it while we walk around the perimeter of the dog park, expecting that "someone" ( read that as "me" ) is going to pick up your dog's shit ! NO, NO, NO ... come along on the walk, and pick up your own dog's shit ! Today while we walked around the dog park, one of the dog owners relaxed in a lounge chair soaking up the pleasant sunshine ... expecting "someone" to pick up his dog's shit. After completing the circuit around the perimeter, I tossed the bag of his dog's shit on the lounge chair beside him, and "encouraged" him to join us on the walk. Think my message was clear enough ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Happy 13th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
Madeleine's a teenager ? ? ? ! ! !
Today was sunny. So ... we roasted marinated beef short ribs and potatoes in the Sun Oven today for supper. Very nice !
This afternoon while Joanne made fresh marmalade for me ( MMMMM ... thank you, my dear ) I cut and installed some oak crown moulding as a new headboard behind the bed. After completing the job, using two sections of moulding, we decided that a third section of moulding would make the job look much nicer. So ... I'm not quite finished yet.
After today's pack walk ... with eleven dogs ... we went for a drivey to buy some groceries at Albertsons and some moulding at Lowe's. Late in the evening we went for a soak in the hot tub, something I think we should do more often.
Wednesday ; Another sunny day. Another day of work for the Sun Oven. This morning I decided to try a solar cooking "recipe" I had read. I cut the top off a large tomato and scooped a bit of the insides out, making a sort of "scoop" inside the tomato. Then I baked it in the Sun Oven for about half an hour. I cracked open an egg and poured it into the "scoop" in the top of the tomato, then baked it for another half hour or so. Okay ... cooked egg inside a baked tomato. Interesting, but ... !
Before playing with the Sun Oven this morning I got up early to attend the third weekly Tai Chi Chih session here at Kofa Ko-op. And for the second time ( out of three ) I was the only male. What ? Real ( old ) men don't do Tai Chi ? ! ?
After lunch we went shopping for RV dinette furniture. Joanne is adamant that we replace our dinette table and chairs. Especially the chairs ! Looked at RV Decor and Foothills Mattress & Furniture. We also made a couple of other quick stops at Wally's World and Foothills Hardware looking for a couple of hardware items I need. Found and bought one of two. From there we headed east to Wellton, to the home of Robby and Christine, neighbours of ours back home in Keremeos. We visited with them at their home and then headed to Ligurta Station for dinner. Ligurta Station is a dingy little diner in Wellton that serves barbecued beef ribs every Wednesday. It has a bit of a "cult following" for their Wednesday barbecued beef ribs and Tuesday liver specials.
WHEW ... the fragrance of the feedlot in Wellton was certainly ... shall we say "noticeable" ... today !
On the way home we stopped at Fry's in The Foothills to buy some groceries and diesel. I can't resist stopping at Fry's in The Foothills every time we drive by to buy some freshly made sushi at their superb in-store sushi bar.
Thursday ; A sunny day of work for the Sun Oven. Last week I had made sun dried Roma tomato slices. Today I tried making sun dried Roma tomato halves. I started too late in the day. They'll have to finish tomorrow. I cut and installed the third piece of oak crown moulding to complete the new "headboard" behind the bed. And I finished weatherstripping the living room escape window.
After our daily pack walk we headed out to Home Depot to buy some hardware items I have been looking for. Finally ... got 'em ... Home Depot had them. Just after leaving Kofa Ko-op there was a flat bed produce truck with half its load of boxes of broccoli tipped over onto the road. WOO-HOO ... "Yuma road kill" ! Thousand of heads of freshly picked broccoli on the roadside. I don't like broccoli enough to even stop and pick up a free head. From Home Depot we headed over to Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Tonight was the first weekly free jazz session of the season. Every Thursday for the next twelve weeks or so there will be a different jazz group performing at the shopping center's "Village Courtyard". And their definition of jazz is pretty broad. Tonight's group was Yuma Big Band. We both like "big band" music. The free concert was very enjoyable. And we bumped into Lanny and Clare, neighbours of ours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home in Keremeos, BC. Lanny and Clare were visiting Yuma briefly. Their winter home is in Phoenix, Arizona.
After the concert we went for dinner to Chili's. Joanne's idea, not mine. It was unsatisfactory ! Food was okay, service was not. I don't think we're their target demographic ! On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart < sigh >. As much as I hate Wal-Martin' I must admit ... doing it after 9 PM is less painful.
Friday ; Yet another sunny day of work for the Sun Oven sun drying Roma tomato halves. They surely do shrivel up ! Had a long phone chat with my sister this morning. My brother-in-law's recuperation from prostatectomy is progressing well. I taught my sister the correct pronunciation of some English obscenities with a Mexican accent. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Border town bigot humour ! This morning I worked on some minor home improvement projects in the Arizona room and the trailer. Didn't accomplish much. Kept getting interrupted by neighbours and their dogs strolling by and stopping to visit and chat.
Joanne went shopping this afternoon without me. THANK YOU ! I napped for awhile with Sully and Bo. I worked on the computer. I went on our daily pack walk with Bo. I climbed up on the trailer roof and removed the MaxxAir roof vent cover off the kitchen fan roof vent as the first step in the annual chore of cleaning the kitchen ceiling's Fantastic Fan, and its associated roof vent and cover.
Late in the afternoon we headed out for a quick supper at Burger King before heading downtown to the Historic Yuma Theater for a musical concert production entitled The History Of The Blues From A To Z. WOW ... what astounding blues for a bunch of white boys. Well ... eight white boys and a white girl. Well, actually ... seven white boys, one middle east Arab type fellow and a white girl. Great performance. I was inspired to buy one of the CD's available after the concert. Unfortunately, it's a disappointment. Oh well, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances !
Saturday ; This morning I slept very late, having forgotten that I agreed to Joanne's suggestion that we go to the Wellton Tractor Rodeo today. We made it there just in time to have a late lunch. We enjoyed about an hour and a half of wandering around exhibits and watching an antique tractor pull competition ( old men with too much time on their hands and too much money in their pockets spending it on antique tractors ! ) before the wind picked up very suddenly and very strongly, creating a "desert storm" and forcing an abrupt end to everything.
We returned home just in time for the daily pack walk. The attendance was down because of the desert storm. Afterwards we updated the residents' name & photo board in the clubhouse. In the "lot 52" spot on the board we posted a label with our names and a photo of us sitting in the dog park at SKP Park of the Sierras. It's a good photo of us with Bo sitting on my lap. And I walked over to see lot 17, the lot that would have become ours very recently had we had to wait until we reached "number 1" on this park's lot waiting list instead of getting lot 52 while we were still "number 8" on the waiting list. WOW ... talk about a "bare lot" ! I surely am glad we got lot 52 !
DSK
This morning after doing an agility session with Bo I went out into the dog park with a spade to dig out a huge pile of barbed wire that I discovered sticking up out of the desert sand a few days ago. When we do our daily pack walks the dogs run and romp. I was concerned that one would eventually run blindly into this pile of barbed wire sticking up out of the sand. I was hoping that it wasn't going to be too large to dig out by hand. As it turned out, what was visible above the sand was about a third of the pile of rusted, old barbed wire, and I was able to dig the whole mess out and haul it to a dumpster. I'm guessing that it was buried in the sand since before this was an RV park's large dog park, which it has been for about 27 years. Shifting desert sand uncover all kinds of "finds" around here. Apparently there is an old car completely buried underneath this RV park's storage area.
This afternoon we went to the Yuma Home & Garden Show at Yuma Civic Center. It was ... disappointing. There was nothing "Home" that was relevant to RV'ers. And there was nothing "Garden" that was relevant to us.
This evening we went to the weekly ice cream social.
Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. AHHHHH ! First thing this morning I set up the Sun Oven and cooked some eggs. Then ... I baked some potatoes. Eggs and potatoes both are for a potato salad tomorrow or the next day. After the potatoes were done we put tonight's supper into the Sun Oven, a baked fish and zucchini dish. Lots of work for the Sun Oven today.
Carol Mae came over to take our picture for the Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 newsletter story about Kaydee and to discuss the agenda / schedule for the upcoming Spring Rally. Joanne and I will be conducting a solar cooking demonstration that will result in dessert, and a "participation" Cajun cooking class that will result in dinner for the group of fifty or so attendees.
This morning I dug out our dead ocotillo. This afternoon we went to Yuma Nursery Supply and exchanged it for one that is obviously alive. The staff were apologetic about the dead one. Seems ours wasn't the only dead ocotillo they sold recently. They received a batch of dead ocotillos from a supplier that is usually trustworthy. One has to examine quite carefully to tell the difference between a dormant ocotillo and a dead one. And at this time of they year, they're dormant, especially potted nursery stock. I got the new one planted. Wish me luck !
I'm having a bit of a problem with our daily pack walks. A few of the "participants" don't seem to understand the "rules" without having them spelled out to them explicitly. So today I "explained" the rules to one of them quite explicitly. We "started" the daily pack walk ritual. But we're not the resident "pack walkers". Dogs and their owners are invited to join us daily at 4 PM for a pack walk around the dog park. That doesn't mean ... bring your dog to the dog park at 4 PM and then abandon it while we walk around the perimeter of the dog park, expecting that "someone" ( read that as "me" ) is going to pick up your dog's shit ! NO, NO, NO ... come along on the walk, and pick up your own dog's shit ! Today while we walked around the dog park, one of the dog owners relaxed in a lounge chair soaking up the pleasant sunshine ... expecting "someone" to pick up his dog's shit. After completing the circuit around the perimeter, I tossed the bag of his dog's shit on the lounge chair beside him, and "encouraged" him to join us on the walk. Think my message was clear enough ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Happy 13th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
Madeleine's a teenager ? ? ? ! ! !
Today was sunny. So ... we roasted marinated beef short ribs and potatoes in the Sun Oven today for supper. Very nice !
This afternoon while Joanne made fresh marmalade for me ( MMMMM ... thank you, my dear ) I cut and installed some oak crown moulding as a new headboard behind the bed. After completing the job, using two sections of moulding, we decided that a third section of moulding would make the job look much nicer. So ... I'm not quite finished yet.
After today's pack walk ... with eleven dogs ... we went for a drivey to buy some groceries at Albertsons and some moulding at Lowe's. Late in the evening we went for a soak in the hot tub, something I think we should do more often.
Wednesday ; Another sunny day. Another day of work for the Sun Oven. This morning I decided to try a solar cooking "recipe" I had read. I cut the top off a large tomato and scooped a bit of the insides out, making a sort of "scoop" inside the tomato. Then I baked it in the Sun Oven for about half an hour. I cracked open an egg and poured it into the "scoop" in the top of the tomato, then baked it for another half hour or so. Okay ... cooked egg inside a baked tomato. Interesting, but ... !
Before playing with the Sun Oven this morning I got up early to attend the third weekly Tai Chi Chih session here at Kofa Ko-op. And for the second time ( out of three ) I was the only male. What ? Real ( old ) men don't do Tai Chi ? ! ?
After lunch we went shopping for RV dinette furniture. Joanne is adamant that we replace our dinette table and chairs. Especially the chairs ! Looked at RV Decor and Foothills Mattress & Furniture. We also made a couple of other quick stops at Wally's World and Foothills Hardware looking for a couple of hardware items I need. Found and bought one of two. From there we headed east to Wellton, to the home of Robby and Christine, neighbours of ours back home in Keremeos. We visited with them at their home and then headed to Ligurta Station for dinner. Ligurta Station is a dingy little diner in Wellton that serves barbecued beef ribs every Wednesday. It has a bit of a "cult following" for their Wednesday barbecued beef ribs and Tuesday liver specials.
WHEW ... the fragrance of the feedlot in Wellton was certainly ... shall we say "noticeable" ... today !
On the way home we stopped at Fry's in The Foothills to buy some groceries and diesel. I can't resist stopping at Fry's in The Foothills every time we drive by to buy some freshly made sushi at their superb in-store sushi bar.
Thursday ; A sunny day of work for the Sun Oven. Last week I had made sun dried Roma tomato slices. Today I tried making sun dried Roma tomato halves. I started too late in the day. They'll have to finish tomorrow. I cut and installed the third piece of oak crown moulding to complete the new "headboard" behind the bed. And I finished weatherstripping the living room escape window.
After our daily pack walk we headed out to Home Depot to buy some hardware items I have been looking for. Finally ... got 'em ... Home Depot had them. Just after leaving Kofa Ko-op there was a flat bed produce truck with half its load of boxes of broccoli tipped over onto the road. WOO-HOO ... "Yuma road kill" ! Thousand of heads of freshly picked broccoli on the roadside. I don't like broccoli enough to even stop and pick up a free head. From Home Depot we headed over to Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Tonight was the first weekly free jazz session of the season. Every Thursday for the next twelve weeks or so there will be a different jazz group performing at the shopping center's "Village Courtyard". And their definition of jazz is pretty broad. Tonight's group was Yuma Big Band. We both like "big band" music. The free concert was very enjoyable. And we bumped into Lanny and Clare, neighbours of ours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home in Keremeos, BC. Lanny and Clare were visiting Yuma briefly. Their winter home is in Phoenix, Arizona.
After the concert we went for dinner to Chili's. Joanne's idea, not mine. It was unsatisfactory ! Food was okay, service was not. I don't think we're their target demographic ! On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart < sigh >. As much as I hate Wal-Martin' I must admit ... doing it after 9 PM is less painful.
Friday ; Yet another sunny day of work for the Sun Oven sun drying Roma tomato halves. They surely do shrivel up ! Had a long phone chat with my sister this morning. My brother-in-law's recuperation from prostatectomy is progressing well. I taught my sister the correct pronunciation of some English obscenities with a Mexican accent. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Border town bigot humour ! This morning I worked on some minor home improvement projects in the Arizona room and the trailer. Didn't accomplish much. Kept getting interrupted by neighbours and their dogs strolling by and stopping to visit and chat.
Joanne went shopping this afternoon without me. THANK YOU ! I napped for awhile with Sully and Bo. I worked on the computer. I went on our daily pack walk with Bo. I climbed up on the trailer roof and removed the MaxxAir roof vent cover off the kitchen fan roof vent as the first step in the annual chore of cleaning the kitchen ceiling's Fantastic Fan, and its associated roof vent and cover.
Late in the afternoon we headed out for a quick supper at Burger King before heading downtown to the Historic Yuma Theater for a musical concert production entitled The History Of The Blues From A To Z. WOW ... what astounding blues for a bunch of white boys. Well ... eight white boys and a white girl. Well, actually ... seven white boys, one middle east Arab type fellow and a white girl. Great performance. I was inspired to buy one of the CD's available after the concert. Unfortunately, it's a disappointment. Oh well, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances !
Saturday ; This morning I slept very late, having forgotten that I agreed to Joanne's suggestion that we go to the Wellton Tractor Rodeo today. We made it there just in time to have a late lunch. We enjoyed about an hour and a half of wandering around exhibits and watching an antique tractor pull competition ( old men with too much time on their hands and too much money in their pockets spending it on antique tractors ! ) before the wind picked up very suddenly and very strongly, creating a "desert storm" and forcing an abrupt end to everything.
We returned home just in time for the daily pack walk. The attendance was down because of the desert storm. Afterwards we updated the residents' name & photo board in the clubhouse. In the "lot 52" spot on the board we posted a label with our names and a photo of us sitting in the dog park at SKP Park of the Sierras. It's a good photo of us with Bo sitting on my lap. And I walked over to see lot 17, the lot that would have become ours very recently had we had to wait until we reached "number 1" on this park's lot waiting list instead of getting lot 52 while we were still "number 8" on the waiting list. WOW ... talk about a "bare lot" ! I surely am glad we got lot 52 !
DSK
Sunday, January 15, 2012
1000th blog entry ! ! !
January 8 to 14, 2012
Sunday ; Today was windy.
This morning we finished up Joanne's painting projects in the Arizona room. She has painted the door between the Arizona room and the shed, the window trim, the door trim, and the built in folding table that we have taken to calling the buffet table. Today we cleaned up, replaced hardware, repositioned furnishings, cleaned and put away the tarp we used as a drop cloth, that sort of thing. Joanne should be very proud of the excellent job she has done of cleaning, furnishing, and decorating our Arizona room. It's great !
This afternoon we gave Bo a haircut. With an audience. Judy and Terry wanted to watch us give Bo a haircut, to help them decide whether or not to tackle giving Spanky a haircut themselves. At 6 PM we attended the regular weekly ice cream social. We spent the rest of the evening sitting in the clubhouse socializing with our BC friends Jackie and Barry who are leaving tomorrow.
Monday ; This morning Jackie and Barry came over to visit briefly before departing Kofa Ko-op. They will be remaining in the Yuma area for awhile longer, although not here at Kofa Ko-op. We will probably see them again Wednesday afternoon in Wellton.
After they left we went out for ( yet another ) day of shopping and running errands. First stop was RxPositive Medical Supplies where Joanne bought a mastectomy bra. She bought a brand that is manufactured in Canada, but that sells cheaper in the United States. Go figure ! From there we went to Long John Silvers for lunch. We had some coupons. It was our first time at Long John Silvers. And ... well ... I guess it wasn't anything to write home about. Although I suppose I just did, didn't I ? HA HA HA !
We shopped for some advertised grocery specials at Food City, the "Mexican" supermarket. Then we stopped to load up on pan dulce at Elvira's panaderia. MMMMM ... Elvira makes good pan dulce. Joanne noticed today that as soon as one drives north of 16th St. in Yuma, one might as well be in Mexico. Final stop was < sigh > Wal-Mart.
We arrived back home just in time for the daily pack walk around the dog park. Which is more "co-ordinated" some days than others. Today there were six dogs, and they were all unruly and chaotic. Because of early arrivals and late arrivals, the people were scattered in three groups, and the dogs "morphed" from one pack to two to three to two to one over and over again.
Tuesday ; Well ... two more successes in the Sun Oven. This morning I wanted to experiment with making a "hard boiled" ( baked, actually ) egg in the Sun Oven. I had read somewhere recently about solar cooking "hard boiled" eggs but couldn't remember whether the egg was supposed to remain in the solar oven for thirty or sixty minutes. So ... I put a raw egg in the Sun Oven and retrieved it forty minutes later. It was a perfect "hard boiled" egg. Except ... both the white and the yolk were a lighter, "fluffier" texture than an egg cooked in boiling water. It was very good !
So ... then I sliced a Roma tomato thinly and put the slices on a dehydrating rack in the Sun Oven with the door propped slightly open to allow heat and moisture to escape. The temperature has to be kept low enough that the tomato slices dry without baking. I didn't prop the door open quite enough, and allowed the temperature to rise too high. I baked ... and even burned ... some of the tomato slices a bit. But ... for the most part, they "sun dried" quite well. And then we tasted the results. WOW ... what intense flavour ! I can tell I'm really going to like making sun dried tomatoes when Roma tomatoes are really plentiful and cheap in the fall in Keremeos.
Today we worked on washing the trailer. Which has been a chore that we have been putting off for almost two months. We needed to wash the road grime off the trailer after completing the journey from Keremeos, BC to Yuma, Arizona. It should have been a priority soon after our arrival here. But other projects always seemed to be higher priority. Anyway, today we finally began washing the trailer. And completed most of it. We'll have to retract the slides to be able to properly wash the driver's side of the trailer.
Our daily pack walk is growing in popularity within Kofa Ko-op. Today we had nine dogs walking around the perimeter of the seven acre desert dog park.
Wednesday ; Today was lightly overcast. I thought that would be ideal for sun drying tomatoes in the Sun Oven. But ... actually ... by the end of the day, the tomatoes I had put in the Sun Oven around 10 AM were not quite ready. I'll have to put them back in tomorrow morning for awhile.
This morning I attended my second Tai Chi Chih class in the clubhouse. Very relaxing ! Afterwards Joanne and I did an obedience session with Bo in the dog park. This afternoon we worked on a few minor home improvement and landscaping projects. Around 3 PM we headed out for Wellton.
Our Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friends Jackie and Barry had invited us to attend a Shiners' fund raiser at an RV park in Wellton, about 30 miles east of Yuma. Our Chapter 33 mutual friend Ben is in a band that was providing the entertainment at the event. I would rather pull out my toenails with pliers than listen to two hours of country & western music, but ... one has to be supportive, n'est-ce-pas ? We visited with Jackie and Barry, listened to Ben and his band, and ate a hamburger dinner. On the way back home we stopped at Walgreens in The Foothills to buy a few items.
Thursday ; Today was cloudy. So ... I put some sliced Roma tomatoes in the Sun Oven to dry. Then I dragged the water hose to the front yard for the weekly watering of my dead looking ocotillo. Yesterday I did some online research on transplanting ocotillos, and I learned how to trim off a piece of ocotillo stalk and what to look for inside to ascertain whether it's alive or dead. So ... I cut six inch sections off the tops of three stalks of the ocotillo and examined the insides. Sure looks dead to me !
We headed out to run some errands. First stop was Yuma Nursery Supply where I asked the nursery manager if he thought these three pieces of ocotillo stalk looked like the plant might be dead. He examined them and agreed that the plant was likely dead. Only then did I tell him that they were cuttings from a plant bought at his nursery two weeks ago. GOTCHA ! Guess I'll be digging up the ocotillo and returning it to Yuma Nursery Supply !
At Lowe's we bought some paint for the shed and some oak mouldings for the trailer bedroom. Withdrew some cash from the ATM at the Bank of America. Had lunch at Rally's. Great burgers and fries ! Went to Fry's to buy some groceries. I tried to convince Joanne she should do the grocery shopping at Fry's while I ran some "other errands". No way ! Fine ... be like that ! So ... she sat in the truck asking stupid questions that I wouldn't answer while I drove to Yuma School Of Beauty to buy her "surprise" birthday gift ! "OH !"
Back at home we had our daily pack walk. It's gratifying to see how quickly timid dogs gain self-confidence from the socialization of the daily pack walks. For supper Joanne made a vegetarian pizza with mushrooms and our freshly sun dried tomatoes. WOW ... what intense, sweet flavour in the tomatoes.
Friday ; Today was sunny. So ... this morning Joanne baked a cake in the Sun Oven and in the afternoon made potato and dill soup in the Sun Oven. We're having a lot of fun experimenting with solar cooking.
We retracted the slides and finished washing the trailer today. Sully loudly protested when we retracted the slides. Obviously he thought we were "hitting the road" and he didn't want to go ! HA HA HA ... it's okay, Sully, we're not leaving here yet.
Carol Mae came over today to discuss the upcoming Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally agenda. At the rally Joanne and I will be conducting a cooking class that will result in a meal for the group. I think we're going to incorporate the Sun Oven.
On today's pack walk we walked twice around the dog park. It was Joanne's suggestion that we extend our pack walks to twice around the perimeter of the seven acre dog park. We need the exercise. And it worked well to accommodate pack walk latecomers. We walked around the perimeter of the dog park the first time with a group of about six dogs, and the second time with a group about the same size, but different dogs, except for Bo and Riley. Bo seemed to think that twice around was too strenuous. Maybe he's older than we think ?
Saturday ; Today was cloudy and cool. A day of rest for the Sun Oven.
This morning I trimmed my beard then worked on some landscaping. When that was done I helped Joanne do some paint touch up work on the front of the shed. The "paint match" done by Lowe's was so perfect that I don't think we're going to have to apply a coat of paint on the entire front wall of the shed to "hide" the touched up areas. So ... we bought a gallon of paint, and used less than a cup !
Just before noon our Thai next door neighbour brought over a plate of freshly prepared Thai food ... again. MMMMM ... a big serving of Pad Thai, two spring rolls and fresh peanut sauce. My goodness, her food is good !
This afternoon Joanne went shopping. Mercifully, without me ! She went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, and Goodwill Thrift Store, both of which had 50% off everything today. She was shopping for some "decorating accessories" for the Arizona room, and found what she was looking for. She's done very nice "interior decorating" of the Arizona room, and at very little cost. I stayed home and worked online. I downloaded some Canadian income tax forms I will need to do our personal income taxes. I downloaded the U.S. IRS 8840 form, filled one out for each of us, printed them, and mailed them. I went for a "twice around" pack walk. And ... at the end of the pack walk, while going out of the dog park to get a gardening tool from the landscape shed ... < sigh > ... I accidentally allowed Riley to escape from the dog park. How embarrassing ! I joined Bill and Liz chasing Riley around the RV park until he was captured.
DSK
Sunday ; Today was windy.
This morning we finished up Joanne's painting projects in the Arizona room. She has painted the door between the Arizona room and the shed, the window trim, the door trim, and the built in folding table that we have taken to calling the buffet table. Today we cleaned up, replaced hardware, repositioned furnishings, cleaned and put away the tarp we used as a drop cloth, that sort of thing. Joanne should be very proud of the excellent job she has done of cleaning, furnishing, and decorating our Arizona room. It's great !
This afternoon we gave Bo a haircut. With an audience. Judy and Terry wanted to watch us give Bo a haircut, to help them decide whether or not to tackle giving Spanky a haircut themselves. At 6 PM we attended the regular weekly ice cream social. We spent the rest of the evening sitting in the clubhouse socializing with our BC friends Jackie and Barry who are leaving tomorrow.
Monday ; This morning Jackie and Barry came over to visit briefly before departing Kofa Ko-op. They will be remaining in the Yuma area for awhile longer, although not here at Kofa Ko-op. We will probably see them again Wednesday afternoon in Wellton.
After they left we went out for ( yet another ) day of shopping and running errands. First stop was RxPositive Medical Supplies where Joanne bought a mastectomy bra. She bought a brand that is manufactured in Canada, but that sells cheaper in the United States. Go figure ! From there we went to Long John Silvers for lunch. We had some coupons. It was our first time at Long John Silvers. And ... well ... I guess it wasn't anything to write home about. Although I suppose I just did, didn't I ? HA HA HA !
We shopped for some advertised grocery specials at Food City, the "Mexican" supermarket. Then we stopped to load up on pan dulce at Elvira's panaderia. MMMMM ... Elvira makes good pan dulce. Joanne noticed today that as soon as one drives north of 16th St. in Yuma, one might as well be in Mexico. Final stop was < sigh > Wal-Mart.
We arrived back home just in time for the daily pack walk around the dog park. Which is more "co-ordinated" some days than others. Today there were six dogs, and they were all unruly and chaotic. Because of early arrivals and late arrivals, the people were scattered in three groups, and the dogs "morphed" from one pack to two to three to two to one over and over again.
Tuesday ; Well ... two more successes in the Sun Oven. This morning I wanted to experiment with making a "hard boiled" ( baked, actually ) egg in the Sun Oven. I had read somewhere recently about solar cooking "hard boiled" eggs but couldn't remember whether the egg was supposed to remain in the solar oven for thirty or sixty minutes. So ... I put a raw egg in the Sun Oven and retrieved it forty minutes later. It was a perfect "hard boiled" egg. Except ... both the white and the yolk were a lighter, "fluffier" texture than an egg cooked in boiling water. It was very good !
So ... then I sliced a Roma tomato thinly and put the slices on a dehydrating rack in the Sun Oven with the door propped slightly open to allow heat and moisture to escape. The temperature has to be kept low enough that the tomato slices dry without baking. I didn't prop the door open quite enough, and allowed the temperature to rise too high. I baked ... and even burned ... some of the tomato slices a bit. But ... for the most part, they "sun dried" quite well. And then we tasted the results. WOW ... what intense flavour ! I can tell I'm really going to like making sun dried tomatoes when Roma tomatoes are really plentiful and cheap in the fall in Keremeos.
Today we worked on washing the trailer. Which has been a chore that we have been putting off for almost two months. We needed to wash the road grime off the trailer after completing the journey from Keremeos, BC to Yuma, Arizona. It should have been a priority soon after our arrival here. But other projects always seemed to be higher priority. Anyway, today we finally began washing the trailer. And completed most of it. We'll have to retract the slides to be able to properly wash the driver's side of the trailer.
Our daily pack walk is growing in popularity within Kofa Ko-op. Today we had nine dogs walking around the perimeter of the seven acre desert dog park.
Wednesday ; Today was lightly overcast. I thought that would be ideal for sun drying tomatoes in the Sun Oven. But ... actually ... by the end of the day, the tomatoes I had put in the Sun Oven around 10 AM were not quite ready. I'll have to put them back in tomorrow morning for awhile.
This morning I attended my second Tai Chi Chih class in the clubhouse. Very relaxing ! Afterwards Joanne and I did an obedience session with Bo in the dog park. This afternoon we worked on a few minor home improvement and landscaping projects. Around 3 PM we headed out for Wellton.
Our Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friends Jackie and Barry had invited us to attend a Shiners' fund raiser at an RV park in Wellton, about 30 miles east of Yuma. Our Chapter 33 mutual friend Ben is in a band that was providing the entertainment at the event. I would rather pull out my toenails with pliers than listen to two hours of country & western music, but ... one has to be supportive, n'est-ce-pas ? We visited with Jackie and Barry, listened to Ben and his band, and ate a hamburger dinner. On the way back home we stopped at Walgreens in The Foothills to buy a few items.
Thursday ; Today was cloudy. So ... I put some sliced Roma tomatoes in the Sun Oven to dry. Then I dragged the water hose to the front yard for the weekly watering of my dead looking ocotillo. Yesterday I did some online research on transplanting ocotillos, and I learned how to trim off a piece of ocotillo stalk and what to look for inside to ascertain whether it's alive or dead. So ... I cut six inch sections off the tops of three stalks of the ocotillo and examined the insides. Sure looks dead to me !
We headed out to run some errands. First stop was Yuma Nursery Supply where I asked the nursery manager if he thought these three pieces of ocotillo stalk looked like the plant might be dead. He examined them and agreed that the plant was likely dead. Only then did I tell him that they were cuttings from a plant bought at his nursery two weeks ago. GOTCHA ! Guess I'll be digging up the ocotillo and returning it to Yuma Nursery Supply !
At Lowe's we bought some paint for the shed and some oak mouldings for the trailer bedroom. Withdrew some cash from the ATM at the Bank of America. Had lunch at Rally's. Great burgers and fries ! Went to Fry's to buy some groceries. I tried to convince Joanne she should do the grocery shopping at Fry's while I ran some "other errands". No way ! Fine ... be like that ! So ... she sat in the truck asking stupid questions that I wouldn't answer while I drove to Yuma School Of Beauty to buy her "surprise" birthday gift ! "OH !"
Back at home we had our daily pack walk. It's gratifying to see how quickly timid dogs gain self-confidence from the socialization of the daily pack walks. For supper Joanne made a vegetarian pizza with mushrooms and our freshly sun dried tomatoes. WOW ... what intense, sweet flavour in the tomatoes.
Friday ; Today was sunny. So ... this morning Joanne baked a cake in the Sun Oven and in the afternoon made potato and dill soup in the Sun Oven. We're having a lot of fun experimenting with solar cooking.
We retracted the slides and finished washing the trailer today. Sully loudly protested when we retracted the slides. Obviously he thought we were "hitting the road" and he didn't want to go ! HA HA HA ... it's okay, Sully, we're not leaving here yet.
Carol Mae came over today to discuss the upcoming Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally agenda. At the rally Joanne and I will be conducting a cooking class that will result in a meal for the group. I think we're going to incorporate the Sun Oven.
On today's pack walk we walked twice around the dog park. It was Joanne's suggestion that we extend our pack walks to twice around the perimeter of the seven acre dog park. We need the exercise. And it worked well to accommodate pack walk latecomers. We walked around the perimeter of the dog park the first time with a group of about six dogs, and the second time with a group about the same size, but different dogs, except for Bo and Riley. Bo seemed to think that twice around was too strenuous. Maybe he's older than we think ?
Saturday ; Today was cloudy and cool. A day of rest for the Sun Oven.
This morning I trimmed my beard then worked on some landscaping. When that was done I helped Joanne do some paint touch up work on the front of the shed. The "paint match" done by Lowe's was so perfect that I don't think we're going to have to apply a coat of paint on the entire front wall of the shed to "hide" the touched up areas. So ... we bought a gallon of paint, and used less than a cup !
Just before noon our Thai next door neighbour brought over a plate of freshly prepared Thai food ... again. MMMMM ... a big serving of Pad Thai, two spring rolls and fresh peanut sauce. My goodness, her food is good !
This afternoon Joanne went shopping. Mercifully, without me ! She went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, and Goodwill Thrift Store, both of which had 50% off everything today. She was shopping for some "decorating accessories" for the Arizona room, and found what she was looking for. She's done very nice "interior decorating" of the Arizona room, and at very little cost. I stayed home and worked online. I downloaded some Canadian income tax forms I will need to do our personal income taxes. I downloaded the U.S. IRS 8840 form, filled one out for each of us, printed them, and mailed them. I went for a "twice around" pack walk. And ... at the end of the pack walk, while going out of the dog park to get a gardening tool from the landscape shed ... < sigh > ... I accidentally allowed Riley to escape from the dog park. How embarrassing ! I joined Bill and Liz chasing Riley around the RV park until he was captured.
DSK
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