January 23 to 29, 2011
Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm, but windy.
This morning we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up Joanne’s friend Eilene for a day of shopping at Yuma Park N Swap a.k.a. Dog Track Flea Market a.k.a. Swap Meet Los Perros ( Spanish for The Dogs ). She wasn’t at home so while Joanne went looking for her I finished my project of taking photos of all the lots. Eilene was visiting Monica, a mutual friend who has just returned home after a brief stay in a hospital in Phoenix. Monica fell a week or so ago, breaking some ribs and her arm. She was taken by ambulance from Kofa Ko-op to the Yuma Regional Medical Center where it was determined that she needed to go to Phoenix for orthopaedic surgery on her arm. Another ambulance took her to the Yuma Airport, an air ambulance flew her to Phoenix, a few hundred miles away, then an ambulance took her from the Phoenix Airport to a hospital there. Her ambulance bills were … wait for it … $44,000 ! ! !
I wasn’t feeling well, so from my perspective it was a long half day at the flea market. We had an enjoyable lunch at a Mexican taco stand. The Yuma Park N Swap flea market is favoured by the Mexicans / Hispanics while the Arizona Market Place is distinctly a gringo kind of place. I bought a dash cover for the truck. It’s a sewn product using material that is almost like a thin carpet. It’s moulded to fit the top of the dashboard. It eliminates glare off the top of the dashboard, and provides a non-slip surface, so I can toss my glasses on the dash and they won’t slide off. It’s custom designed to fit each specific make and model of vehicle. The vendor had one in stock for a 2005 Dodge truck. It’s worth the asking price of $30. And I negotiated the price down to $22 so I’m pleased.
As we left the flea market two Harrier fighter jets were on final approach to the airport beside the flea market. I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road to watch them practice their vertical landing capabilities. WOW ! On the way home we bought a Sunday newspaper then dropped Eilene off at Kofa
Ko-op. At home we read the newspaper for awhile then took Bo for his daily long walk. Joanne found Eilene’s purse in the back seat of the truck < sigh >. She drove to Kofa Ko-op and returned it to Eilene.
I downloaded and processed my photos of the Kofa Ko-op lots while Joanne prepared supper. After supper we watched the movie “A Man For All Seasons”. I have bitter memories of when my class performed this play during our senior year of high school. Geeeeez … 39 years ago and I still remember my soliloquy as Cromwell. Some nightmares never end ! HA HA HA !
Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm.
This morning I did an obedience session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog. And it only took you six years to master it. HA HA HA ! Sorry, Bo, that’s not fair, nor is it really true. It only took you an entire ****ing year, at twenty minutes a day !
After lunch Joanne went shopping. She has decided that it’s more pleasant for both of us if she does most of the shopping errands ( like Wal Martin’ ) by herself. I agree ! I installed an assist handle / grab bar on the wall beside my side of the bed to help me get out of bed on those mornings when my knees hurt. Having to do things like that sure makes me feel old !
I worked on typing a couple of recipes into the computer. My sister’s daughter, my niece Andrea, is a magazine editor. One of her responsibilities is a “foodie” magazine. I’m going to send her a couple of “our” recipes ; my “hamburgesa y frijoles” recipe “created” by me while on one of our Mexican trips, and Joanne’s grapefruit pie recipe from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Tonight’s movie was The Theory Of Flight. What an odd, funny, touching movie !
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm. And … < sigh > … it was one of those days !
This morning we were supposed to meet our friends Barry and Marty at Yuma Bark Park for a doggy play date for Bo and their dog Sunny. Before we pulled out of our driveway I “thumped” the truck’s tires. Almost every day I check that the air pressure in all the tires is okay by thumping each tire with a fish bonker bat and listening for consistency of sound. Each thump should sound the same, and by deduction, all the tire pressures should be okay. So this morning … THUMP, THUMP, SPLAT … huh ? ? ? THUMP, SPLAT … what ? ? ? Okay … I pulled out the tire pressure gauge and checked the SPLAT sounding tire. < sigh > It was flat ! Which is not visually evident on a rear tire of a dually.
When a tire goes flat on our truck … either this one or our previous one … I have learned to suspect a valve extender problem before suspecting a puncture or other road hazard damage. We drove to the nearest service station … which can be cautiously done when only one of the two rear tires on each side of a dually is flat … to put air in the flat tire. Usually that will make it apparent whether the problem is the tire or some other problem like a malfunctioned valve or valve extender. As we were putting air in the tire, our cell phone rang. It was Marty. They were already at Yuma Bark Park and … < another big sigh > … it’s closed for maintenance on Tuesdays.
They decided to meet us at the service station we were at. We finished putting air in the tire and it became apparent that the problem was a cracked valve stem. I removed the valve extenders, hub cap, and wheel liner. Barry and Marty met us at the service station. We drove around looking for Purcell Tire where I wanted to have the valve replaced. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was. I led us on a bit of a two vehicle caravan wild goose chase looking for Purcell Tire, and when I was finally frustrated enough with that I drove to BIG “O” TIRES. < sigh > They didn’t have the metal screw in valve stems I wanted. Barry knew where Purcell Tire was on 4th St., so he led us there. I left the truck there to have metal screw in valve stems installed on both the rear tires on the side with the flat.
We all went in Barry and Marty’s vehicle to Bard, California for date shakes at Sun Gardens Date Farm. On the way there we stopped at the Post Office in Bard so I could buy a stamp. And … on the way there my carelessness resulted in Bo being hurt. I find it nearly impossible to forgive myself for that ! The men sat in the front, the women in the back. Bo came into the front of the vehicle and climbed on my lap to look out my window which was open slightly. Fortunately it was open only enough for his nose to stick out and not his entire head. He stuck his nose out as he stepped on the armrest of the door and … stepped on the window switch … and closed the window ! ! ! His muzzle got pinched in the closing window and he yelped loudly ! I quickly lowered the window, but … that’s somewhat like shutting the barn door after the horse is gone, isn’t it ? ? ? ! ! ! I examined him closely, and he doesn’t seem to be harmed. His muzzle doesn’t seem to be bruised enough to be tender when I touch and squeeze all over it, but … I’m very angry and displeased with myself. Sorry, Bo !
Date shakes for lunch helped sooth and calm my frazzled nerves ! Both dogs enjoyed their “lunch”. On the drive back to Yuma we stopped twice beside recently picked lettuce fields and I picked “left behind” heads of lettuce for Marty. They returned us to Purcell Tire where Lanoire was waiting with two new metal screw in valve stems. Maybe I should have done all six tires ? ? ? Oh well, too late for that now ! We shopped briefly at Lowes and Wal-Mart on the way home.
Back home at Rancho Bonitos we went to the hot tub for awhile before taking Bo for his daily long walk. Then we went to the clubhouse and signed up for a bunch of the activities at next week’s “Fun Days”, a week of indoor and outdoor games … and eating !
For the last 24 hours or so, Sully has been ill, having difficulty keeping food and water “down”. He has vomited a few times. We’re watching him closely, and will take action if his illness persists for longer than another 24 hours or so.
Tonight’s movie was The Bourne Identity. It was interesting. Wasn’t that the first of a trilogy ?
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy.
This morning I torqued the lug nuts, reinstalled the valve extenders, wheel liner, and hub cap on the passenger side rear tires of the truck before we headed off to Yuma Palms Mall to meet our friends Lynn and Micha at Olive Garden for lunch. We had a nice, leisurely lunch and a long visit with Lynn and Micha, first in the restaurant, then out in the parking lot. Just as we were about to wrap up our parking lot visiting an elderly couple in a rental car pulled up beside us looking for directions to a nearby hotel. They were lost. They were from Oliver, BC, very near to our home. They had just arrived in Yuma by air, had rented a car at the airport, and made it as far as Yuma Palms Mall before getting lost. I offered to guide them to their nearby hotel. I did that, but not as smoothly as I would have looked. We sort of took the scenic route < shrug >.
On the way home I stopped at a Chevron station to adjust the air pressure in the two truck tires that got new valve stems yesterday. < sigh > The Chevron station’s air hose was not working. I drove to Kofa Ko-op and used the air hose there. Back home at Rancho Bonitos we took Bo for his daily long walk, then found that two acquaintances of ours from Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 who own a residence here had just arrived. We chatted with them briefly.
Thursday ; Today was sunny and very warm, a bit windy in the morning, a common occurrence around Yuma. Many people seem to dislike Yuma and area because of the frequent winds. We don’t mind. Same holds true for our home in BC. Frequent winds, we don’t mind.
This morning Joanne went to water aerobics in the swimming pool. She has been going on a sporadic basis since the sessions started a couple of weeks ago. I puttered around with routine maintenance chores, enjoying working outside in the sunlight. Wind’s okay, but I gotta have my sunshine ! I’m a sun junkie.
After lunch Joanne went flea market shopping. I read … napped … read some more. One of the items Joanne bought today was a $1 plastic juicer. WOW … great little device ! I juiced enough lemons to produce a cup of lemon juice, and with that Joanne made 2 quarts / liters of fresh lemonade. Emphasis on FRESH ! We spent the hottest part of the afternoon at the swimming pool and hot tub. I “gave a piece of my mind” to a fellow whose actions I considered rude. I don’t accept that kind of s**t, and keep my mouth shut, just for the sake of being “neighbourly”. I was in the hot tub by myself. Air jets / “bubbles” off. I don’t like the air jets to be on when I’m in the hot tub. The bubbling action causes the disinfectant chemicals in the hot tub to evaporate. The rising chemical odour bothers me. This fellow ( and his extremely obese wife ) walked over, turned on the jets without so much as a word to me, and climbed in. I climbed out, and … < ahem > … expressed my displeasure ! You a*****e !
We took Bo for his daily long walk. As we were walking back home alongside a field Bo began to dig a hole in the soft sandy trail. HA HA HA … you go, Bo. We laughed … I encouraged him. Dig, Bo, dig ! We continued walking slowly. He continued digging. We looked back and called him. He continued digging. The hole was getting so deep all that was visible out of it was his hind end, tail straight up in the air … and flying dirt. HA HA HA … come on, Bo, let’s go ! Suddenly his body and head rose out of the hole … and he was shaking something furiously. OH, NO …. BO ! ! ! We ran back, hollering at him. He finished shaking, then dropped … wait for it … a rotting Desert Rat carcass. Oh, Bo … you’ve been waiting for that your entire Terrier life, haven’t you ? ? ? ! ! ! HA HA HA … good dog, Bo … that’s exactly what you were bred for. HA HA HA … how the hell was I supposed to know there was a dead Desert Rat buried that deeply under the sand ? ? ? I guess I shouldn’t encourage him to dig any more, should I ? ? ? ! ! !
We picked about a dozen oranges and half a dozen grapefruits from the trees lining the long driveway into our RV park. I used the new juicer to produce about 2 quarts / liters of fresh orange & grapefruit juice … with pulp ! Oh, boy … < smacking lips >. And I didn’t even use up all the fruit we had picked.
Tonight’s movie was Starship Troopers. Geeeeezzzzz … how do movies that bad even get made ? We couldn’t even tell whether that was meant to be satire or serious ? ! ?
Friday ; Joanne’s 57th Birthday
Happy Birthday, my love !
Today was sunny and hot. Late this morning we drove to Historic Downtown Yuma where I dropped Joanne off at Yuma School Of Beauty for her “day at the spa”. I continued on to Lowe’s where I used a discount coupon to buy a very expensive, high quality garden hose for home at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos. From there I went to Bank of America for “stage 2” of a new money management scheme I’m trying. After waiting a very long time in a very long line I was told by the teller that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do without producing both my BC driver’s license and my passport for identification. < sigh > I didn’t have my passport with me. I tried to do a much smaller transaction at the ATM, to get enough money to pay our lot rent, but the ATM wanted to charge me a service charge of $3. Oh, **** that ! I went to Wal-Mart where I bought a birthday cake for Joanne. I asked the little blond bimbo at the bakery counter if she could “write” on the cake I had picked out of the bakery cooler. Sure ! But … she didn’t mention that she was illiterate ! ! ! Hey, sweetheart … can you spell “bimbo” correctly ? ! ?
I returned to Yuma School of Beauty late in the afternoon to pick up Joanne. WOW … she’s gorgeous ! We headed for “The Big Curve” where I dropped her off at Fry’s to buy some groceries and I went to Bank of America for my second attempt at my “new financial scheme”. This time I had my passport and everything went smoothly. I returned to Fry’s to pick up Joanne.
Back at home we took Bo for his daily long walk. He certainly was interested in that spot where he found the dead rat yesterday ! Leave it, Bo … good dog !
Tonight’s movie was Batman Forever with Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones. Well … I preferred the earlier Batman with Keaton and Nicholson.
Saturday ; Yuma to Quartzsite and return
WHEW … what a long and exhausting day of shopping in Quartzsite. And we had an “up close and personal” experience with one of the desert’s weather phenomena. Here in the “Desert Southwest”, the night time low and day time high temperature spread is often about 50 degrees. As it was today ! Which made dressing for a long day in Quartzsite somewhat difficult. When we left home this morning at 7 AM the temperature was 34 degrees. BRRRRR ! But by mid afternoon it was about 50 degrees warmer than that.
We caught the Buffalo Bus Tours bus to Quartzsite this morning at 7:30 AM in The Foothills. It took us to Quartzsite, about an hour and a half north of Yuma, to attend the 28th Annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show a.k.a. The Big Tent Show. We arrived about 9 AM and spent 7½ hours browsing and shopping. And walking and walking and walking ! My knees can’t tolerate walking that much and for that long. They HURT tonight ! We bought a lot of stuff. Tools and hardware and bathroom and kitchen gadgets. It’s been said that “if you can’t find it at Quartzsite it doesn’t exist / you don’t need it”. Every time we go to Quartzsite we find stuff that we didn’t know existed, but once having found it, can’t live without it. Today’s “big find” was a very expensive plumbing conversion system that converts a regular toilet to a toilet with built in bidet. We had a bidet in our last “brix & stix” home, and I miss it. But … when we arrived home tonight I took a quick glance at the design of our RV toilet and I don’t think this conversion system is going to fit. Darn ! I’m too exhausted tonight to check it thoroughly enough to know for certain. I’ll do that tomorrow.
We caught the return bus at 4:30 and were back in Yuma at 6 PM, home by 6:30. I know that the early wake up and long day affect my outlook on life, but gee whiz, a busload of old people can be obnoxious ! You’d think that by the time you reach old age and are living this lifestyle you’d develop some class and / or wisdom ! Being on a bus full of 70 year olds is as bad as being on a bus full of 17 year olds ! ! !
DSK
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
January 16 to 22, 2011
January 16 to 22, 2011
Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. AHHHHHH ! ! !
This morning I did a long obedience session with Bo. I have not done any obedience work with him for quite awhile. He did great today ! Good dog, Bo, well done ! A number of neighbours saw me working with him, and were very impressed with his performance.
This afternoon Joanne went shopping to Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market, and then to Fry’s for some groceries. I spent most of the afternoon on the roof of the trailer. I removed the kitchen roof vent’s MaxxAir cover to clean the Fantastic Fan from above, and its roof vent cover. Then … < sigh > … I removed the air conditioner’s shroud and cleaned out hundreds and hundreds of acorns stuffed underneath there by squirrels and / or Acorn Woodpeckers at Park of the Sierras a couple of months ago. It was an afternoon of tough work made pleasant by the lovely weather.
We took Bo for his daily long walk right at sunset. What beautiful sunsets Yuma has ! In the evening we watched Homeward Bound, a Disney animal movie. As a bedtime snack, I’ve just had toast with my first taste of Joanne’s home made marmalade made with freshly picked lemons, oranges, and grapefruits. WOW … EXCELLENT ! ! !
Monday ; Happy 12th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
She’s twelve already ? ! ? ! ?
Today was sunny and hot … almost very hot !
This morning I degreased and cleaned the MaxxAir roof vent cover that I removed from the kitchen roof vent yesterday. While I was working on the roof yesterday I found a few spots that needed to be repaired / patched. This morning I got back up on the roof with my can of rubber roof compound and did the necessary patching.
After lunch I drove to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 71 to 105. Joanne did laundry. During the hottest part of the afternoon we headed to the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! After floating around on one of our pool noodle chairs for awhile, I felt thirsty. I climbed out of the pool, reached over the fence, picked a fresh orange off a tree, and ate it. Very refreshing ! HA HA HA ! Sure beats unloading 40 pound bags of cat litter and dog food in the freezing rain. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Four or five hours of intense sunlight, heat, and low humidity were enough to dry the roof repairs. I climbed back up on the roof and reinstalled the MaxxAir roof vent cover. We took Bo for a long walk. We drove to Albertsons to buy a barbecued chicken for supper. Albertsons has a Monday Cheap Chicken Special. Barbecued chickens are $4.99 ! That’s cheaper than buying a raw chicken.
In the evening we watched the movie “Kansas City”. Boy, those Robert Altman films are sure tough to follow !
Tuesday ; Today was … wonderfully … sunny and hot again !
This morning Joanne went to join a water aerobics group, sessions held in the swimming pool four mornings a week, weather permitting. When she returned we did the weekly pet dental care then set off for some errands.
We went to RV Connection, a local RV parts supply business, looking for a couple of items, neither of which they had. Maybe we’ll be able to find them in Quartzsite in a couple of weeks ? We went to Arby’s for an early lunch. Joanne had found a good discount coupon and wanted to give Arby’s a second chance. The first chance was a visit to Arby’s about … < thinking > … maybe 30 years ago ? She didn’t like Arby’s then. HA HA HA … and you thought I held a grudge ? ! ? After lunch I refilled Lanoire with diesel. HMPH … price went up ! We drove to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Yuma School Of Beauty, where I bought Joanne a makeover package as a birthday gift. It takes an entire afternoon and includes a shampoo, deep conditioning treatment, scalp massage, hair styling, facial, makeup, and manicure. Like “a day at the spa” I guess.
From “downtown” we headed out to Bard, California, for the “main event” of our outing. Date shakes ! At Sun Gardens Date Farm. Bo loooooves date shakes ! HA HA HA … as do we all ! Just before we arrived at Sun Gardens we passed a lettuce field the likes of which we have never seen before. It was a field of “mixed greens” lettuce. In each “row” there were eight different types of lettuce. How unusual ! And pretty ! I stopped to take a picture. We enjoyed our date shakes sitting at a picnic table under the shade of date trees.
On the way home we passed a lettuce field that had just been harvested today or yesterday perhaps. When a field is picked, the pickers leave behind anything that is not “perfect” ; too large, too small, somehow cosmetically imperfect. It’s commonly understood in this area that the “left behinds” can be picked for free by anyone passing by. I parked, took my pocket knife out of the truck console, and walked into the field. It was a field of “red” lettuce, and I picked a head that was obviously left because it was too large. I thought it was a gorgeous head of lettuce ! Much bigger and nicer than anything we’ve ever bought in a store ! Joanne thought it was a bit “dusty”.
We decided that instead of going straight home we would drive to Arizona Sands RV Park and see if our friends Marty and Barry and their dog Sunny were there. They had arrived in Yuma a few days ago from their home in San Felipe, Mexico, for some medical matters for Barry. We found their rig, but they weren’t home. Oh, well !
As soon as we got home Joanne put the large head of red lettuce in a sink full of cold water to rinse off the desert dust and we headed for the swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon. AHHHHH ! When we got home, and the lettuce had been soaking for awhile, well … ! The dust was rinsed off, and since she had placed it with the freshly cut bottom down in the water, it had absorbed some water and perked right up ! WOW … now that’s a lovely head of lettuce ! And looks like it might be enough to feed an army. And it don’t get any fresher than that !
We took Bo for his daily long walk. I helped Joanne prepare for the barbecue an idea I had. Since we have a virtually unlimited supply of fresh lemons I wanted to cook some fish in a packet of aluminum foil with onions and lots of freshly sliced lemons. After supper we watched a funny, irreverent movie ; Dogma. HA HA HA HA HA … Alanis Morisette as God !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm, pretty close to a perfect weather day.
This morning I did some chores and then we began giving Bo a haircut. My goodness … his hair was very long ! His haircut was overdue by about two months, I guess. We cut half his hair then took a break for lunch. HA HA HA … you look pretty funny like that, Bo, with half a haircut. In the afternoon we completed the job. Now you look good, Bo !
We went to the swimming pool for awhile, then I drove to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. When I returned home there was about an hour of daylight left, so we took Bo for his daily long walk. It was such nice weather we decided to take an exceptionally long walk and explore the neighbourhood a bit, so to speak. We walked about four miles through this area which is a mix of suburban and agricultural. By the time we returned home at dusk, we were all tired.
In the evening we watched a movie ; “Don’t Talk To Strangers”. Weak plot !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy.
This morning I headed out for my 10 AM appointment at Fisher Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Or in the new lingo of the car world … Fisher CDJ. I have been to Fisher CDJ before. And prior to that I used to take Dee-Dee to Fisher Chevrolet GMC. There are a lot of car dealerships in Yuma, and it seems as if they’re all owned by either Fisher or Alexander. And some of the many RV dealers as well ! But I digress !
Fisher CDJ replaced the leaking pinion seal at the rear differential. They were quick and efficient. I was impressed. And I’m rarely impressed by an automobile dealership service department. This was likely the last repair that I won’t have to pay for. Lanoire’s warranty expires very soon. I vowed when we bought her that as soon as the warranty expired I was going to trade her in on a new one. Well … now I don’t think so ! She has been extremely trouble free … up to her current age of 5½ years and ( soon ) 160,000 km. / 100,000 miles ! On the way home I went to Interstate Batteries to get information on new batteries for the truck. I will probably replace Lanoire’s two batteries before we start heading north in April. Although I might hold off until we’re in Oregon where there’s no sales tax.
I was home in time for a late lunch followed by a brief nap with Sully. Then Joanne and I went to the hot tub for awhile. The wind made it seem a bit too cool for the swimming pool. We took Bo for his daily long walk. Not as long a walk as yesterday. Joanne’s legs are sore today from yesterday’s walk.
Tonight’s movie was … Pale Rider. I looooove old Clint Eastwood westerns !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm.
This morning we headed out for a couple of hours of errands before meeting our friends Barry and Marty for a very late lunch at Hometown Buffet. Our first stop was Arizona Market Place, the nearby huge flea market. We didn’t go in ! Until recently admission to Arizona Market Place was free on Thursdays and Fridays, pay on Saturdays and Sundays. Now it’s free only on Thursdays. Okay … see you next Thursday. There’s nothing from there that we need badly enough to justify paying admission. Next stop was the water and propane refill place to refill a water jug. Then over to the Wally’s World store for some hardware items. Wally’s World is one of the larger hardware / “guy stuff” stores at the two local flea markets. And now they have a retail storefront location. Today we bought everything at their storefront location that we were going to the Arizona Market Place for. So there ! Stuff your admission fee where the sun don’t shine !
On the way to Hometown Buffet we stopped at Michael’s to buy an advertised special. Fourteen foam paint brushes for a dollar. HMPH … guess I won’t be trying to wash out them little foam paint brushes anymore after using them ! We spent a long afternoon at Hometown Buffet eating and visiting with Barry and Marty. We haven’t seen them in a few years. We made a “doggy play date” with them for next week, with Bo and their dog Sunny at Yuma Bark Park.
On the way home we stopped at Kofa Ko-op to make a Yuma Park N Swap shopping date with Joanne’s friend Eilene. The sun was too low in the sky to allow me to finish my project of taking photos of each and every lot at Kofa. And our friends Robert and Sharon were not home either. They came by our place this morning but we missed them. They left a note advising us that they were headed to Los Algodones today for their fourth visit this week to a dentist. And they’re leaving Yuma tomorrow morning. Guess we won’t see them until the next Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally. There was a note on the bulletin board about the sudden death last night … after she attended the weekly Thursday evening poker game … of a resident at Kofa Ko-op. Gee … I said “hello” to her as she walked by me when I was there two days ago taking photos. She was an elderly German Jewish woman with … < long pause > … numbers tattooed on her forearm !
We got home with just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk. In the evening I reconciled the January MasterCard statements which I had downloaded this morning.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. This afternoon and evening was Rancho Bonitos’s “Western” party. We didn’t attend. The dinner offering was incompatible with my colitis. And … we’re both really not fans of “Western / Country” music.
This morning was taken up with routine chores and maintenance. One of the daily chores here in the desert is cleaning the very fine layer of desert dust off the truck using a “California Duster”. A few days ago while dusting the truck I was feeling a but crabby about this daily chore, then shifted my perspective. Now I dust the truck on a daily basis, out in the warm sunlight, with a smile on my face, thinking … “I surely am glad that I don’t have to scrape frost off the truck windows every morning”. Today while dusting the truck a hornet / wasp was buzzing in my face, irritating me. I smacked it away with the California Duster. HA … solved that problem ! For about five seconds … until the ****ing thing stung me on the back, between the shoulder blades !
In the afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping to Albertsons. I napped with Sully and Bo then did some computer work. After Joanne returned she got the laundry started and we went to the pool and hot tub. We had them all to ourselves because the “Western” party had already started. When the laundry was done and we were finished in the pool and hot tub we took Bo for his daily long walk.
< sigh > Since we are staying for three ( plus ) months in Yuma, our daily lives have become somewhat routine … and lacking in “adventure”. Which is okay … I guess … but I wonder if keeping a daily journal is justified ? Time to change my approach, I suppose, somewhat like I do during the summers.
Tonight’s movie was “A Beautiful Mind”. < shrug >
DSK
Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. AHHHHHH ! ! !
This morning I did a long obedience session with Bo. I have not done any obedience work with him for quite awhile. He did great today ! Good dog, Bo, well done ! A number of neighbours saw me working with him, and were very impressed with his performance.
This afternoon Joanne went shopping to Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market, and then to Fry’s for some groceries. I spent most of the afternoon on the roof of the trailer. I removed the kitchen roof vent’s MaxxAir cover to clean the Fantastic Fan from above, and its roof vent cover. Then … < sigh > … I removed the air conditioner’s shroud and cleaned out hundreds and hundreds of acorns stuffed underneath there by squirrels and / or Acorn Woodpeckers at Park of the Sierras a couple of months ago. It was an afternoon of tough work made pleasant by the lovely weather.
We took Bo for his daily long walk right at sunset. What beautiful sunsets Yuma has ! In the evening we watched Homeward Bound, a Disney animal movie. As a bedtime snack, I’ve just had toast with my first taste of Joanne’s home made marmalade made with freshly picked lemons, oranges, and grapefruits. WOW … EXCELLENT ! ! !
Monday ; Happy 12th Birthday to Joanne’s niece Madeleine
She’s twelve already ? ! ? ! ?
Today was sunny and hot … almost very hot !
This morning I degreased and cleaned the MaxxAir roof vent cover that I removed from the kitchen roof vent yesterday. While I was working on the roof yesterday I found a few spots that needed to be repaired / patched. This morning I got back up on the roof with my can of rubber roof compound and did the necessary patching.
After lunch I drove to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 71 to 105. Joanne did laundry. During the hottest part of the afternoon we headed to the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! After floating around on one of our pool noodle chairs for awhile, I felt thirsty. I climbed out of the pool, reached over the fence, picked a fresh orange off a tree, and ate it. Very refreshing ! HA HA HA ! Sure beats unloading 40 pound bags of cat litter and dog food in the freezing rain. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Four or five hours of intense sunlight, heat, and low humidity were enough to dry the roof repairs. I climbed back up on the roof and reinstalled the MaxxAir roof vent cover. We took Bo for a long walk. We drove to Albertsons to buy a barbecued chicken for supper. Albertsons has a Monday Cheap Chicken Special. Barbecued chickens are $4.99 ! That’s cheaper than buying a raw chicken.
In the evening we watched the movie “Kansas City”. Boy, those Robert Altman films are sure tough to follow !
Tuesday ; Today was … wonderfully … sunny and hot again !
This morning Joanne went to join a water aerobics group, sessions held in the swimming pool four mornings a week, weather permitting. When she returned we did the weekly pet dental care then set off for some errands.
We went to RV Connection, a local RV parts supply business, looking for a couple of items, neither of which they had. Maybe we’ll be able to find them in Quartzsite in a couple of weeks ? We went to Arby’s for an early lunch. Joanne had found a good discount coupon and wanted to give Arby’s a second chance. The first chance was a visit to Arby’s about … < thinking > … maybe 30 years ago ? She didn’t like Arby’s then. HA HA HA … and you thought I held a grudge ? ! ? After lunch I refilled Lanoire with diesel. HMPH … price went up ! We drove to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Yuma School Of Beauty, where I bought Joanne a makeover package as a birthday gift. It takes an entire afternoon and includes a shampoo, deep conditioning treatment, scalp massage, hair styling, facial, makeup, and manicure. Like “a day at the spa” I guess.
From “downtown” we headed out to Bard, California, for the “main event” of our outing. Date shakes ! At Sun Gardens Date Farm. Bo loooooves date shakes ! HA HA HA … as do we all ! Just before we arrived at Sun Gardens we passed a lettuce field the likes of which we have never seen before. It was a field of “mixed greens” lettuce. In each “row” there were eight different types of lettuce. How unusual ! And pretty ! I stopped to take a picture. We enjoyed our date shakes sitting at a picnic table under the shade of date trees.
On the way home we passed a lettuce field that had just been harvested today or yesterday perhaps. When a field is picked, the pickers leave behind anything that is not “perfect” ; too large, too small, somehow cosmetically imperfect. It’s commonly understood in this area that the “left behinds” can be picked for free by anyone passing by. I parked, took my pocket knife out of the truck console, and walked into the field. It was a field of “red” lettuce, and I picked a head that was obviously left because it was too large. I thought it was a gorgeous head of lettuce ! Much bigger and nicer than anything we’ve ever bought in a store ! Joanne thought it was a bit “dusty”.
We decided that instead of going straight home we would drive to Arizona Sands RV Park and see if our friends Marty and Barry and their dog Sunny were there. They had arrived in Yuma a few days ago from their home in San Felipe, Mexico, for some medical matters for Barry. We found their rig, but they weren’t home. Oh, well !
As soon as we got home Joanne put the large head of red lettuce in a sink full of cold water to rinse off the desert dust and we headed for the swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon. AHHHHH ! When we got home, and the lettuce had been soaking for awhile, well … ! The dust was rinsed off, and since she had placed it with the freshly cut bottom down in the water, it had absorbed some water and perked right up ! WOW … now that’s a lovely head of lettuce ! And looks like it might be enough to feed an army. And it don’t get any fresher than that !
We took Bo for his daily long walk. I helped Joanne prepare for the barbecue an idea I had. Since we have a virtually unlimited supply of fresh lemons I wanted to cook some fish in a packet of aluminum foil with onions and lots of freshly sliced lemons. After supper we watched a funny, irreverent movie ; Dogma. HA HA HA HA HA … Alanis Morisette as God !
This morning I did some chores and then we began giving Bo a haircut. My goodness … his hair was very long ! His haircut was overdue by about two months, I guess. We cut half his hair then took a break for lunch. HA HA HA … you look pretty funny like that, Bo, with half a haircut. In the afternoon we completed the job. Now you look good, Bo !
We went to the swimming pool for awhile, then I drove to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. When I returned home there was about an hour of daylight left, so we took Bo for his daily long walk. It was such nice weather we decided to take an exceptionally long walk and explore the neighbourhood a bit, so to speak. We walked about four miles through this area which is a mix of suburban and agricultural. By the time we returned home at dusk, we were all tired.
In the evening we watched a movie ; “Don’t Talk To Strangers”. Weak plot !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm, a bit windy.
This morning I headed out for my 10 AM appointment at Fisher Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Or in the new lingo of the car world … Fisher CDJ. I have been to Fisher CDJ before. And prior to that I used to take Dee-Dee to Fisher Chevrolet GMC. There are a lot of car dealerships in Yuma, and it seems as if they’re all owned by either Fisher or Alexander. And some of the many RV dealers as well ! But I digress !
Fisher CDJ replaced the leaking pinion seal at the rear differential. They were quick and efficient. I was impressed. And I’m rarely impressed by an automobile dealership service department. This was likely the last repair that I won’t have to pay for. Lanoire’s warranty expires very soon. I vowed when we bought her that as soon as the warranty expired I was going to trade her in on a new one. Well … now I don’t think so ! She has been extremely trouble free … up to her current age of 5½ years and ( soon ) 160,000 km. / 100,000 miles ! On the way home I went to Interstate Batteries to get information on new batteries for the truck. I will probably replace Lanoire’s two batteries before we start heading north in April. Although I might hold off until we’re in Oregon where there’s no sales tax.
I was home in time for a late lunch followed by a brief nap with Sully. Then Joanne and I went to the hot tub for awhile. The wind made it seem a bit too cool for the swimming pool. We took Bo for his daily long walk. Not as long a walk as yesterday. Joanne’s legs are sore today from yesterday’s walk.
Tonight’s movie was … Pale Rider. I looooove old Clint Eastwood westerns !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm.
This morning we headed out for a couple of hours of errands before meeting our friends Barry and Marty for a very late lunch at Hometown Buffet. Our first stop was Arizona Market Place, the nearby huge flea market. We didn’t go in ! Until recently admission to Arizona Market Place was free on Thursdays and Fridays, pay on Saturdays and Sundays. Now it’s free only on Thursdays. Okay … see you next Thursday. There’s nothing from there that we need badly enough to justify paying admission. Next stop was the water and propane refill place to refill a water jug. Then over to the Wally’s World store for some hardware items. Wally’s World is one of the larger hardware / “guy stuff” stores at the two local flea markets. And now they have a retail storefront location. Today we bought everything at their storefront location that we were going to the Arizona Market Place for. So there ! Stuff your admission fee where the sun don’t shine !
On the way to Hometown Buffet we stopped at Michael’s to buy an advertised special. Fourteen foam paint brushes for a dollar. HMPH … guess I won’t be trying to wash out them little foam paint brushes anymore after using them ! We spent a long afternoon at Hometown Buffet eating and visiting with Barry and Marty. We haven’t seen them in a few years. We made a “doggy play date” with them for next week, with Bo and their dog Sunny at Yuma Bark Park.
On the way home we stopped at Kofa Ko-op to make a Yuma Park N Swap shopping date with Joanne’s friend Eilene. The sun was too low in the sky to allow me to finish my project of taking photos of each and every lot at Kofa. And our friends Robert and Sharon were not home either. They came by our place this morning but we missed them. They left a note advising us that they were headed to Los Algodones today for their fourth visit this week to a dentist. And they’re leaving Yuma tomorrow morning. Guess we won’t see them until the next Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally. There was a note on the bulletin board about the sudden death last night … after she attended the weekly Thursday evening poker game … of a resident at Kofa Ko-op. Gee … I said “hello” to her as she walked by me when I was there two days ago taking photos. She was an elderly German Jewish woman with … < long pause > … numbers tattooed on her forearm !
We got home with just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk. In the evening I reconciled the January MasterCard statements which I had downloaded this morning.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. This afternoon and evening was Rancho Bonitos’s “Western” party. We didn’t attend. The dinner offering was incompatible with my colitis. And … we’re both really not fans of “Western / Country” music.
This morning was taken up with routine chores and maintenance. One of the daily chores here in the desert is cleaning the very fine layer of desert dust off the truck using a “California Duster”. A few days ago while dusting the truck I was feeling a but crabby about this daily chore, then shifted my perspective. Now I dust the truck on a daily basis, out in the warm sunlight, with a smile on my face, thinking … “I surely am glad that I don’t have to scrape frost off the truck windows every morning”. Today while dusting the truck a hornet / wasp was buzzing in my face, irritating me. I smacked it away with the California Duster. HA … solved that problem ! For about five seconds … until the ****ing thing stung me on the back, between the shoulder blades !
In the afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping to Albertsons. I napped with Sully and Bo then did some computer work. After Joanne returned she got the laundry started and we went to the pool and hot tub. We had them all to ourselves because the “Western” party had already started. When the laundry was done and we were finished in the pool and hot tub we took Bo for his daily long walk.
< sigh > Since we are staying for three ( plus ) months in Yuma, our daily lives have become somewhat routine … and lacking in “adventure”. Which is okay … I guess … but I wonder if keeping a daily journal is justified ? Time to change my approach, I suppose, somewhat like I do during the summers.
Tonight’s movie was “A Beautiful Mind”. < shrug >
DSK
Sunday, January 16, 2011
January 9 to 15, 2011
January 9 to 15, 2011
Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I repaired Sully’s 12V heated blanket … his “heater blankie”. This is the second heater blankie we’ve had, and the last ! The workmanship and design quality are poor.
This afternoon I did some online work including posting my weekly journal to my blog. I reconciled my December investment statements. HMPH … more year end fees than I remember ! I reviewed the U.S. IRS form 8840. This is a form that I recently became aware of. It’s a form that the United States Internal Revenue Service requires to be filled out by “aliens” who spend significant periods of time in the U.S. each year … like us “Snowbirds”. It establishes that we are exempt from treatment as U.S. residents by the IRS on the basis of a “closer connection” to a country other than the United States. I would suggest that almost all “Snowbirds” are unaware of this form. However, since we are likely to become U.S. “property owners”
( lifetime leaseholders, actually ) in 2011, I think I had better begin submitting this form annually, starting with the 2010 taxation year.
In the evening we went to the monthly birthday social, followed by the weekly card bingo games.
Monday ; Today was sunny and mild.
It wasn’t until this morning that we heard about the incident “down the road” in Tucson on Saturday. Six dead, fourteen more wounded … at a ****ing Safeway grocery store ! ! ! ? ? ? ! ! ! “There but for the grace of God go I” ! ! ! I should refrain from typing any more about this incident, because I’m feeling in a pretty foul mood right now about God blessed America’s constitutional right to bear arms ! ! !
This afternoon we drove to The Foothills ( east side of Yuma ) to buy two tickets at Buffalo Bus Tours for a day trip to Quartzsite. We are going to Quartzsite on Saturday, January 29, the day after Joanne’s birthday, and the second last day of the massively huge 28th annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. We’ve been to Quartzsite a few times before, but never during the “big show”. And the price of two tickets on the bus trip is less than the cost of gas for the truck if we drove there ourselves. After buying the bus trip tickets we went shopping for sandals for me at Foothills Shoes. They carry the SAS line of shoes that I favour. We spent more time there than I would have liked. I chose a pair of sandals but did not buy them today. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the Wal-Mart in The Foothills.
When we returned home we took Bo for his daily long walk, then picked grapefruits. This park has many grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees, providing residents with an unlimited supply of fresh fruit. We’ve been eating grapefruits for breakfast. Joanne has made fruit salads. Today she made a grapefruit pie, a recipe she learned in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. I’m eagerly awaiting the marmalade she said she would make for me.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and cold.
This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM appointment with Dra. Camacho. When we arrived at the dentists’ office, we were immediately advised that my appointment would have to be rescheduled because neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today. HMPH … right … this is Mexico … it would be too much to expect that the office would phone the patient before they left home ! ! ! The Camacho dentists were not in today because they were in the hospital in San Luis Rio Colorado, a nearby border town. Their teenaged son required some manner of emergency surgery. My oral surgery appointment was rescheduled for Saturday morning.
We went shopping for some special “hocus pocus” health teas at the health food store in Los Algodones before heading back across the border. I had read an article about magnesium chloride and wanted to buy some. I thought it was available as a tea. It wasn’t. We bought magnesium chloride powder and fennel tea. The fennel tea tastes … bad. The magnesium chloride, mixed in water to the correct dosage, tastes … awful ! I suppose I’ll try it for a few days, but after one taste today I doubt that I can tolerate it as a daily habit.
This afternoon we gave Bo a bath, brushed his teeth, trimmed his dew claws, and brushed Sully’s teeth. So there … you’re both done ! Sheesh ! They both acted like we were torturing them ! In the evening I calculated the days in each country … Canada, United States, Mexico … for the last seven calendar years, data I require to complete the U.S. IRS 8840 form < sigh >. As if completing our Canadian income tax forms on an annual basis isn’t tedious enough !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning after a brief but “enthusiastic” squabble, Joanne and I went our separate ways today, trying to give each other some time and space to cool down. I headed out to run errands.
I refilled a propane tank at nearby Fruit Growers Supply Company. A neighbour recently advised me that propane was available there. From there I went to the Wal-Mart mall on Pacific, refilled a water jug at one of the outdoor water refill kiosks, then went into Wal-Mart to buy cat food. They were out of stock of Sully’s food. Okay … over to PetsMart at Yuma Palms. WOO-HOO … Bo loves going to PetsMart. I bought cat food and dog food at PetsMart. I forgot that we needed pet toothpaste ! Back to “The Big Curve” where I activated our new debit cards in the ATM at the Bank of America. Then over to Sears to see if the Auto Center Manager had resolved my “dually tire rotation” issue. He wasn’t there, but I left a message for him and he phoned me a few minutes later as I was driving home. YES … having purchased six tires at Sears … for a dually … I was entitled to free tire rotations for life … at any Sears store in the United States. There’s no difference between spending $1000 to buy 4 tires for a car and getting free rotations, and spending $1500 to buy 6 tires for a dually and getting free rotations … which are probably 50% more difficult on a dually, but … I spent 50% more, didn’t I ? ! ? Now I’m going to be eagerly awaiting an apology from the manager of the Sears Auto Center in Fresno, California.
Back at home I had lunch then napped briefly with Sully. Joanne went out. I polished shoes. I sharpened knives. I took Bo for a long walk in the warm afternoon sunshine. I did some accounting. I wrote this journal entry. I worked on the IRS 8840 form. I spent the evening working online. It took a long time to accomplish not that large an amount of work due to network congestion, a seemingly common problem in California and southwest Arizona !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. This is the second day that Joanne and I have kept our distance from one another, and that seems like a good idea at the moment !
This morning I discovered that the pinion seal at the rear differential of the truck is leaking … again ! I had the pinion seal replaced about two months ago in Fresno, California. For it to be leaking this soon after replacement suggests to me that the replacement was not done correctly. Yes, yes, apparently it’s still hard to get good help < fume > ! I took the barbecue’s little propane tank to be refilled. Bo enjoyed the drivey. I made an appointment with Fisher Chrysler to have the pinion seal replaced in a week. I took Bo for a long walk in the desert. WHEW … hotter than I thought it was ! Had to take my shirt off ! That’s okay … it’s about time I get some sunlight on my poor white skin. I look so … Canadian ! I went to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 1 to 35. I want to have photos of all the lots in the park so that when we get offered a lot, I can look at a photo of it and know what we’re getting. Our Kofa Ko-op friend Ronnie ( actually Reynald, but nobody here can properly pronounce a French Canadian name like that ) is in the hospital with double pneumonia. < sigh > Could that be an unintended result of the aggressive radiation therapy he’s currently undergoing for a malignant growth on his lip ? I think we’ll go visit him tomorrow.
In the evening I watched a movie ; Con Air. Oh, please … get real !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm but quite windy. A depressing day of continued “relationship angst”, illness, and visiting a very sick old friend in the hospital.
A few days ago I began to take a new mineral supplement I bought in Mexico. And … at the same time, I began “experimenting” with the dosages of my regular medications. Well, the result was … I became very ill this afternoon. I don’t know which was the cause of me becoming so sick, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I suppose I should discard the mineral supplement, and return to my regular dosages of medications. What the hell was I thinking ? ! ?
And after three days of difficulties, Joanne and I made some progress today … but not much … and not without a lot of turmoil.
This evening I went to the hospital to visit our friend Reynald / “Ronnie”. He was born in Quebec, but left when he was a child. He’s 84 years old now, is battling cancer, was undergoing an aggressive regimen of radiation therapy until a few days ago, and now has double pneumonia. He doesn’t look good ! I hope he recovers.
Well … ! ! ! ! ! And to put a nice finish to this day, I have just retrieved e-mail ( at 10:30 PM ) to discover that an Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friend has died.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot … finally ! This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM dentist appointment, rescheduled from Tuesday. Upon arrival at the dentists’ office we were advised that neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today … again !
In Mexico, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s not unusual for guns to be fired into the air. And … it’s not unusual for people to be injured by the bullets falling back to earth. The teenaged son of Dr. and Dra. Camacho was struck in the leg by a bullet on New Year’s Eve. And they were unaware of that for ten days. He thought he had been slightly injured by a firecracker. After ten days of the injury becoming worse and worse, they took him to the hospital where an x-ray revealed the bullet. He had surgery to remove the bullet, and then the family decided they needed to take a short holiday for him to recuperate. Dr. And Dra. Camacho and their family are currently vacationing in Guadalajara.
Before leaving, Dra. Camacho arranged for my appointment today to be handled by Dra. Esther Estolano, a periodontist from nearby San Luis Rio Colorado. In addition to her periodontal practice in San Luis Rio Colorado, Dra. Estolano is in Los Algodones on Wednesdays and Saturdays, providing “mobile” periodontal services / consultations at other “generalist” dentists’ offices. That’s fairly common in Los Algodones for the dental specialists such as periodontists and orthodontists. Dra. Estolano examined me, took a slightly different approach than Dra. Camacho to my required oral surgery, then scheduled me for two oral surgeries, one in three weeks and one in four weeks. After that she wants Dra. Camacho to remove and replace a crown that I have had for twenty years that has become troublesome from a periodontal perspective.
As if my mood wasn’t foul enough … when we crossed the border back into the United States, the primary Customs and Border Patrol Agent pulled me aside for a secondary “inspection”. Apparently he didn’t like the tone of my voice, or the many pockets in my cargo pants, or whatever criteria these brilliant professionals use to make their decisions ! The secondary agent had me empty all the pouches on my fanny pack and all the pockets on my pants, and asked even more stupid questions than the first agent did, then sent me on my way. Keep up the good work, fellas ! Keep your Homeland Secure from them fat, old, fat wallet Canadians coming back from dental appointments in Mexico ! ! ! < mumbling under my breath > You jack wagons !
This afternoon we took Bo for his daily long walk then went to spend time in the pool and hot tub. Around 4 PM I headed to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. As I was taking a photo of lot 67 … HEY ! Our friends Robert and Sharon from Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 were pulling into the lot. I accepted their invitation to have a beer, and visited with them for awhile. They’re here in Yuma for a week. I hope we can get together while they’re here.
While at Kofa Ko-op I learned that our friend Monica fell yesterday and broke her arm so severely that she had to be flown to Phoenix for surgery. Sheesh !
HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! While I’m typing this Joanne is making marmalade with lemons, oranges and grapefruits freshly picked from the fruit trees around this RV park. Bo is begging for fruit. Bo loooooves fruit ! She just gave him a chunk of lemon. HA HA HA HA HA … Bo has never had lemon before. Not quite what you had expected, was it Bo ? ! ?
DSK
Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I repaired Sully’s 12V heated blanket … his “heater blankie”. This is the second heater blankie we’ve had, and the last ! The workmanship and design quality are poor.
This afternoon I did some online work including posting my weekly journal to my blog. I reconciled my December investment statements. HMPH … more year end fees than I remember ! I reviewed the U.S. IRS form 8840. This is a form that I recently became aware of. It’s a form that the United States Internal Revenue Service requires to be filled out by “aliens” who spend significant periods of time in the U.S. each year … like us “Snowbirds”. It establishes that we are exempt from treatment as U.S. residents by the IRS on the basis of a “closer connection” to a country other than the United States. I would suggest that almost all “Snowbirds” are unaware of this form. However, since we are likely to become U.S. “property owners”
( lifetime leaseholders, actually ) in 2011, I think I had better begin submitting this form annually, starting with the 2010 taxation year.
In the evening we went to the monthly birthday social, followed by the weekly card bingo games.
Monday ; Today was sunny and mild.
It wasn’t until this morning that we heard about the incident “down the road” in Tucson on Saturday. Six dead, fourteen more wounded … at a ****ing Safeway grocery store ! ! ! ? ? ? ! ! ! “There but for the grace of God go I” ! ! ! I should refrain from typing any more about this incident, because I’m feeling in a pretty foul mood right now about God blessed America’s constitutional right to bear arms ! ! !
This afternoon we drove to The Foothills ( east side of Yuma ) to buy two tickets at Buffalo Bus Tours for a day trip to Quartzsite. We are going to Quartzsite on Saturday, January 29, the day after Joanne’s birthday, and the second last day of the massively huge 28th annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. We’ve been to Quartzsite a few times before, but never during the “big show”. And the price of two tickets on the bus trip is less than the cost of gas for the truck if we drove there ourselves. After buying the bus trip tickets we went shopping for sandals for me at Foothills Shoes. They carry the SAS line of shoes that I favour. We spent more time there than I would have liked. I chose a pair of sandals but did not buy them today. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the Wal-Mart in The Foothills.
When we returned home we took Bo for his daily long walk, then picked grapefruits. This park has many grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees, providing residents with an unlimited supply of fresh fruit. We’ve been eating grapefruits for breakfast. Joanne has made fruit salads. Today she made a grapefruit pie, a recipe she learned in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. I’m eagerly awaiting the marmalade she said she would make for me.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and cold.
This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM appointment with Dra. Camacho. When we arrived at the dentists’ office, we were immediately advised that my appointment would have to be rescheduled because neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today. HMPH … right … this is Mexico … it would be too much to expect that the office would phone the patient before they left home ! ! ! The Camacho dentists were not in today because they were in the hospital in San Luis Rio Colorado, a nearby border town. Their teenaged son required some manner of emergency surgery. My oral surgery appointment was rescheduled for Saturday morning.
We went shopping for some special “hocus pocus” health teas at the health food store in Los Algodones before heading back across the border. I had read an article about magnesium chloride and wanted to buy some. I thought it was available as a tea. It wasn’t. We bought magnesium chloride powder and fennel tea. The fennel tea tastes … bad. The magnesium chloride, mixed in water to the correct dosage, tastes … awful ! I suppose I’ll try it for a few days, but after one taste today I doubt that I can tolerate it as a daily habit.
This afternoon we gave Bo a bath, brushed his teeth, trimmed his dew claws, and brushed Sully’s teeth. So there … you’re both done ! Sheesh ! They both acted like we were torturing them ! In the evening I calculated the days in each country … Canada, United States, Mexico … for the last seven calendar years, data I require to complete the U.S. IRS 8840 form < sigh >. As if completing our Canadian income tax forms on an annual basis isn’t tedious enough !
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning after a brief but “enthusiastic” squabble, Joanne and I went our separate ways today, trying to give each other some time and space to cool down. I headed out to run errands.
I refilled a propane tank at nearby Fruit Growers Supply Company. A neighbour recently advised me that propane was available there. From there I went to the Wal-Mart mall on Pacific, refilled a water jug at one of the outdoor water refill kiosks, then went into Wal-Mart to buy cat food. They were out of stock of Sully’s food. Okay … over to PetsMart at Yuma Palms. WOO-HOO … Bo loves going to PetsMart. I bought cat food and dog food at PetsMart. I forgot that we needed pet toothpaste ! Back to “The Big Curve” where I activated our new debit cards in the ATM at the Bank of America. Then over to Sears to see if the Auto Center Manager had resolved my “dually tire rotation” issue. He wasn’t there, but I left a message for him and he phoned me a few minutes later as I was driving home. YES … having purchased six tires at Sears … for a dually … I was entitled to free tire rotations for life … at any Sears store in the United States. There’s no difference between spending $1000 to buy 4 tires for a car and getting free rotations, and spending $1500 to buy 6 tires for a dually and getting free rotations … which are probably 50% more difficult on a dually, but … I spent 50% more, didn’t I ? ! ? Now I’m going to be eagerly awaiting an apology from the manager of the Sears Auto Center in Fresno, California.
Back at home I had lunch then napped briefly with Sully. Joanne went out. I polished shoes. I sharpened knives. I took Bo for a long walk in the warm afternoon sunshine. I did some accounting. I wrote this journal entry. I worked on the IRS 8840 form. I spent the evening working online. It took a long time to accomplish not that large an amount of work due to network congestion, a seemingly common problem in California and southwest Arizona !
Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. This is the second day that Joanne and I have kept our distance from one another, and that seems like a good idea at the moment !
This morning I discovered that the pinion seal at the rear differential of the truck is leaking … again ! I had the pinion seal replaced about two months ago in Fresno, California. For it to be leaking this soon after replacement suggests to me that the replacement was not done correctly. Yes, yes, apparently it’s still hard to get good help < fume > ! I took the barbecue’s little propane tank to be refilled. Bo enjoyed the drivey. I made an appointment with Fisher Chrysler to have the pinion seal replaced in a week. I took Bo for a long walk in the desert. WHEW … hotter than I thought it was ! Had to take my shirt off ! That’s okay … it’s about time I get some sunlight on my poor white skin. I look so … Canadian ! I went to Kofa Ko-op and took photos of lots 1 to 35. I want to have photos of all the lots in the park so that when we get offered a lot, I can look at a photo of it and know what we’re getting. Our Kofa Ko-op friend Ronnie ( actually Reynald, but nobody here can properly pronounce a French Canadian name like that ) is in the hospital with double pneumonia. < sigh > Could that be an unintended result of the aggressive radiation therapy he’s currently undergoing for a malignant growth on his lip ? I think we’ll go visit him tomorrow.
In the evening I watched a movie ; Con Air. Oh, please … get real !
Friday ; Today was sunny and warm but quite windy. A depressing day of continued “relationship angst”, illness, and visiting a very sick old friend in the hospital.
A few days ago I began to take a new mineral supplement I bought in Mexico. And … at the same time, I began “experimenting” with the dosages of my regular medications. Well, the result was … I became very ill this afternoon. I don’t know which was the cause of me becoming so sick, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I suppose I should discard the mineral supplement, and return to my regular dosages of medications. What the hell was I thinking ? ! ?
And after three days of difficulties, Joanne and I made some progress today … but not much … and not without a lot of turmoil.
This evening I went to the hospital to visit our friend Reynald / “Ronnie”. He was born in Quebec, but left when he was a child. He’s 84 years old now, is battling cancer, was undergoing an aggressive regimen of radiation therapy until a few days ago, and now has double pneumonia. He doesn’t look good ! I hope he recovers.
Well … ! ! ! ! ! And to put a nice finish to this day, I have just retrieved e-mail ( at 10:30 PM ) to discover that an Escapee BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friend has died.
Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot … finally ! This morning we headed for Los Algodones for my 10 AM dentist appointment, rescheduled from Tuesday. Upon arrival at the dentists’ office we were advised that neither Dr. nor Dra. Camacho was in today … again !
In Mexico, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s not unusual for guns to be fired into the air. And … it’s not unusual for people to be injured by the bullets falling back to earth. The teenaged son of Dr. and Dra. Camacho was struck in the leg by a bullet on New Year’s Eve. And they were unaware of that for ten days. He thought he had been slightly injured by a firecracker. After ten days of the injury becoming worse and worse, they took him to the hospital where an x-ray revealed the bullet. He had surgery to remove the bullet, and then the family decided they needed to take a short holiday for him to recuperate. Dr. And Dra. Camacho and their family are currently vacationing in Guadalajara.
Before leaving, Dra. Camacho arranged for my appointment today to be handled by Dra. Esther Estolano, a periodontist from nearby San Luis Rio Colorado. In addition to her periodontal practice in San Luis Rio Colorado, Dra. Estolano is in Los Algodones on Wednesdays and Saturdays, providing “mobile” periodontal services / consultations at other “generalist” dentists’ offices. That’s fairly common in Los Algodones for the dental specialists such as periodontists and orthodontists. Dra. Estolano examined me, took a slightly different approach than Dra. Camacho to my required oral surgery, then scheduled me for two oral surgeries, one in three weeks and one in four weeks. After that she wants Dra. Camacho to remove and replace a crown that I have had for twenty years that has become troublesome from a periodontal perspective.
As if my mood wasn’t foul enough … when we crossed the border back into the United States, the primary Customs and Border Patrol Agent pulled me aside for a secondary “inspection”. Apparently he didn’t like the tone of my voice, or the many pockets in my cargo pants, or whatever criteria these brilliant professionals use to make their decisions ! The secondary agent had me empty all the pouches on my fanny pack and all the pockets on my pants, and asked even more stupid questions than the first agent did, then sent me on my way. Keep up the good work, fellas ! Keep your Homeland Secure from them fat, old, fat wallet Canadians coming back from dental appointments in Mexico ! ! ! < mumbling under my breath > You jack wagons !
This afternoon we took Bo for his daily long walk then went to spend time in the pool and hot tub. Around 4 PM I headed to Kofa Ko-op to continue taking photos of the lots. As I was taking a photo of lot 67 … HEY ! Our friends Robert and Sharon from Escapees BC Okanagan Chapter 33 were pulling into the lot. I accepted their invitation to have a beer, and visited with them for awhile. They’re here in Yuma for a week. I hope we can get together while they’re here.
While at Kofa Ko-op I learned that our friend Monica fell yesterday and broke her arm so severely that she had to be flown to Phoenix for surgery. Sheesh !
HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! While I’m typing this Joanne is making marmalade with lemons, oranges and grapefruits freshly picked from the fruit trees around this RV park. Bo is begging for fruit. Bo loooooves fruit ! She just gave him a chunk of lemon. HA HA HA HA HA … Bo has never had lemon before. Not quite what you had expected, was it Bo ? ! ?
DSK
Sunday, January 9, 2011
January 2 to 8, 2011
January 2 to 8, 2011
Sunday ; This morning was sunny and cold, warming throughout the day. The weather has been like that for a couple of days, and is expected to be like that for the next week or so.
This morning I did some chores and Joanne did laundry. After lunch we went to Yuma Park N Swap, also known as the Dog Track Flea Market because it’s behind the old Greyhound racing track. I don’t think they race Greyhounds there any more, but I’m not sure.
At 6 PM we went to the Rancho Bonitos monthly “birthday social” at the clubhouse, not sure what to expect. What we found was … a dark, empty clubhouse ! Okay … I guess our events calendar is out of date ? ! We browsed VCR tapes in the library and selected some movies to watch. I’ve had enough of Mexican soap operas !
At 7 PM we returned to the clubhouse to play card bingo. We didn’t know what that was, but we thought we should get to know more of our
“neighbours” by attending some of the planned social activities. Oh boy, I won a game. My winnings were 90 cents … in nickels !
We returned home and had a “movie date”. We watched “In The Line Of Fire” starring Clint Eastwood. I looooove Clint Eastwood movies. Ever since “Play Misty For Me” in 1971 !
Monday ; Well, it is now 10 PM and I have been working for 5½ hours on configuring my new Qwest modem / router, and getting connected to the Internet. That was supposed to be an eleven minute process ! ! !
I configured the modem / router in 3½ hours … or so I thought … and for the last 2 hours I have been trying to get connected to the Internet. Which I seem to be able to do for a few minutes at a time, and then things go wonky. I think Qwest is having problems tonight, but I can’t be sure. It might be my computer, or perhaps the new modem / router. In any case, I’m pretty frustrated with it all !
Today was sunny and cool. This morning we drove to Wal-Mart, I dropped Joanne off, then I went with Bo to Yuma Bark Park behind Wal-Mart. Bo and I spent an hour in Bark Park then we went back to Wal-Mart to pick up Joanne. On the way home we refilled a water jug and a propane tank, and we stopped at a hardware store to look for a few items. At the hardware store we bumped into a neighbour from back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
In the afternoon I worked on monthly computer maintenance chores ; disk cleanup, disk defragment, virus scan, malware scan, backups, that sort of stuff. And then < huge sigh > I began to work on configuring the new modem. By the time we had returned from shopping, a Qwest technician had left a note on our door advising that the installation of our DSL line was complete, so I could proceed with configuring the modem. Right ! ! !
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, México
This morning we headed to Los Algodones for our 11 AM appointments for dental cleanings and examinations. I’m extremely irritated that Dr. & Dra. Camacho have lost their ability or willingness to stay on schedule. However, they seem to be the only two dentists ( we can find ) in Los Algodones that don’t engage in a lot of “up sell” ( would you like fries with that ? ). While the Alamo Dental Clinic wanted to do over $5000 worth of root canals, implants, and crowns on me, Dra. ( Mrs. ) Camacho wants to replace one old cavity at a cost of $60 and do deep cleaning / deep scaling / gum surgery on me at a cost of $250. Dr. ( Mr. ) Camacho wants to do nothing more to Joanne after her cleaning today. But … the hour and a quarter “behind schedule” really irritates me.
We didn’t linger in Mexico, crossing the border back into the U.S. immediately after finishing at the dentists. We stopped at Family Dollar to buy an advertised special, then went to Historic Downtown Yuma to pick up some tickets at the box office of Historic Yuma Theater. There was a Farmer’s Market downtown so we bought some fresh vegetables.
I was eager to get back home and resume working on my Qwest modem / router configuration. It went so badly yesterday that I convinced myself that I had done something wrong. So … I reset the modem back to its default state and started over. Using a neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet port and a CD / DVD drive, I reconfigured the modem / router, hard wired to the neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet cable, using the installation CD that came with the modem … as instructed. Then … I reconfigured my netbook to the modem / router online using Wi-Fi … as instructed. Then … for about 3 hours I recorded on a spreadsheet each time the router automatically reset itself because it lost connectivity to the Internet, and how long it maintained connectivity after each reset. The longest duration of connectivity was 22 minutes. There were some one minute and three minute durations. There were many zero minute durations of connectivity. My computer was working just fine. And the modem / router seemed to be working just fine. I can only conclude that Qwest’s DSL lines are that severely overloaded. Which apparently doesn’t stop their sales people from continuing to sell their services ! I will be returning their hardware to them tomorrow ! And telling them where to shove their billing ! And then I’ll be trying to figure out what am I going to do about Internet service for the next three months ? ! ?
Joanne became suddenly and severely ill this evening. Seemed likely to be food poisoning. And … it can’t be blamed on Mexico, we didn’t eat there today.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning we headed out to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to return the Qwest modem / router to the Qwest store. There wasn’t really a problem with returning it and cancelling the service, but at the same time there wasn’t much concern with my dissatisfaction either. I guess their attitude is “ya win some, ya lose some” ! We crossed the mall over to Best Buy where we did some research … in the store and online using one of their Internet connected computers … on USB modems / “air cards”. We decided to buy a Virgin Mobile “Broadband 2 Go” USB modem / air card, but not at Best Buy. It was $20 cheaper online from Virgin Mobile.
We drove to Family Dollar to buy some advertised specials, then headed towards “The Big Curve” … where 32nd Street curves around to become 4th Avenue. We do a lot of our shopping in the vicinity of “The Big Curve”. We stopped at Rally’s and had lunch. Joanne was no longer ill this morning, but still wasn’t feeling great, so she wasn’t “up“ to a Big Buford. I was ! We decided to check whether CVS Pharmacy and / or Walgreens had the Virgin Mobile Broadband 2 Go stick. Neither did, but Walgreens had a “clone”, and it was on sale this week. I bought the ReadyBroadband USB modem and a $25 top-up card, hoping for the best !
We returned home and I began the somewhat onerous task of installing and configuring the ReadyBroadband device. It didn’t go particularly smoothly, but eventually I succeeded. At last … I have Internet in the trailer ! The ReadyBroadband device uses the Sprint network, and while the Sprint coverage map shows our location as having 3G coverage, the speed of the connection would suggest that it’s probably only 2G coverage. The staff at Best Buy warned me that the Sprint coverage map is notoriously inaccurate. Oh well, it’s a bit slow, but I’m happy to finally have Internet in the trailer.
We took Bo for a long walk at sunset. While Joanne prepared supper I began working on a backlog of online work I had to do. I spent much of the evening online getting caught up.
Thursday ; Today was sunny and mild, a bit windy early in the day. Our new USB modem is a “pay as you go” way to access the Internet. Usage is “metered”. Yesterday and today we gobbled up much more “usage” than I would like. I’m going to have to learn how to “conserve” Internet usage.
This morning Joanne did some Internet research. One of the things she wanted more information on was a day trip outing by bus to the Indio Date Festival. Indio is a suburb of Palm Springs, California. So … Happy Birthday, my dear … as a birthday gift for her upcoming 57th birthday I reserved two bus tickets to the Indio Date Festival. Leave Yuma early in the morning, return very late the same night, leave the driving to somebody else ! Gee … I used to give her trips to Rome and Paris for her birthdays. Now … < sigh > … I’m giving her bus trips to Indio !
We were advised by Joanne’s brother-in-law Doug of the death a couple of days ago of a high school classmate of ours. She was a “jock”, the epitome of good health and physical fitness. She died of cancer. < sigh > There’s something strangely ( and perhaps bitterly, from some perspectives ! ) ironic about the fat smoker ( me … although now an ex-smoker ) outliving my “jock” contemporaries !
This afternoon we took Bo and Sully to the veterinarian for their annual examinations and inoculations. Everything was routine, the bill seemed a bit high, but I guess it always does ! We stopped at Peanut Patch and bought some fresh < pleasant sigh > peanut butter. We went to Kofa Ko-op to finalize pick up arrangements with Joanne’s friend Eilene who is joining us on an outing tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on setting up our dental and eye care records in the computer.
Friday ; Today was once again sunny and mild, getting warmer each day. This morning I woke up feeling … well, you know < blush … giggle >.
< insert musical interlude here > Afterwards I completed our 2010 medical expenses spreadsheet for income tax purposes and calculated our 2011 Pharmacare deductible and co-pay amounts. After lunch we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up Joanne’s friend Eilene.
We went to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Historic Yuma Theater, to attend the Popovich Comedy Pet Show, the kick off to Petsapalooza, this weekend’s pet festival in Yuma. Gregory Popovich is a Russian juggler / comedian / animal trainer with a show lasting over an hour featuring about a dozen dogs and at least that many cats, as well as a parrot and a trio of ducks. The “tricks” that the dogs do are great. The “tricks” that the cats do are astounding ! ! ! Cats are not that easy to train. I know ! ! ! Most of his animals are adopted from shelters. He and his animals put on a great show.
When we came out of the theatre we walked over to Tour West America to buy two tickets for the bus trip to the Indio Date Festival, my birthday gift to Joanne. Well, three tickets, actually … Eilene is going to join us on that trip. On the way home we refilled with diesel and drove Eilene back home to Kofa Ko-op. Joanne went in to visit with Eilene for an hour while I worked online in the clubhouse using Wi-Fi. We got home to Rancho Bonitos with just enough daylight left to take Bo for his daily long walk. BRRRRR … it gets cool very rapidly out here in the desert as soon as the sun goes down. We made a great supper of barbecued beef roast with a spinach and barbecued potato salad. MMMMM !
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm … finally !
This morning we took care of a few chores then headed out for a day of shopping. First stop was Big 5 Sporting Goods, looking for a 1½ inch parachute buckle to replace the broken buckle on my fanny pack. I have looked everywhere for a 1½ inch parachute buckle ! Big 5 Sporting Goods did not have one ! Next stop was the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. It was “50% off everything” day. We bought some clothing. Then it was over to the Indoor Flea Market, new this year, located in a huge space that was previously a large department store. I gave up on my search for a 1½ inch parachute buckle and just bought a new fanny pack.
Next week I am going to have oral surgery. Joanne wanted to go to Hometown Buffet before that to use some discount coupons that expire soon, figuring that I won’t want to go to a buffet soon after oral surgery. So … we went to Hometown Buffet for a very large, late lunch. Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon at a parking lot RV sale at Las Palmillas Mall. We browsed through all of the fifth wheel trailers on display, then browsed through some Class A motorhomes and Class C motorhomes. There wasn’t much we liked ! I guess 6½ years of full time RV’ing has made us pretty picky about the features that we want in an RV. We chatted for quite awhile with a couple from Missouri when we went back to take a second look at the only fifth wheel ( of a dozen or so ) that we liked. Like us, they have a 2005 Dodge one ton diesel dually and a Cardinal fifth wheel trailer, although their trailer is newer than ours.
We returned home just at sunset, just in time to take Bo for a walk. In the evening we watched a movie ; Lorenzo’s Oil. Wow ! ! !
DSK
Sunday ; This morning was sunny and cold, warming throughout the day. The weather has been like that for a couple of days, and is expected to be like that for the next week or so.
This morning I did some chores and Joanne did laundry. After lunch we went to Yuma Park N Swap, also known as the Dog Track Flea Market because it’s behind the old Greyhound racing track. I don’t think they race Greyhounds there any more, but I’m not sure.
At 6 PM we went to the Rancho Bonitos monthly “birthday social” at the clubhouse, not sure what to expect. What we found was … a dark, empty clubhouse ! Okay … I guess our events calendar is out of date ? ! We browsed VCR tapes in the library and selected some movies to watch. I’ve had enough of Mexican soap operas !
At 7 PM we returned to the clubhouse to play card bingo. We didn’t know what that was, but we thought we should get to know more of our
“neighbours” by attending some of the planned social activities. Oh boy, I won a game. My winnings were 90 cents … in nickels !
We returned home and had a “movie date”. We watched “In The Line Of Fire” starring Clint Eastwood. I looooove Clint Eastwood movies. Ever since “Play Misty For Me” in 1971 !
Monday ; Well, it is now 10 PM and I have been working for 5½ hours on configuring my new Qwest modem / router, and getting connected to the Internet. That was supposed to be an eleven minute process ! ! !
I configured the modem / router in 3½ hours … or so I thought … and for the last 2 hours I have been trying to get connected to the Internet. Which I seem to be able to do for a few minutes at a time, and then things go wonky. I think Qwest is having problems tonight, but I can’t be sure. It might be my computer, or perhaps the new modem / router. In any case, I’m pretty frustrated with it all !
Today was sunny and cool. This morning we drove to Wal-Mart, I dropped Joanne off, then I went with Bo to Yuma Bark Park behind Wal-Mart. Bo and I spent an hour in Bark Park then we went back to Wal-Mart to pick up Joanne. On the way home we refilled a water jug and a propane tank, and we stopped at a hardware store to look for a few items. At the hardware store we bumped into a neighbour from back home at Riverside RV Park Resort.
In the afternoon I worked on monthly computer maintenance chores ; disk cleanup, disk defragment, virus scan, malware scan, backups, that sort of stuff. And then < huge sigh > I began to work on configuring the new modem. By the time we had returned from shopping, a Qwest technician had left a note on our door advising that the installation of our DSL line was complete, so I could proceed with configuring the modem. Right ! ! !
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, México
This morning we headed to Los Algodones for our 11 AM appointments for dental cleanings and examinations. I’m extremely irritated that Dr. & Dra. Camacho have lost their ability or willingness to stay on schedule. However, they seem to be the only two dentists ( we can find ) in Los Algodones that don’t engage in a lot of “up sell” ( would you like fries with that ? ). While the Alamo Dental Clinic wanted to do over $5000 worth of root canals, implants, and crowns on me, Dra. ( Mrs. ) Camacho wants to replace one old cavity at a cost of $60 and do deep cleaning / deep scaling / gum surgery on me at a cost of $250. Dr. ( Mr. ) Camacho wants to do nothing more to Joanne after her cleaning today. But … the hour and a quarter “behind schedule” really irritates me.
We didn’t linger in Mexico, crossing the border back into the U.S. immediately after finishing at the dentists. We stopped at Family Dollar to buy an advertised special, then went to Historic Downtown Yuma to pick up some tickets at the box office of Historic Yuma Theater. There was a Farmer’s Market downtown so we bought some fresh vegetables.
I was eager to get back home and resume working on my Qwest modem / router configuration. It went so badly yesterday that I convinced myself that I had done something wrong. So … I reset the modem back to its default state and started over. Using a neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet port and a CD / DVD drive, I reconfigured the modem / router, hard wired to the neighbour’s laptop with an Ethernet cable, using the installation CD that came with the modem … as instructed. Then … I reconfigured my netbook to the modem / router online using Wi-Fi … as instructed. Then … for about 3 hours I recorded on a spreadsheet each time the router automatically reset itself because it lost connectivity to the Internet, and how long it maintained connectivity after each reset. The longest duration of connectivity was 22 minutes. There were some one minute and three minute durations. There were many zero minute durations of connectivity. My computer was working just fine. And the modem / router seemed to be working just fine. I can only conclude that Qwest’s DSL lines are that severely overloaded. Which apparently doesn’t stop their sales people from continuing to sell their services ! I will be returning their hardware to them tomorrow ! And telling them where to shove their billing ! And then I’ll be trying to figure out what am I going to do about Internet service for the next three months ? ! ?
Joanne became suddenly and severely ill this evening. Seemed likely to be food poisoning. And … it can’t be blamed on Mexico, we didn’t eat there today.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning we headed out to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to return the Qwest modem / router to the Qwest store. There wasn’t really a problem with returning it and cancelling the service, but at the same time there wasn’t much concern with my dissatisfaction either. I guess their attitude is “ya win some, ya lose some” ! We crossed the mall over to Best Buy where we did some research … in the store and online using one of their Internet connected computers … on USB modems / “air cards”. We decided to buy a Virgin Mobile “Broadband 2 Go” USB modem / air card, but not at Best Buy. It was $20 cheaper online from Virgin Mobile.
We drove to Family Dollar to buy some advertised specials, then headed towards “The Big Curve” … where 32nd Street curves around to become 4th Avenue. We do a lot of our shopping in the vicinity of “The Big Curve”. We stopped at Rally’s and had lunch. Joanne was no longer ill this morning, but still wasn’t feeling great, so she wasn’t “up“ to a Big Buford. I was ! We decided to check whether CVS Pharmacy and / or Walgreens had the Virgin Mobile Broadband 2 Go stick. Neither did, but Walgreens had a “clone”, and it was on sale this week. I bought the ReadyBroadband USB modem and a $25 top-up card, hoping for the best !
We returned home and I began the somewhat onerous task of installing and configuring the ReadyBroadband device. It didn’t go particularly smoothly, but eventually I succeeded. At last … I have Internet in the trailer ! The ReadyBroadband device uses the Sprint network, and while the Sprint coverage map shows our location as having 3G coverage, the speed of the connection would suggest that it’s probably only 2G coverage. The staff at Best Buy warned me that the Sprint coverage map is notoriously inaccurate. Oh well, it’s a bit slow, but I’m happy to finally have Internet in the trailer.
We took Bo for a long walk at sunset. While Joanne prepared supper I began working on a backlog of online work I had to do. I spent much of the evening online getting caught up.
Thursday ; Today was sunny and mild, a bit windy early in the day. Our new USB modem is a “pay as you go” way to access the Internet. Usage is “metered”. Yesterday and today we gobbled up much more “usage” than I would like. I’m going to have to learn how to “conserve” Internet usage.
This morning Joanne did some Internet research. One of the things she wanted more information on was a day trip outing by bus to the Indio Date Festival. Indio is a suburb of Palm Springs, California. So … Happy Birthday, my dear … as a birthday gift for her upcoming 57th birthday I reserved two bus tickets to the Indio Date Festival. Leave Yuma early in the morning, return very late the same night, leave the driving to somebody else ! Gee … I used to give her trips to Rome and Paris for her birthdays. Now … < sigh > … I’m giving her bus trips to Indio !
We were advised by Joanne’s brother-in-law Doug of the death a couple of days ago of a high school classmate of ours. She was a “jock”, the epitome of good health and physical fitness. She died of cancer. < sigh > There’s something strangely ( and perhaps bitterly, from some perspectives ! ) ironic about the fat smoker ( me … although now an ex-smoker ) outliving my “jock” contemporaries !
This afternoon we took Bo and Sully to the veterinarian for their annual examinations and inoculations. Everything was routine, the bill seemed a bit high, but I guess it always does ! We stopped at Peanut Patch and bought some fresh < pleasant sigh > peanut butter. We went to Kofa Ko-op to finalize pick up arrangements with Joanne’s friend Eilene who is joining us on an outing tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on setting up our dental and eye care records in the computer.
Friday ; Today was once again sunny and mild, getting warmer each day. This morning I woke up feeling … well, you know < blush … giggle >.
< insert musical interlude here > Afterwards I completed our 2010 medical expenses spreadsheet for income tax purposes and calculated our 2011 Pharmacare deductible and co-pay amounts. After lunch we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up Joanne’s friend Eilene.
We went to Historic Downtown Yuma, to the Historic Yuma Theater, to attend the Popovich Comedy Pet Show, the kick off to Petsapalooza, this weekend’s pet festival in Yuma. Gregory Popovich is a Russian juggler / comedian / animal trainer with a show lasting over an hour featuring about a dozen dogs and at least that many cats, as well as a parrot and a trio of ducks. The “tricks” that the dogs do are great. The “tricks” that the cats do are astounding ! ! ! Cats are not that easy to train. I know ! ! ! Most of his animals are adopted from shelters. He and his animals put on a great show.
When we came out of the theatre we walked over to Tour West America to buy two tickets for the bus trip to the Indio Date Festival, my birthday gift to Joanne. Well, three tickets, actually … Eilene is going to join us on that trip. On the way home we refilled with diesel and drove Eilene back home to Kofa Ko-op. Joanne went in to visit with Eilene for an hour while I worked online in the clubhouse using Wi-Fi. We got home to Rancho Bonitos with just enough daylight left to take Bo for his daily long walk. BRRRRR … it gets cool very rapidly out here in the desert as soon as the sun goes down. We made a great supper of barbecued beef roast with a spinach and barbecued potato salad. MMMMM !
Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm … finally !
This morning we took care of a few chores then headed out for a day of shopping. First stop was Big 5 Sporting Goods, looking for a 1½ inch parachute buckle to replace the broken buckle on my fanny pack. I have looked everywhere for a 1½ inch parachute buckle ! Big 5 Sporting Goods did not have one ! Next stop was the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. It was “50% off everything” day. We bought some clothing. Then it was over to the Indoor Flea Market, new this year, located in a huge space that was previously a large department store. I gave up on my search for a 1½ inch parachute buckle and just bought a new fanny pack.
Next week I am going to have oral surgery. Joanne wanted to go to Hometown Buffet before that to use some discount coupons that expire soon, figuring that I won’t want to go to a buffet soon after oral surgery. So … we went to Hometown Buffet for a very large, late lunch. Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon at a parking lot RV sale at Las Palmillas Mall. We browsed through all of the fifth wheel trailers on display, then browsed through some Class A motorhomes and Class C motorhomes. There wasn’t much we liked ! I guess 6½ years of full time RV’ing has made us pretty picky about the features that we want in an RV. We chatted for quite awhile with a couple from Missouri when we went back to take a second look at the only fifth wheel ( of a dozen or so ) that we liked. Like us, they have a 2005 Dodge one ton diesel dually and a Cardinal fifth wheel trailer, although their trailer is newer than ours.
We returned home just at sunset, just in time to take Bo for a walk. In the evening we watched a movie ; Lorenzo’s Oil. Wow ! ! !
DSK
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
December 26, 2010 to January 1, 2011
December 26, 2010 to January 1, 2011
Sunday ; Today was partially cloudy and mild. This morning I made the Kirby family’s traditional Christmas brunch of Belgian waffles served with a layer of strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream. WOO-HOO ! Well, that’s not how Joanne eats waffles. Or my brother-in-law Bud. I guess it’s just the Kirby family that slathers jam and ice cream on their waffles. Joanne was satisfied with the waffles I made on my new waffle iron. I wasn’t. I guess there’s a bit of a learning curve with a new waffle iron.
After brunch we went to do a bit of shopping. A local mattress and bedding business had advertised a Boxing Day Sale with all sizes of sheet sets on sale for $16.99. Well, we drove halfway across town to find out that they meant all sizes except short / RV Queen size. That really pissed me off !
I dropped Joanne and Bo off at home then continued on to Kofa Ko-op to use their excellent Wi-Fi signal in the clubhouse to upload my weekly blog entry, and to make a very long phone call to my sister.
Back at home I did some minor maintenance chores then we took Bo for a long walk beside the agricultural fields adjacent to the RV park. We’re all going to miss Kofa Ko-op’s dog park. We chatted with some French Canadian residents of the park / neighbours who have lived in both BC and Ottawa.
One of the Christmas gifts I gave Joanne was mulling spices, so at bedtime I made us hot mulled apple cider.
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning we headed down to Mexico. I had an appointment at 11 AM for an examination and consultation with a periodontist at Alamo Dental Clinic. Well … what a thorough and professional examination and consultation. It took about an hour and a half ! It involved a full mouth series of x-rays, a full mouth series of digital photographs, an upper and lower set of moulds, and a tooth by tooth examination and documentation. The equipment used was very “high tech”. The x-rays were transmitted to and displayed on the computer in the exam room, as were the enlarged photographs of all my teeth, from the front and behind. The female dentist and her female assistant were both very personable and spoke English well. And the cost was … wait for it … < insert drum roll here, please > … absolutely nothing ! ! !
WOW ! ! ! But … her approach to my dental “requirements” resulted in an estimate of $5236 ! Which is probably something in the range of $21,000 worth of work at a Canadian ( or American ) dentist. Her “suggested” work would result in me having the most perfect mouthful of teeth you could possibly imagine. Her definition of “necessary” and mine are quite a bit different, I think. So … after all that, I decided the smartest thing to do would be to return to Dr. Camacho, whom we have been seeing for about the last six years or so, and have him do a cleaning and examination. His definition of what is “necessary” dental work is far closer to our definition. I’m not going to be surprised if his estimate of what dental work I “need” is no more than a couple of hundred bucks !
By the way, the Doctora’s ( female doctor’s ) first name was Yuri. With the Spanish “Y” sounding like an English “J”, and a heavily rolled “R”, the pronunciation sounds like “Judy”.
Joanne went to make two appointments with Dr. Camacho for next week while I went to get a much needed haircut. A $3 haircut ! And a damn fine one at that ! My hairstylist today was a young lady named Fabiola Carrera. Then we went for lunch to a small restaurant that is a favourite of ours. MMMMM … each of us had tres tacos ; uno taco carne asada, uno taco pollo, uno taco pescado por Joanne, y uno taco camarón por mÃ. A buck a taco !
After lunch we crossed the street to Mini Mercado San Valentin to buy 2 litres of Yomi-Lala, Joanne’s beloved Mexican chocolate milk. Next door at the paleteria y nueveria ( frozen desserts shop ) Joanne bought a chocolate and shredded coconut coated frozen banana for dessert < rolling my eyes >. We went into a health food store … Centro Botanico “El Chicural” … to look at different teas and buy a jar of Arnica ointment. Then … WOO-HOO … the panaderia for some pan dulce. The line up to cross back into the United States was as long as ever, but thanks to last year’s redesign of the border crossing building and process, we were across in less than thirty minutes. As opposed to previous years’ 1½ to 2 hours !
On the way home we stopped to shop for a few items at Family Dollar. We arrived home shortly after 4 PM and headed for the pool and hot tub. It seemed a bit too late in the day for the pool, but the hot tub was great ! When we were finished, there was just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.
Our priority task for today was to open a bank account here in Yuma. We will need to have a bank account here to transact a real estate deal some time within the next year. So this morning we headed out for an appointment we had to open an account at Bank of America. We were a bit early so I made a stop at Pep Boys Auto to shop for a couple of items.
It took over an hour to get our bank account established. It’s a bit complicated for a “foreign visitor” to open a bank account in the United States. And likely much more so since 9/11. Fair enough ! From Bank of America we went to Walgreen’s for some advertised specials then Albertson’s for some groceries.
Back at home we had a very late lunch, I napped with Sully, Joanne prepared to do laundry, and we headed to the park’s laundromat adjacent to the pool area. While the laundry washed we lounged around the pool and hot tub. And lay on deck chairs soaking up the warm desert sun. AHHHHH !
I need sunshine ! While the laundry dried we took Bo for a long walk. We have established a daily routine of going for a long walk along a sandy trail beside some agricultural fields and citrus groves adjacent to the RV park. While Joanne finished the laundry I took Sully outside for a “walk” in the warm afternoon sun. Sully’s “walks” don’t cover a lot of ground !
Wednesday ; Today was cold, cloudy, windy, and rainy. A pretty crappy weather day !
This morning I went to Rancho Bonitos’ weekly coffee social to introduce myself, meet the “neighbours”, and ask questions about Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable TV. Afterwards I packed up my little netbook computer and some paperwork, and drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use the excellent
Wi-Fi signal in their clubhouse. I phoned Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable. I decided to subscribe to Qwest Internet but not Time Warner Cable TV. I will have to go pick up a modem / router at Qwest’s retail store in the Yuma Palms Shopping Center, and a service technician will come out to Rancho Bonitos on Monday to set up my service. I will have to borrow a computer from a neighbour on Monday to configure the modem / router. It requires connection to a computer via an Ethernet cable to download the configuration for my site / account and my little netbook doesn’t have an Ethernet port. Once the modem is configured, it becomes a router and transmits a wireless Wi-Fi signal.
I phoned our local veterinarian and set up appointments for examinations and inoculations for Bo and Sully next week. I signed onto the Bank of America online banking website and completed the setup of my online banking account. I returned to Rancho Bonitos and went to see Ron, the caretaker and son of our lot owner, to get the key to our site’s mailbox and to ask for his help on Monday with configuring my Qwest modem / router. Our mailbox had a lot of junk mail in it. And a letter from our veterinarian addressed to last year’s renter of our lot. I will return the letter to them when we take Bo and Sully in next week.
It was too cold and windy this afternoon, even though the rain had stopped, to wash the truck which was our plan. Joanne spent much of the afternoon cleaning in the trailer with an awesome cleaner that she discovered last year at the Arizona Market Place flea market. It’s called … wait for it …
“Awesome”. We bought a bottle last Thursday and today she did a lot of cleaning with it. Guess we’re going to have to soon buy more ! We took Bo for his daily long walk.
Since arriving at Rancho Bonitos the only TV we have been able to watch are the four stations we can receive “free over air” using the trailer’s antenna. One station is English language religious programming. The other three are Mexican stations. We are slowly improving our Spanish language skills. Every evening I watch the news in Spanish, then Joanne watches Mexican soap operas. HA HA HA … the Mexicans / Hispanics certainly do love their drama ! The most educational are the commercials. HA HA HA … VENTE PERCENTO DESCUENTO ! ! ! SOLAMENTE HASTA TRES ENERO ! ! !
Thursday ; Today was sunny, cool, and windy. We slept late so accomplished almost nothing this morning, but had an extremely productive afternoon.
After lunch we washed the truck. Washing the truck in Yuma is always more work than washing it anywhere else. There are so many minerals in the water, mostly salt I think, that the entire truck must be dried with towels. Letting Yuma’s water evaporate off a vehicle after washing it leaves the vehicle horribly streaked and spotted. Yeah … been there, done that ! And … BRRRRR … it was a bit cold for truck washing today ! After finishing the truck we took Bo for his daily long walk, then I decided to start another job. I needed to rewire the fridge to a dedicated 12 volt circuit. During all that new fridge drama I discovered that it was a voltage problem for the new fridge to share a circuit with the lights in the kitchen, one of which is fluorescent. So … since the installation of the new fridge we have not been able to use the fluorescent light over the sink. That’s a bit of a problem for cooking and washing dishes.
I started … and finished … the job. I rewired the fridge so that the kitchen lights have a circuit to themselves, and the fridge is all by itself on a new circuit. That was possible because the new converter / charger has more circuits available than the old converter. Well done, Daniel !
Friday ; New Year’s Eve ; Today was sunny and cold again. BRRRRR … hope the warm weather returns soon !
This morning we headed to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to run some shopping errands. Bo came along for a “drivey”. On the way there we passed a field full of sheep. I pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down the window, and let Bo bark ferociously at them until they stampeded away. HA HA HA … hundreds of sheep running away from Bo’s barking. He loooooves to make sheep and cattle stampede like that. Bad Daniel !
As we arrived at Yuma Palms Bo got very excited. Darn … he recognized that we were in the PetsMart mall. I went to the Qwest store to pick up the modem / router for the Qwest Internet service I have subscribed to and which will be installed at our site on Monday. And then we went to PetsMart. Not to buy anything, just to wander around the store for a few minutes so that Bo could “shop”. Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart. Joanne wanted to look for an item at Target, and I wanted to look for an item at a fabric store. There was one next door to Target. She found what she was looking for. I didn’t ! We drove to Albertsons for some groceries, then home. WHEW … what a lot of shoppers on New Year’s Eve !
This evening we attended the Rancho Bonitos Casino Night / New Year’s Eve party. It was an evening of casino games with a break on an hourly basis for an auction and door prize drawing. We each started the evening with 6000 purchased “Bonitos Bucks”, used for gambling and bidding on auction items. At the end of the evening I had 7300 Bonitos Bucks. Joanne had zero ! And we won door prizes, first a large can of mixed nuts at 8 PM then a bottle of red wine from Argentina at 11 PM. Too bad we don’t drink red wine ! We were surprised, although we shouldn’t have been, when it was spontaneously and impulsively decided that the festivities ended after the 11 PM door prize draw and auction. Most RV parks that we have been in on New Year’s Eve are filled with old folks who can’t stay up until midnight. The one notable exception was Saguaro Co-op, the SKP park in Benson, Arizona. Now those folks know how to party !
We returned to the trailer, made mulled apple cider, and watched the New Year arrive on Mexican TV … Celebrando Año Nuevo En Vivo !
FELIZ AÑO NUEVO / HAPPY NEW YEAR
Saturday ; New Year’s Day ; Today was sunny and cool.
For much of last year I held onto a dream of passing from the old year into the new while standing in the dark with a glass of wine in my hand in the warm waters of the South Pacific Ocean at Villas Onac Resort in Teacapán, Mexico. Oh well, another dream dashed !
After a late morning brunch I drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use their Wi-Fi signal. I retrieved year end banking and investment statements. I purchased … I hope … two tickets to an event next Friday. I used a Canadian bank issued U.S.$ MasterCard to buy the tickets online. As has happened in the past, my MasterCard number may have confused the computer that was processing my order. Maybe the transaction was completed successfully … maybe not !
Back at home at Rancho Bonitos I napped with Sully, we took Bo for a long walk, I printed the banking and investment statements, reconciled the bank statements, then began updating my investment files with year end data. From an investment perspective, 2010 was a “good” year, I suppose.
DSK
Sunday ; Today was partially cloudy and mild. This morning I made the Kirby family’s traditional Christmas brunch of Belgian waffles served with a layer of strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream. WOO-HOO ! Well, that’s not how Joanne eats waffles. Or my brother-in-law Bud. I guess it’s just the Kirby family that slathers jam and ice cream on their waffles. Joanne was satisfied with the waffles I made on my new waffle iron. I wasn’t. I guess there’s a bit of a learning curve with a new waffle iron.
After brunch we went to do a bit of shopping. A local mattress and bedding business had advertised a Boxing Day Sale with all sizes of sheet sets on sale for $16.99. Well, we drove halfway across town to find out that they meant all sizes except short / RV Queen size. That really pissed me off !
I dropped Joanne and Bo off at home then continued on to Kofa Ko-op to use their excellent Wi-Fi signal in the clubhouse to upload my weekly blog entry, and to make a very long phone call to my sister.
Back at home I did some minor maintenance chores then we took Bo for a long walk beside the agricultural fields adjacent to the RV park. We’re all going to miss Kofa Ko-op’s dog park. We chatted with some French Canadian residents of the park / neighbours who have lived in both BC and Ottawa.
One of the Christmas gifts I gave Joanne was mulling spices, so at bedtime I made us hot mulled apple cider.
Monday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
This morning we headed down to Mexico. I had an appointment at 11 AM for an examination and consultation with a periodontist at Alamo Dental Clinic. Well … what a thorough and professional examination and consultation. It took about an hour and a half ! It involved a full mouth series of x-rays, a full mouth series of digital photographs, an upper and lower set of moulds, and a tooth by tooth examination and documentation. The equipment used was very “high tech”. The x-rays were transmitted to and displayed on the computer in the exam room, as were the enlarged photographs of all my teeth, from the front and behind. The female dentist and her female assistant were both very personable and spoke English well. And the cost was … wait for it … < insert drum roll here, please > … absolutely nothing ! ! !
WOW ! ! ! But … her approach to my dental “requirements” resulted in an estimate of $5236 ! Which is probably something in the range of $21,000 worth of work at a Canadian ( or American ) dentist. Her “suggested” work would result in me having the most perfect mouthful of teeth you could possibly imagine. Her definition of “necessary” and mine are quite a bit different, I think. So … after all that, I decided the smartest thing to do would be to return to Dr. Camacho, whom we have been seeing for about the last six years or so, and have him do a cleaning and examination. His definition of what is “necessary” dental work is far closer to our definition. I’m not going to be surprised if his estimate of what dental work I “need” is no more than a couple of hundred bucks !
By the way, the Doctora’s ( female doctor’s ) first name was Yuri. With the Spanish “Y” sounding like an English “J”, and a heavily rolled “R”, the pronunciation sounds like “Judy”.
Joanne went to make two appointments with Dr. Camacho for next week while I went to get a much needed haircut. A $3 haircut ! And a damn fine one at that ! My hairstylist today was a young lady named Fabiola Carrera. Then we went for lunch to a small restaurant that is a favourite of ours. MMMMM … each of us had tres tacos ; uno taco carne asada, uno taco pollo, uno taco pescado por Joanne, y uno taco camarón por mÃ. A buck a taco !
After lunch we crossed the street to Mini Mercado San Valentin to buy 2 litres of Yomi-Lala, Joanne’s beloved Mexican chocolate milk. Next door at the paleteria y nueveria ( frozen desserts shop ) Joanne bought a chocolate and shredded coconut coated frozen banana for dessert < rolling my eyes >. We went into a health food store … Centro Botanico “El Chicural” … to look at different teas and buy a jar of Arnica ointment. Then … WOO-HOO … the panaderia for some pan dulce. The line up to cross back into the United States was as long as ever, but thanks to last year’s redesign of the border crossing building and process, we were across in less than thirty minutes. As opposed to previous years’ 1½ to 2 hours !
On the way home we stopped to shop for a few items at Family Dollar. We arrived home shortly after 4 PM and headed for the pool and hot tub. It seemed a bit too late in the day for the pool, but the hot tub was great ! When we were finished, there was just enough daylight left to take Bo for a long walk.
Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.
Our priority task for today was to open a bank account here in Yuma. We will need to have a bank account here to transact a real estate deal some time within the next year. So this morning we headed out for an appointment we had to open an account at Bank of America. We were a bit early so I made a stop at Pep Boys Auto to shop for a couple of items.
It took over an hour to get our bank account established. It’s a bit complicated for a “foreign visitor” to open a bank account in the United States. And likely much more so since 9/11. Fair enough ! From Bank of America we went to Walgreen’s for some advertised specials then Albertson’s for some groceries.
Back at home we had a very late lunch, I napped with Sully, Joanne prepared to do laundry, and we headed to the park’s laundromat adjacent to the pool area. While the laundry washed we lounged around the pool and hot tub. And lay on deck chairs soaking up the warm desert sun. AHHHHH !
I need sunshine ! While the laundry dried we took Bo for a long walk. We have established a daily routine of going for a long walk along a sandy trail beside some agricultural fields and citrus groves adjacent to the RV park. While Joanne finished the laundry I took Sully outside for a “walk” in the warm afternoon sun. Sully’s “walks” don’t cover a lot of ground !
Wednesday ; Today was cold, cloudy, windy, and rainy. A pretty crappy weather day !
This morning I went to Rancho Bonitos’ weekly coffee social to introduce myself, meet the “neighbours”, and ask questions about Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable TV. Afterwards I packed up my little netbook computer and some paperwork, and drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use the excellent
Wi-Fi signal in their clubhouse. I phoned Qwest Internet and Time Warner Cable. I decided to subscribe to Qwest Internet but not Time Warner Cable TV. I will have to go pick up a modem / router at Qwest’s retail store in the Yuma Palms Shopping Center, and a service technician will come out to Rancho Bonitos on Monday to set up my service. I will have to borrow a computer from a neighbour on Monday to configure the modem / router. It requires connection to a computer via an Ethernet cable to download the configuration for my site / account and my little netbook doesn’t have an Ethernet port. Once the modem is configured, it becomes a router and transmits a wireless Wi-Fi signal.
I phoned our local veterinarian and set up appointments for examinations and inoculations for Bo and Sully next week. I signed onto the Bank of America online banking website and completed the setup of my online banking account. I returned to Rancho Bonitos and went to see Ron, the caretaker and son of our lot owner, to get the key to our site’s mailbox and to ask for his help on Monday with configuring my Qwest modem / router. Our mailbox had a lot of junk mail in it. And a letter from our veterinarian addressed to last year’s renter of our lot. I will return the letter to them when we take Bo and Sully in next week.
It was too cold and windy this afternoon, even though the rain had stopped, to wash the truck which was our plan. Joanne spent much of the afternoon cleaning in the trailer with an awesome cleaner that she discovered last year at the Arizona Market Place flea market. It’s called … wait for it …
“Awesome”. We bought a bottle last Thursday and today she did a lot of cleaning with it. Guess we’re going to have to soon buy more ! We took Bo for his daily long walk.
Since arriving at Rancho Bonitos the only TV we have been able to watch are the four stations we can receive “free over air” using the trailer’s antenna. One station is English language religious programming. The other three are Mexican stations. We are slowly improving our Spanish language skills. Every evening I watch the news in Spanish, then Joanne watches Mexican soap operas. HA HA HA … the Mexicans / Hispanics certainly do love their drama ! The most educational are the commercials. HA HA HA … VENTE PERCENTO DESCUENTO ! ! ! SOLAMENTE HASTA TRES ENERO ! ! !
Thursday ; Today was sunny, cool, and windy. We slept late so accomplished almost nothing this morning, but had an extremely productive afternoon.
After lunch we washed the truck. Washing the truck in Yuma is always more work than washing it anywhere else. There are so many minerals in the water, mostly salt I think, that the entire truck must be dried with towels. Letting Yuma’s water evaporate off a vehicle after washing it leaves the vehicle horribly streaked and spotted. Yeah … been there, done that ! And … BRRRRR … it was a bit cold for truck washing today ! After finishing the truck we took Bo for his daily long walk, then I decided to start another job. I needed to rewire the fridge to a dedicated 12 volt circuit. During all that new fridge drama I discovered that it was a voltage problem for the new fridge to share a circuit with the lights in the kitchen, one of which is fluorescent. So … since the installation of the new fridge we have not been able to use the fluorescent light over the sink. That’s a bit of a problem for cooking and washing dishes.
I started … and finished … the job. I rewired the fridge so that the kitchen lights have a circuit to themselves, and the fridge is all by itself on a new circuit. That was possible because the new converter / charger has more circuits available than the old converter. Well done, Daniel !
Friday ; New Year’s Eve ; Today was sunny and cold again. BRRRRR … hope the warm weather returns soon !
This morning we headed to Yuma Palms Shopping Center to run some shopping errands. Bo came along for a “drivey”. On the way there we passed a field full of sheep. I pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down the window, and let Bo bark ferociously at them until they stampeded away. HA HA HA … hundreds of sheep running away from Bo’s barking. He loooooves to make sheep and cattle stampede like that. Bad Daniel !
As we arrived at Yuma Palms Bo got very excited. Darn … he recognized that we were in the PetsMart mall. I went to the Qwest store to pick up the modem / router for the Qwest Internet service I have subscribed to and which will be installed at our site on Monday. And then we went to PetsMart. Not to buy anything, just to wander around the store for a few minutes so that Bo could “shop”. Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart. Joanne wanted to look for an item at Target, and I wanted to look for an item at a fabric store. There was one next door to Target. She found what she was looking for. I didn’t ! We drove to Albertsons for some groceries, then home. WHEW … what a lot of shoppers on New Year’s Eve !
This evening we attended the Rancho Bonitos Casino Night / New Year’s Eve party. It was an evening of casino games with a break on an hourly basis for an auction and door prize drawing. We each started the evening with 6000 purchased “Bonitos Bucks”, used for gambling and bidding on auction items. At the end of the evening I had 7300 Bonitos Bucks. Joanne had zero ! And we won door prizes, first a large can of mixed nuts at 8 PM then a bottle of red wine from Argentina at 11 PM. Too bad we don’t drink red wine ! We were surprised, although we shouldn’t have been, when it was spontaneously and impulsively decided that the festivities ended after the 11 PM door prize draw and auction. Most RV parks that we have been in on New Year’s Eve are filled with old folks who can’t stay up until midnight. The one notable exception was Saguaro Co-op, the SKP park in Benson, Arizona. Now those folks know how to party !
We returned to the trailer, made mulled apple cider, and watched the New Year arrive on Mexican TV … Celebrando Año Nuevo En Vivo !
FELIZ AÑO NUEVO / HAPPY NEW YEAR
Saturday ; New Year’s Day ; Today was sunny and cool.
For much of last year I held onto a dream of passing from the old year into the new while standing in the dark with a glass of wine in my hand in the warm waters of the South Pacific Ocean at Villas Onac Resort in Teacapán, Mexico. Oh well, another dream dashed !
After a late morning brunch I drove over to Kofa Ko-op to use their Wi-Fi signal. I retrieved year end banking and investment statements. I purchased … I hope … two tickets to an event next Friday. I used a Canadian bank issued U.S.$ MasterCard to buy the tickets online. As has happened in the past, my MasterCard number may have confused the computer that was processing my order. Maybe the transaction was completed successfully … maybe not !
Back at home at Rancho Bonitos I napped with Sully, we took Bo for a long walk, I printed the banking and investment statements, reconciled the bank statements, then began updating my investment files with year end data. From an investment perspective, 2010 was a “good” year, I suppose.
DSK
Sunday, December 26, 2010
December 19 to 25, 2010
December 19 to 25, 2010 ; Yuma, Arizona
Sunday ; Well done, Daniel ! Within 24 hours of arriving in Yuma, I found us a very suitable place to rent for the winter, at a very reasonable price !
I had insomnia last night. In the middle of the night I was on the computer, searching for an RV lot to rent for the winter. I found ads for six spots that I thought might be suitable. First thing in the morning we went out to see them. By the time we had seen five of the six, a decision was made. We decided we wanted the first one we had seen. We returned home, I got on the phone, did a bit of negotiating, et voilà … we have a spot for the winter.
Five of the six spots were lots in the Foothills, most of them half of a lot serviced for two RV’s. The sixth one, the first we looked at, and the one we rented, is a site in a full service RV park, very similar to, and very close to, Kofa Ko-op. On Christmas morning we will be moving to Rancho Bonitos on Avenue 4E, just “around the corner” from Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park. We rented the site from the owners ( or more precisely, the lifetime leaseholders, same as at Kofa Ko-op ), a couple in Oregon who only use the lot for October and November of each year. And their son is the caretaker in the park, which should likely prove to be somewhat helpful. And we will remain there until April 1.
This afternoon we did quite a bit of routine maintenance chores. We put all the parts I scavenged form our dead fridge ( doors, door panels, shelves, door bins, etc. ) on the bargain table. We took Bo for a walk around the perimeter of the dog park. I posted my weekly journal to my blog. We struggled to flip and rotate our mattress, as well as remove, wash, and replace the mattress cover. Easier said than done ! I examined our old converter, to see if there were any parts worth scavenging. There weren’t. And I think the only reason it was malfunctioning was … 12 years of accumulated dirt. It looked like someone had dumped a vacuum bag into the electronic “guts” of the converter. I glue repaired a broken buckle on my fanny pack. Hope it works !
We went to the regular Sunday afternoon ice cream social, then returned home to prepare and eat dinner, and watch the 3 hour long season finale of Survivor.
Monday ; Today was cloudy, warm, and a bit windy.
We spent most of the day out, running shopping errands. First stop was RV Connection for an RV part. Then Barney’s to refill with diesel … before fuel prices get jacked up for the holiday season ! I went to the Sears Auto Centre to meet with the manager to discuss the incident in Fresno, California whereby I and the service manager there had a disagreement about whether or not I was entitled to free tire rotations. The service manager here certainly believes that I am, but he’s going to have to discuss it with his superiors to determine whether he’s wrong, or the fellow in Fresno was wrong. In the meantime, while I went to Sears, Joanne walked over to Goodwill for some thrift store shopping. From Sears I went to Pep Boys for some automotive wiring, which they didn’t have. I picked Joanne up at Goodwill, and we drove to Tipton’s Automotive, where I bought the automotive wiring I needed. We had a very late lunch across the street at Wienerschnitzel. After lunch we headed for Yuma Farm & Home Supply where I bought some wiring connectors that neither Pep Boys nor Tipton‘s had. Then it was on to Harbor Freight Tools to shop for a variety of advertised specials on “guy stuff”. Great stuff, great prices at Harbor Freight Tools ! Final stop was Fry’s for groceries.
Bo had come along with us for our day of shopping, eager to go “drivey”. And he’s such a good dog when it comes to waiting in the truck for us while we’re shopping. Good dog, Bo ! When we got home there was just enough daylight time left for a walk around the dog park perimeter. He made two new friends in the dog park, Patty the Papillon and Inga the … ?
In the evening I did some minor maintenance projects and some online work.
Tuesday ; Today was cloudy with light intermittent rain. It doesn’t rain much in Yuma ! This morning we did some routine maintenance chores. In the afternoon I retrieved, printed, reconciled, and paid our U.S.$ MasterCard bill. WOW … expensive month ! Expensive repairs to Harvey / the fifth wheel trailer ! And I started to feel my annual Christmas season blues < shrug >.
Milk makes Sully vomit. And he’s always trying to stick his face into my glass of milk ! So … the other day when I saw lactose free eggnog in the grocery store, I bought a quart … to share with Sully. HMPH … he doesn’t like it ! Stupid cat !
Wednesday ; Today was cloudy, mild, windy, with intermittent rain. Our plan for today was to go to Los Algodones, Mexico, primarily so I could get a $3 haircut and beard trim. First we drove over to nearby Rancho Bonitos, the RV park we will be moving to on Christmas morning. We had to register in their office as new “residents”, and their office is open only a couple of mornings each week. From there we headed for Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico. By the time we arrived at the border crossing it was raining heavily And the free roadside parking had been eliminated, forcing everyone into the $5 parking lot. I didn’t feel like paying $5 to park, then walking a fair distance in heavy rain just to get a $3 haircut, and then probably have to stand in line for more than an hour to cross back into the United States. I’ll trim my beard myself before Christmas, and get a haircut next week or the week after in Mexico.
We drove to PetsMart to buy some “stocking stuffer” gifts for Sully and Bo. Then we went looking for a bank where we could cash some traveller’s cheques in order to pay our January “rent” tomorrow. And perhaps open an account. We’re going to need a bank account in Yuma. We thought that Sun Bank inside Wal-Mart would be convenient. But … HA HA HA … they wouldn’t cash traveller’s cheques because … wait for it … traveller’s cheques are “too difficult to verify”. We very quickly decided we could not do business with a bank that stupid ! What part of “bank” did you folks not understand ?
Since we were already there we did some Wal-Martin’. Bumped into Santa Claus doing some grocery shopping. Merry Christmas, Santa. He reached into his sack and gave me a candy. I guess because I was a good little boy for wishing him Merry Christmas ? ! It was a bit cool today so Santa was wearing his long pants. When we saw him at Sunday’s ice cream social at Kofa Ko-op he was wearing red velvet shorts with a short sleeved coat. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA … I didn’t even know Santa had red velvet shorts. But … I guess … < shrug > … down here in the desert … HA HA HA !
We drove over to Bank of America. We got some information, cashed some traveller’s cheques, and set up an appointment to open an account. We decided that dealing with a large national bank was probably wiser than dealing with a local “Mickey Mouse” bank. We did a bit of grocery shopping before returning home in time for Joanne to prepare her contribution to today’s social hour / appetizer potluck. At the social hour it was announced that Joe Peterson died this morning. Joe and his wife Kay were the founders of the Escapees RV Club over thirty years ago. I’m certain that when they started, they never imagined that their little “club” would become the support system for over 100,000 RV’ers, mostly full timers and half timers / Snowbirds. There was a sad minute of silence observed at social hour in Joe’s honour.
Thursday ; Well, Yuma is back to its typical sunny, warm weather. This morning we drove over to Rancho Bonitos and paid our site rental for January ( and the last week of December ). From there it was over to Arizona Market Place, the huge flea market nearby. Joanne shops there weekly for fresh produce and I needed a couple of hardware items.
After lunch, a nap with Sully, and a walk around the perimeter of the dog park with Bo, I wrapped Christmas presents. In the evening, while Joanne wrapped gifts, I did online research into periodontists in Los Algodones. I have a gum problem that I think should be dealt with by a periodontist.
Friday ; Christmas Eve ; Today was a sunny, warm, perfect “June 18” day.
This morning I took my little netbook computer to the clubhouse to use Wi-Fi to make some phone calls. After setting up some appointments I returned home and trimmed my beard. Gee, I was really starting to look like a “bushy”. And probably still do … I’m way overdue for a haircut. I have a periodontist appointment in Los Algodones on Monday, so I can get a haircut at that time. I’m quite impressed that I can send an e-mail to a periodontist in Los Algodones late in the evening on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon … and Christmas Eve at that … I have an appointment for Monday morning.
I spent the afternoon doing some maintenance projects, including rewiring the trailer battery with heavier gauge wires and lugs. It was a very pleasant day to be working outside. I wanted to get the trailer battery rewiring job done before we leave this site because there is a work bench with a vise on it behind the storage shed on this site. I needed the vise to crimp the heavy lugs onto the wires. I also disassembled and cleaned the insides of the cooling unit on top of our little 12 volt fridge. The amount of work that it has done in the last month or so is probably equivalent to many years of “normal” use for this little fridge.
At dusk we returned to the clubhouse with the computer to make a Christmas phone call to Joanne’s family. No answer ! Joanne prepared tourtière ( French Canadian meat pie ) for supper, her family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Thank you, my dear !
After supper we went for a walk around the park with Bo, because the park had placed and lit luminaries along the road at each site, a Christmas Eve tradition here at Kofa Ko-op. WHEW … time to lose some weight ! WHEW … time to tell my doctor I need a cardiovascular checkup !
Saturday ; Christmas Day ; Kofa Ko-op to Rancho Bonitos
Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noel / Feliz Navidad
What a gorgeous Christmas Day in Yuma. Bright sunshine, 74 degrees all day long, no wind. Pretty typical for Christmas Day in Yuma, actually. This morning we prepared for departure, left Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park, and drove north on South Avenue 4E for about 2 miles to Rancho Bonitos Co-op RV Park. We got set up in our new site, and our home until April 1.
Because we had to move this morning we did not have our traditional Christmas morning breakfast. And ever since we began travelling … seven Christmases ago, we have not had my family’s traditional Christmas morning breakfast, which had become “our” traditional Christmas morning breakfast. Because we haven’t had a waffle iron in the trailer. Until now ! ! ! WOO-HOO … Joanne bought me a waffle iron. So tomorrow morning, we will resume having waffles for Christmas breakfast, albeit delayed by one day.
Gift opening time ! We allowed Bo to open his two gifts first. And each Christmas, for seven Christmases now, he has become more and more adept at opening gifts. And more and more enthusiastic about it ! So … perhaps unwisely … this morning we allowed him to “help” us unwrap all of our gifts. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA … way to go, Bo ! The more gifts he unwrapped, the more frantic and frenzied he became. Must be somewhat like letting a little kid eat too much sugar ! BO … RELAX !
After cleaning up the gift wrap mess, we got dressed for Christmas dinner and headed back to Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park for Christmas dinner. We went early, and took the computer, planning to use Wi-Fi to phone our families. We had a wonderful Skype video chat with Joanne’s family before it was time for dinner. What an excellent pronunciation of Feliz Navidad by nine year old Amelia. Too bad she couldn’t be wishing us that at the Mazatlán airport today, as had been the plan earlier this year < sigh >. Kofa Ko-op prepared turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and dressing. All other side dishes and deserts were contributed potluck style. It was a pretty good dinner, but not the best communal / potluck Christmas dinner we’ve had. We were seated at a table of twelve, including a Canadian couple from Kingston, Ontario. After dinner and socializing, we phoned my sister and her husband. No answer !
We returned to Rancho Bonitos, and fed Bo and Sully their Christmas turkey dinners, so to speak. It was a pouch of soft morsel dog food in gravy. Sully got the gravy, Bo got the meat, everybody was happy. We went for a walk around the park, Joanne with the dog, me carrying the computer, searching for an unsecured Wi-Fi signal. There was one near the trailer of the park’s caretaker, also the son of the owner of the lot we’re on. He had already advised me that it would be okay to use his Wi-Fi signal. But I would like to have Wi-Fi right at our trailer, if that can be possible. Next week I will phone Qwest, the local Internet Service Provider to see if I can get Wi-Fi for three months.
Sunday ; Well done, Daniel ! Within 24 hours of arriving in Yuma, I found us a very suitable place to rent for the winter, at a very reasonable price !
I had insomnia last night. In the middle of the night I was on the computer, searching for an RV lot to rent for the winter. I found ads for six spots that I thought might be suitable. First thing in the morning we went out to see them. By the time we had seen five of the six, a decision was made. We decided we wanted the first one we had seen. We returned home, I got on the phone, did a bit of negotiating, et voilà … we have a spot for the winter.
Five of the six spots were lots in the Foothills, most of them half of a lot serviced for two RV’s. The sixth one, the first we looked at, and the one we rented, is a site in a full service RV park, very similar to, and very close to, Kofa Ko-op. On Christmas morning we will be moving to Rancho Bonitos on Avenue 4E, just “around the corner” from Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park. We rented the site from the owners ( or more precisely, the lifetime leaseholders, same as at Kofa Ko-op ), a couple in Oregon who only use the lot for October and November of each year. And their son is the caretaker in the park, which should likely prove to be somewhat helpful. And we will remain there until April 1.
This afternoon we did quite a bit of routine maintenance chores. We put all the parts I scavenged form our dead fridge ( doors, door panels, shelves, door bins, etc. ) on the bargain table. We took Bo for a walk around the perimeter of the dog park. I posted my weekly journal to my blog. We struggled to flip and rotate our mattress, as well as remove, wash, and replace the mattress cover. Easier said than done ! I examined our old converter, to see if there were any parts worth scavenging. There weren’t. And I think the only reason it was malfunctioning was … 12 years of accumulated dirt. It looked like someone had dumped a vacuum bag into the electronic “guts” of the converter. I glue repaired a broken buckle on my fanny pack. Hope it works !
We went to the regular Sunday afternoon ice cream social, then returned home to prepare and eat dinner, and watch the 3 hour long season finale of Survivor.
Monday ; Today was cloudy, warm, and a bit windy.
We spent most of the day out, running shopping errands. First stop was RV Connection for an RV part. Then Barney’s to refill with diesel … before fuel prices get jacked up for the holiday season ! I went to the Sears Auto Centre to meet with the manager to discuss the incident in Fresno, California whereby I and the service manager there had a disagreement about whether or not I was entitled to free tire rotations. The service manager here certainly believes that I am, but he’s going to have to discuss it with his superiors to determine whether he’s wrong, or the fellow in Fresno was wrong. In the meantime, while I went to Sears, Joanne walked over to Goodwill for some thrift store shopping. From Sears I went to Pep Boys for some automotive wiring, which they didn’t have. I picked Joanne up at Goodwill, and we drove to Tipton’s Automotive, where I bought the automotive wiring I needed. We had a very late lunch across the street at Wienerschnitzel. After lunch we headed for Yuma Farm & Home Supply where I bought some wiring connectors that neither Pep Boys nor Tipton‘s had. Then it was on to Harbor Freight Tools to shop for a variety of advertised specials on “guy stuff”. Great stuff, great prices at Harbor Freight Tools ! Final stop was Fry’s for groceries.
Bo had come along with us for our day of shopping, eager to go “drivey”. And he’s such a good dog when it comes to waiting in the truck for us while we’re shopping. Good dog, Bo ! When we got home there was just enough daylight time left for a walk around the dog park perimeter. He made two new friends in the dog park, Patty the Papillon and Inga the … ?
In the evening I did some minor maintenance projects and some online work.
Tuesday ; Today was cloudy with light intermittent rain. It doesn’t rain much in Yuma ! This morning we did some routine maintenance chores. In the afternoon I retrieved, printed, reconciled, and paid our U.S.$ MasterCard bill. WOW … expensive month ! Expensive repairs to Harvey / the fifth wheel trailer ! And I started to feel my annual Christmas season blues < shrug >.
Milk makes Sully vomit. And he’s always trying to stick his face into my glass of milk ! So … the other day when I saw lactose free eggnog in the grocery store, I bought a quart … to share with Sully. HMPH … he doesn’t like it ! Stupid cat !
Wednesday ; Today was cloudy, mild, windy, with intermittent rain. Our plan for today was to go to Los Algodones, Mexico, primarily so I could get a $3 haircut and beard trim. First we drove over to nearby Rancho Bonitos, the RV park we will be moving to on Christmas morning. We had to register in their office as new “residents”, and their office is open only a couple of mornings each week. From there we headed for Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico. By the time we arrived at the border crossing it was raining heavily And the free roadside parking had been eliminated, forcing everyone into the $5 parking lot. I didn’t feel like paying $5 to park, then walking a fair distance in heavy rain just to get a $3 haircut, and then probably have to stand in line for more than an hour to cross back into the United States. I’ll trim my beard myself before Christmas, and get a haircut next week or the week after in Mexico.
We drove to PetsMart to buy some “stocking stuffer” gifts for Sully and Bo. Then we went looking for a bank where we could cash some traveller’s cheques in order to pay our January “rent” tomorrow. And perhaps open an account. We’re going to need a bank account in Yuma. We thought that Sun Bank inside Wal-Mart would be convenient. But … HA HA HA … they wouldn’t cash traveller’s cheques because … wait for it … traveller’s cheques are “too difficult to verify”. We very quickly decided we could not do business with a bank that stupid ! What part of “bank” did you folks not understand ?
Since we were already there we did some Wal-Martin’. Bumped into Santa Claus doing some grocery shopping. Merry Christmas, Santa. He reached into his sack and gave me a candy. I guess because I was a good little boy for wishing him Merry Christmas ? ! It was a bit cool today so Santa was wearing his long pants. When we saw him at Sunday’s ice cream social at Kofa Ko-op he was wearing red velvet shorts with a short sleeved coat. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA … I didn’t even know Santa had red velvet shorts. But … I guess … < shrug > … down here in the desert … HA HA HA !
We drove over to Bank of America. We got some information, cashed some traveller’s cheques, and set up an appointment to open an account. We decided that dealing with a large national bank was probably wiser than dealing with a local “Mickey Mouse” bank. We did a bit of grocery shopping before returning home in time for Joanne to prepare her contribution to today’s social hour / appetizer potluck. At the social hour it was announced that Joe Peterson died this morning. Joe and his wife Kay were the founders of the Escapees RV Club over thirty years ago. I’m certain that when they started, they never imagined that their little “club” would become the support system for over 100,000 RV’ers, mostly full timers and half timers / Snowbirds. There was a sad minute of silence observed at social hour in Joe’s honour.
Thursday ; Well, Yuma is back to its typical sunny, warm weather. This morning we drove over to Rancho Bonitos and paid our site rental for January ( and the last week of December ). From there it was over to Arizona Market Place, the huge flea market nearby. Joanne shops there weekly for fresh produce and I needed a couple of hardware items.
After lunch, a nap with Sully, and a walk around the perimeter of the dog park with Bo, I wrapped Christmas presents. In the evening, while Joanne wrapped gifts, I did online research into periodontists in Los Algodones. I have a gum problem that I think should be dealt with by a periodontist.
Friday ; Christmas Eve ; Today was a sunny, warm, perfect “June 18” day.
This morning I took my little netbook computer to the clubhouse to use Wi-Fi to make some phone calls. After setting up some appointments I returned home and trimmed my beard. Gee, I was really starting to look like a “bushy”. And probably still do … I’m way overdue for a haircut. I have a periodontist appointment in Los Algodones on Monday, so I can get a haircut at that time. I’m quite impressed that I can send an e-mail to a periodontist in Los Algodones late in the evening on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon … and Christmas Eve at that … I have an appointment for Monday morning.
I spent the afternoon doing some maintenance projects, including rewiring the trailer battery with heavier gauge wires and lugs. It was a very pleasant day to be working outside. I wanted to get the trailer battery rewiring job done before we leave this site because there is a work bench with a vise on it behind the storage shed on this site. I needed the vise to crimp the heavy lugs onto the wires. I also disassembled and cleaned the insides of the cooling unit on top of our little 12 volt fridge. The amount of work that it has done in the last month or so is probably equivalent to many years of “normal” use for this little fridge.
At dusk we returned to the clubhouse with the computer to make a Christmas phone call to Joanne’s family. No answer ! Joanne prepared tourtière ( French Canadian meat pie ) for supper, her family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Thank you, my dear !
After supper we went for a walk around the park with Bo, because the park had placed and lit luminaries along the road at each site, a Christmas Eve tradition here at Kofa Ko-op. WHEW … time to lose some weight ! WHEW … time to tell my doctor I need a cardiovascular checkup !
Saturday ; Christmas Day ; Kofa Ko-op to Rancho Bonitos
Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noel / Feliz Navidad
What a gorgeous Christmas Day in Yuma. Bright sunshine, 74 degrees all day long, no wind. Pretty typical for Christmas Day in Yuma, actually. This morning we prepared for departure, left Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park, and drove north on South Avenue 4E for about 2 miles to Rancho Bonitos Co-op RV Park. We got set up in our new site, and our home until April 1.
Because we had to move this morning we did not have our traditional Christmas morning breakfast. And ever since we began travelling … seven Christmases ago, we have not had my family’s traditional Christmas morning breakfast, which had become “our” traditional Christmas morning breakfast. Because we haven’t had a waffle iron in the trailer. Until now ! ! ! WOO-HOO … Joanne bought me a waffle iron. So tomorrow morning, we will resume having waffles for Christmas breakfast, albeit delayed by one day.
Gift opening time ! We allowed Bo to open his two gifts first. And each Christmas, for seven Christmases now, he has become more and more adept at opening gifts. And more and more enthusiastic about it ! So … perhaps unwisely … this morning we allowed him to “help” us unwrap all of our gifts. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA … way to go, Bo ! The more gifts he unwrapped, the more frantic and frenzied he became. Must be somewhat like letting a little kid eat too much sugar ! BO … RELAX !
After cleaning up the gift wrap mess, we got dressed for Christmas dinner and headed back to Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park for Christmas dinner. We went early, and took the computer, planning to use Wi-Fi to phone our families. We had a wonderful Skype video chat with Joanne’s family before it was time for dinner. What an excellent pronunciation of Feliz Navidad by nine year old Amelia. Too bad she couldn’t be wishing us that at the Mazatlán airport today, as had been the plan earlier this year < sigh >. Kofa Ko-op prepared turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and dressing. All other side dishes and deserts were contributed potluck style. It was a pretty good dinner, but not the best communal / potluck Christmas dinner we’ve had. We were seated at a table of twelve, including a Canadian couple from Kingston, Ontario. After dinner and socializing, we phoned my sister and her husband. No answer !
We returned to Rancho Bonitos, and fed Bo and Sully their Christmas turkey dinners, so to speak. It was a pouch of soft morsel dog food in gravy. Sully got the gravy, Bo got the meat, everybody was happy. We went for a walk around the park, Joanne with the dog, me carrying the computer, searching for an unsecured Wi-Fi signal. There was one near the trailer of the park’s caretaker, also the son of the owner of the lot we’re on. He had already advised me that it would be okay to use his Wi-Fi signal. But I would like to have Wi-Fi right at our trailer, if that can be possible. Next week I will phone Qwest, the local Internet Service Provider to see if I can get Wi-Fi for three months.
DSK
Sunday, December 19, 2010
December 12 to 18, 2010
December 12 to 18, 2010 ; Desert Hot Springs ( Palm Springs ), California to Yuma, Arizona
Sunday ; Desert Hot Springs to San Bernardino ( east side of Los Angeles )
Today was sunny and hot ! This morning we slowly prepared for departure then spent over an hour in the swimming pools at Caliente Springs Resort. Each of the three pools was at a slightly different temperature but all of them were pleasantly … tepid. And after an hour in the slightly warm mineral pools, my sore, arthritic left hand was completely pain free. We departed Caliente Springs Resort and drove into Desert Hot Springs, to a laundromat. Joanne got the laundry started, then we had lunch in the trailer in the parking lot of the laundromat. After lunch, before the laundry was finished, I wanted to post my weekly journal entry to my blog, so I turned on the computer hoping to find an unsecured Wi-Fi signal. Well, there were no unsecured signals, but lots of secured ones. I went to the pizza restaurant beside the laundromat and asked if I may use their Wi-Fi signal. NO ! Okay … I went to the legion on the other side of the laundromat and asked there. Sure … one dollar please ! That was reasonable. I sat in the legion, at the bar, and while Joanne finished the laundry I worked online.
We left Desert Hot Springs and headed west on Interstate 10 towards Los Angeles. Within half an hour or so we were passing Morongo Casino. I wanted to take a look at Morongo Casino to see if it was a viable boondocking spot for the future. Our “usual” routing and timing brings us into Palm Springs late in the afternoon or early in the evening, and I don’t like to pay premium price in expensive RV parks when arriving late in the day. I would prefer to boondock overnight nearby for free and arrive at an expensive RV park / resort in the morning. So … we pulled into Morongo Casino and … first thing we found was their travel center / fuel bar, with excellent prices. We refilled with diesel. Then … we found their large parking lot dedicated to RV’s. Very nice. An excellent boondock location !
So … next year … I know where we will boondock overnight upon arrival in the Palm Springs area. And I’ve already picked out what I want for my next lunch at Sherman’s Deli. HA HA HA !
We continued west on I-10 … squabbling and bickering all the way. We’d been doing that on and off all day ! The congestion and confusion of the Los Angeles area freeways in a big rig were stressful and even a bit scary, even on a Sunday afternoon ! In San Bernardino, on the eastern edge of Los Angeles, we found our way to Camping World. We arrived just as it turned dark. Perfect timing ! We got set up in their parking lot, extended the slides, and I hooked up the generator to the trailer. We don’t usually extend the slides when boondocking, but … ! I wanted to try something new.
Tonight was the finale of Amazing Race. We have not had a chance to try out our “new” TV, purchased last winter, using the trailer’s antenna. The United States “over the air” TV signals have been digital for about a year and a half. And we’ve had this “digital capable” TV for almost a year. And I didn’t want to miss the finale of Amazing Race !
So … we extended the slides so we could see the TV. I hooked up and started the generator. I raised the antenna, thinking I would figure out afterwards which direction to “aim” it. I turned on the TV, and started the scan function. HUH ? It found 65 channels ? All digital ? Is that right ? Is that possible ? The first channel it settled on after the scan was completed was … channel 2. HUH ? CBS ? The Amazing Race network ? And …
< blinking > … OMG … that’s the best picture I’ve ever seen on a TV !
I flipped through another half dozen or so channels and they were all … amazingly great pictures. Who knew ? ! ?
We took Bo for a long walk around the neighbourhood. What a lot of noise ! We were at the intersection of I-10 and I-215, and … underneath an arrivals route to LAX ! Bo didn’t care ! He was thrilled to be somewhere new ! All it takes to thrill Bo is … arrive somewhere … or depart somewhere ! HA HA HA … he’s pretty easy to please.
We had supper, then watched Amazing Race. Congratulations, Nat and Kat.
Monday ; Camping World in San Bernardino, California
Two defective fridges in a row ? ! ? That’s not really possible, is it ? ! ?
Today was sunny and hot. Once again, we got up very early to be ready for trailer service when Camping World opened at 8 AM. I met with the General Manager of the store to discuss our sad fridge tale. He wanted to try the same repair that had been recommended by the mobile service technician in Desert Hot Springs. NO ! ! ! New fridge, please. With barely a hint of reluctance showing, he agreed to remove the fridge and install another new one. I was very impressed with his common sense and customer service skills.
We sat in the customer waiting area with Sully and Bo all morning, periodically taking them outside for a walk and some fresh air. We thought the trailer would be ready around noon, but when it wasn’t ready at 1 PM we put the animals in the truck and went across the street to Popeye’s Chicken for lunch. Popeye’s is the Louisiana Cajun version of KFC. We wandered back across the street to Camping World about 2 PM and they were just finishing with the trailer. Once again I was very impressed.
First thing in the morning I had attempted to purchase a door hinge reversal kit. The General Manager advised me that at this Camping World store, they did not charge customers for the door hinge reversal kit, and they did not charge for the labour to install the kit / reverse the door from right hand hinged to left hand hinged. BUT … they didn’t have the correct door reversal kit in stock. And it would take one to two weeks to get one. I asked Joanne if she thought we could tolerate the fridge being hinged on the incorrect side for the entire winter, and she said yes. I told the General Manager I would like to return in four months or so to have the kit installed / door hinges reversed to the other side. When we returned from lunch we discovered why the removal of the defective fridge and installation of the replacement took longer than we had expected. The shop foreman knew from previous experience that it was possible to reverse the door hinges without the kit, by using the existing hinges, flipping them over, drilling some new holes in the hinges and door frame, then tapping / threading the holes. And that’s what they had done. So … the fridge was hinged on the “correct” side for our installation. Well done !
It was our intent to stay in the Camping World parking lot overnight again, to ensure that the fridge operated correctly for at least 20 hours or so, then move to Hemet for three days. Hemet is not too far away, and that would allow us to remain reasonably close to this Camping World for at least the first four days of operation of this fridge.
But … alas … at 5:50 PM … after operating for just 6 hours … just like the other fridge … it failed, and displayed an E3 error code ! ! ! The E3 code indicates that the cooling unit has overheated. I hurried into the store, which closes at 6 PM, hoping to find the General Manager. I found the Service Manager, and advised him. He didn’t look very pleased. I’m certain I didn’t either. He suggested that I try a “restart”, and see him in the morning. The fridge restarted immediately, but then again, so did the other one. And then it would fail again approximately every six hours.
I just can’t believe that it’s possible for two brand new fridges in a row to be defective. Since both fridges indicated an overheating problem … is it possible there’s a problem with the venting ? The fridge’s side wall vent is okay ! Tomorrow morning I’m going to climb up on the roof and check the fridge’s roof vent. Maybe it’s clogged with dirt or something ? But I checked it a few weeks ago when our old fridge first died and it seemed okay. < big sigh >
Tuesday ; San Bernardino to Hemet, California
I was up very early this morning to check something on the trailer before I went into Camping World when they opened at 8 AM. The E3 error code that keeps occurring on the fridge indicates an overheating problem. I thought that maybe the fridge vent on the roof might be clogged with dirt or … acorns ? By 7:30 I was up on the trailer roof. I removed the fridge roof vent cover and discovered that the screened vent underneath was perfectly clean ! At 8 AM I was inside Camping World and met with the General Manager, the Service Manager, and the shop foreman. The “defective” fridge that was removed from our trailer yesterday had been operating in their service shop for almost 24 hours without a problem ! While 3 out of 4 of us were trying to figure out whether to wind our watches, take a shit, or steal third base, the shop foreman suggested that there might be a low voltage problem in our trailer’s 12V electrical system. A “low voltage” situation in the 12V electrical system feeding power to the fridge’s control module might cause “mystery” error codes to occur ! < huge sigh > A low voltage situation could result from a failing 120V / 12V power converter unit in the trailer.
After some discussion with them I decided we would depart Camping World and head to Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, about an hour away, and there I would do extensive voltage testing at the trailer battery, and at the converter, with AC plugged in, with the truck alternator providing a charge, with an external battery charger connected to the trailer battery, etc. But … it was becoming obvious that I had insisted that Camping World remove and replace a “defective” fridge that probably wasn’t ! With that in mind, and some … criticism … from Joanne, I made the drive through rush hour traffic on Riverside Freeway and Escondido Freeway from San Bernardino to Hemet feeling like shit ! Not a fun drive !
We arrived, checked in, and got set up in a site at Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet. I spent much of the rest of the day doing voltage testing, recording data, and trying to interpret the data. I’m still a bit uncertain, but I think what it indicates is that the converter inside the trailer needs to be replaced … AND … the truck alternator is not charging the trailer battery. The latter is a problem that has been occurring intermittently for the last two months. Joanne is critical that I hadn’t already turned to a “professional” to address that problem.
We spent some time in the hot tub late in the afternoon. I did some online shopping for a new converter … at Camping World, of course. I summarized my voltage testing results in a spreadsheet and sent it by
e-mail to the Camping World General Manager in San Bernardino. I will phone him in the morning, discuss that, and make an appointment to have a new converter installed … I guess.
Wednesday ; Today was cloudy and cool. This morning I phoned Camping World in San Bernardino and made an appointment for the purchase and installation of a new converter / charger tomorrow. We went to view two other Passport America parks nearby, one just outside the city and one within the city. The one outside the city was a dump. The one within the city was worse than a dump. We went to the Hemet dog park. There were two other dogs there, both pit bulls. I’m of the opinion, ignorant as it may be, that the only good pit bull is a dead pit bull. Bo wasn’t very interested in socializing with them. Which was fine, from our perspective, they weren’t friendly dogs.
After the dog park we went shopping. Radio Shack, Walgreens, Lowe’s, Sally Beauty Supply, then Wienerschnitzel for lunch in the mall across the street from Golden Village Palms. Joanne walked from the restaurant to the 99¢ Only store in the same mall, then walked from there to home. I drove to Home Depot to buy something, then drove home.
It was too cold today for us to want to go for a soak in the outdoor hot tubs. I did some minor maintenance chores, and napped with Sully. We spent way too much time and effort squabbling and bickering and making one another totally miserable !
Thursday ; Hemet to San Bernardino to Cabazon, California
Today was cloudy with early morning rain. This morning we prepared for departure, then did more voltage testing ; at the battery, at the converter, at the back of the fridge … with no charging provided, with 120V AC charging, and with truck alternator charging. It seemed pretty conclusive. The converter was not functioning correctly. Time to head back to Camping World in San Bernardino.
We departed Golden Village Palms RV Resort and headed west on Hwy. 74 back to the LA freeways, then northwest on the Escondido Freeway and northeast on the Riverside Freeway back to Camping World on the San Bernardino Freeway. We arrived shortly after noon, got the truck checked in at the service department for installation of a new converter / charger, then walked across the street to have lunch at Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen … again.
The trailer’s converter / charger is the electrical “centre” of the trailer. It receives 120 volt AC power when the trailer is plugged into “shore” power. It receives 12 volt DC power from the trailer’s “house” battery. It distributes 120 volt AC and / or 12 volt DC power as needed within the trailer. It charges the trailer “house” battery from 120 volt “shore” power, or it charges the trailer “house” battery from the truck’s alternator when the truck engine is running.
After lunch we sat with Bo and Sully in the Camping World customer waiting area. They were both very well behaved. When the installation of the converter / charger was completed, we once again did extensive voltage testing. Yup … big differences. The old converter was “shot” ! And the “truck not charging the trailer” situation was caused by the malfunctioning old converter. So that problem was solved as well by the new converter. I met with the General Manager and the Service Manager, thanked them profusely for taking a bad situation and making it all better with a bit of common sense and lots of good customer service skills. And I apologized for insisting that they replace a “defective” fridge that wasn’t ! We will try to do as much of our Camping World shopping as we can at the San Bernardino store in the future. Thank you, gentlemen, for a job very well done !
Joanne wanted to boondock overnight in the Camping World parking lot. She didn’t want to leave until certain that the new fridge and new converter were both functioning correctly. I was confident that they would after doing the voltage testing. I wanted to boondock overnight at the Morongo Casino just west of Palm Springs on Interstate 10.
We left Camping World around 4 PM heading east on I-10. We were at the Morongo Casino about an hour later just as it got dark. We parked in the very large, very well lit parking lot dedicated to RV’s. There were only seven rigs there including us. We unloaded what little food we had from the little 12V truck fridge into our new fridge in the trailer. That little 12V truck fridge has certainly paid its way in the last few weeks ! I turned on my computer and … oh boy … free Wi-Fi from the casino, and it reached all the way out here to the back end of the RV parking lot.
Hopefully our fridge “drama” is now over. Hopefully our stress and tension will be over as well. I proposed to Joanne that we consider going into the casino to have dinner at the buffet restaurant to celebrate the end of the fridge drama and hopefully our personal drama as well. We went into the casino and walked around, checking out the restaurants and the gaming areas. It’s a pretty upscale casino ! The buffet restaurant looked pretty good, but a bit expensive. When we got to the “new player’s club” membership desk we found out that registering as a new player earned a free buffet meal. WOO-HOO … guess who are “new players” at the Morongo Casino ? ! ? HA HA HA !
Damn fine meal it was, too ! Joanne played penny slots until she lost a dollar. I played penny slots until I broke even. What a couple of “players”, eh ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Friday : Cabazon to Andrade, California
Today started out very cold at the Morongo Casino and ended up quite warm out in the desert not too far west of Yuma, Arizona. Our plan for today was to boondock overnight at “Slab City”. We didn’t !
This morning ( BRRRRR ) before leaving the Morongo Casino we pulled into their Travel Center, refilled Lanoire with diesel, refilled the little gas can with fuel for the generator, and refilled Harvey’s fresh water tank. We headed east on Interstate 10. On the east side of Palm Springs, in the very ritzy neighbourhood of Rancho Mirage we found our way to an Albertsons to buy some groceries now that we’ve finally got a functional RV fridge. We continued east on I-10 then southeast on Hwy. 86S and Hwy. 111 around the east side of the Salton Sea. We were on our way to Slab City.
Slab City is iconic in the RV world, a “Mecca” like Quartzsite, Arizona and Livingston, Texas. It is a boondocking area out in the desert near Niland, California. The “slabs” are the remains of the buildings of the military base that was there during the second world war.
On the way there we passed the little < ahem > “village” of Bombay Beach. We had heard of Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, and drove off the highway and into the village to take a look. It was a ragtag collection of decrepit old mobile homes, RV’s, and shacks. And old vehicles up on blocks. We’ve seen that kind of hillbilly poverty reminiscent of the movie “Deliverance” in the Ozarks in Missouri, but we never expected to see it in Southern California ! A few more miles south on Hwy. 111 and we were passing Fountain Of Youth Spa & RV Resort. HA HA HA ! We’ve shared many laughs around campfires with our SKP BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friend Susan as she tells tales about her experiences as a single woman staying at Fountain Of Youth. We drove in to take a look.
Our directions to Slab City were “drive to Niland … and ask anybody”. HA HA HA … so that’s exactly what we did. And found our way to Slab City. What a filthy dump ! ! ! It’s an area of desert filled with … shacks, decrepit old RV’s, and other old vehicles such as school buses being used as dwellings, and … < shrug > regular, modern, full timer / “Snowbird” RV’s. And 65 years worth of accumulated filth and refuse ! Or however long the disillusioned and psychotic have been living there. Why would “regular” full timer / Snowbird RV’ers want to spend the winter there ?
We pulled off the road into the desert. I asked Joanne to make us a very late lunch, planning to leave as soon as we ate lunch ! I walked Bo around the desert, trying to avoid stepping on broken glass, burnt remains of mattresses, and more filth and refuse than you could ever see in Mexico !
I can hardly wait for the opportunity to make a snarky response the next time I hear an American tell me that they don’t want to go to Mexico because of the “filth” !
On the way out of Slab City I felt … compelled … to stop and take a picture of Salvation Mountain, a 25 year effort by a religious fanatic / psychotic to paint a mountain with religious … statements !
We drove south on Hwy. 111 all the way to Interstate 8, then east on I-8 almost all the way to Yuma. Our “plan B” was to boondock at the new Quechan Casino just outside Yuma on the road to Los Algodones, Mexico. But when we got to the casino we found that they now charge $5 to park overnight in their gravel parking lot. Forget that ! We drove back across to the other side of I-8 and spent the night parked out in the desert around a lot of other boondocking RV’s.
Saturday ; Yuma, Arizona
Well, the good news is … Joanne’s water aerobics friend Eilene is not dead ! And the bad news is … 1. I slightly crumpled the bed rail of the truck on one side yesterday and 2. We were able to get a site at Kofa Ko-op only until Christmas morning !
Yesterday just before we got to Bombay Beach I pulled off the highway, through the ditch and into the desert to stop for a bathroom break. The ditch was a bit deeper than I thought. When I was pulling back onto the highway through the ditch, I saw in the truck’s rear view mirror that as the truck leaned one way coming up out of the ditch the trailer was leaning the other way as it was still going down into the ditch. With the truck and trailer leaning in opposite directions the underside of the trailer bedroom overhanging the truck banged against the truck bed rail. When we unhitched today at Kofa Ko-op I discovered that it had hit hard enough to slightly crumple the truck bed rail. Oh, well … just another “war wound”.
Today was sunny and warm. AHHHHH … welcome to Yuma ! This morning we departed our boondock camp in the desert and drove a bit east on Interstate 8, across the Colorado River into the state of Arizona and the city of Yuma. Arriving in Yuma and Kofa Ko-op feels almost as much like “coming home” as arriving back at Keremeos and Riverside RV Park Resort in the spring. When we arrived at Kofa Ko-op, the SKP RV park, and checked in, we were only able to get a site for one week. DARN ! ! ! We intend to be here for Christmas dinner, so … on the morning of Christmas Day, we will have to vacate our site, move to the boondock area overnight, and depart on December 26. Unless … another long term rental site becomes available. But … we are number 7 on the long term rental site waiting list, so that’s extremely unlikely.
We got set up in our site, had lunch, I went to nap with Sully and Bo, Joanne went to do laundry. We took Bo for a walk around the 7 acre dog park, a daily ritual for us when we are here. And … Joanne discovered that her friend Eilene is alive and well here. We were worried when we were unable to reach her by phone last spring on our way home, and there was no one at her home in Oregon when we stopped there on November 2.
Since we are probably going to have to leave here on December 26 we did some planning. After yet more discussion < sigh > we made a decision not to go to Teacapán, Mexico. I’m very disappointed ! Joanne has been expressing reluctance to go to Mexico this year ever since her family cancelled their plans to meet us in Mazatlán on Christmas Day.
After supper we did our Christmas decorating.
DSK
Sunday ; Desert Hot Springs to San Bernardino ( east side of Los Angeles )
Today was sunny and hot ! This morning we slowly prepared for departure then spent over an hour in the swimming pools at Caliente Springs Resort. Each of the three pools was at a slightly different temperature but all of them were pleasantly … tepid. And after an hour in the slightly warm mineral pools, my sore, arthritic left hand was completely pain free. We departed Caliente Springs Resort and drove into Desert Hot Springs, to a laundromat. Joanne got the laundry started, then we had lunch in the trailer in the parking lot of the laundromat. After lunch, before the laundry was finished, I wanted to post my weekly journal entry to my blog, so I turned on the computer hoping to find an unsecured Wi-Fi signal. Well, there were no unsecured signals, but lots of secured ones. I went to the pizza restaurant beside the laundromat and asked if I may use their Wi-Fi signal. NO ! Okay … I went to the legion on the other side of the laundromat and asked there. Sure … one dollar please ! That was reasonable. I sat in the legion, at the bar, and while Joanne finished the laundry I worked online.
We left Desert Hot Springs and headed west on Interstate 10 towards Los Angeles. Within half an hour or so we were passing Morongo Casino. I wanted to take a look at Morongo Casino to see if it was a viable boondocking spot for the future. Our “usual” routing and timing brings us into Palm Springs late in the afternoon or early in the evening, and I don’t like to pay premium price in expensive RV parks when arriving late in the day. I would prefer to boondock overnight nearby for free and arrive at an expensive RV park / resort in the morning. So … we pulled into Morongo Casino and … first thing we found was their travel center / fuel bar, with excellent prices. We refilled with diesel. Then … we found their large parking lot dedicated to RV’s. Very nice. An excellent boondock location !
So … next year … I know where we will boondock overnight upon arrival in the Palm Springs area. And I’ve already picked out what I want for my next lunch at Sherman’s Deli. HA HA HA !
We continued west on I-10 … squabbling and bickering all the way. We’d been doing that on and off all day ! The congestion and confusion of the Los Angeles area freeways in a big rig were stressful and even a bit scary, even on a Sunday afternoon ! In San Bernardino, on the eastern edge of Los Angeles, we found our way to Camping World. We arrived just as it turned dark. Perfect timing ! We got set up in their parking lot, extended the slides, and I hooked up the generator to the trailer. We don’t usually extend the slides when boondocking, but … ! I wanted to try something new.
Tonight was the finale of Amazing Race. We have not had a chance to try out our “new” TV, purchased last winter, using the trailer’s antenna. The United States “over the air” TV signals have been digital for about a year and a half. And we’ve had this “digital capable” TV for almost a year. And I didn’t want to miss the finale of Amazing Race !
So … we extended the slides so we could see the TV. I hooked up and started the generator. I raised the antenna, thinking I would figure out afterwards which direction to “aim” it. I turned on the TV, and started the scan function. HUH ? It found 65 channels ? All digital ? Is that right ? Is that possible ? The first channel it settled on after the scan was completed was … channel 2. HUH ? CBS ? The Amazing Race network ? And …
< blinking > … OMG … that’s the best picture I’ve ever seen on a TV !
I flipped through another half dozen or so channels and they were all … amazingly great pictures. Who knew ? ! ?
We took Bo for a long walk around the neighbourhood. What a lot of noise ! We were at the intersection of I-10 and I-215, and … underneath an arrivals route to LAX ! Bo didn’t care ! He was thrilled to be somewhere new ! All it takes to thrill Bo is … arrive somewhere … or depart somewhere ! HA HA HA … he’s pretty easy to please.
We had supper, then watched Amazing Race. Congratulations, Nat and Kat.
Monday ; Camping World in San Bernardino, California
Two defective fridges in a row ? ! ? That’s not really possible, is it ? ! ?
Today was sunny and hot. Once again, we got up very early to be ready for trailer service when Camping World opened at 8 AM. I met with the General Manager of the store to discuss our sad fridge tale. He wanted to try the same repair that had been recommended by the mobile service technician in Desert Hot Springs. NO ! ! ! New fridge, please. With barely a hint of reluctance showing, he agreed to remove the fridge and install another new one. I was very impressed with his common sense and customer service skills.
We sat in the customer waiting area with Sully and Bo all morning, periodically taking them outside for a walk and some fresh air. We thought the trailer would be ready around noon, but when it wasn’t ready at 1 PM we put the animals in the truck and went across the street to Popeye’s Chicken for lunch. Popeye’s is the Louisiana Cajun version of KFC. We wandered back across the street to Camping World about 2 PM and they were just finishing with the trailer. Once again I was very impressed.
First thing in the morning I had attempted to purchase a door hinge reversal kit. The General Manager advised me that at this Camping World store, they did not charge customers for the door hinge reversal kit, and they did not charge for the labour to install the kit / reverse the door from right hand hinged to left hand hinged. BUT … they didn’t have the correct door reversal kit in stock. And it would take one to two weeks to get one. I asked Joanne if she thought we could tolerate the fridge being hinged on the incorrect side for the entire winter, and she said yes. I told the General Manager I would like to return in four months or so to have the kit installed / door hinges reversed to the other side. When we returned from lunch we discovered why the removal of the defective fridge and installation of the replacement took longer than we had expected. The shop foreman knew from previous experience that it was possible to reverse the door hinges without the kit, by using the existing hinges, flipping them over, drilling some new holes in the hinges and door frame, then tapping / threading the holes. And that’s what they had done. So … the fridge was hinged on the “correct” side for our installation. Well done !
It was our intent to stay in the Camping World parking lot overnight again, to ensure that the fridge operated correctly for at least 20 hours or so, then move to Hemet for three days. Hemet is not too far away, and that would allow us to remain reasonably close to this Camping World for at least the first four days of operation of this fridge.
But … alas … at 5:50 PM … after operating for just 6 hours … just like the other fridge … it failed, and displayed an E3 error code ! ! ! The E3 code indicates that the cooling unit has overheated. I hurried into the store, which closes at 6 PM, hoping to find the General Manager. I found the Service Manager, and advised him. He didn’t look very pleased. I’m certain I didn’t either. He suggested that I try a “restart”, and see him in the morning. The fridge restarted immediately, but then again, so did the other one. And then it would fail again approximately every six hours.
I just can’t believe that it’s possible for two brand new fridges in a row to be defective. Since both fridges indicated an overheating problem … is it possible there’s a problem with the venting ? The fridge’s side wall vent is okay ! Tomorrow morning I’m going to climb up on the roof and check the fridge’s roof vent. Maybe it’s clogged with dirt or something ? But I checked it a few weeks ago when our old fridge first died and it seemed okay. < big sigh >
Tuesday ; San Bernardino to Hemet, California
I was up very early this morning to check something on the trailer before I went into Camping World when they opened at 8 AM. The E3 error code that keeps occurring on the fridge indicates an overheating problem. I thought that maybe the fridge vent on the roof might be clogged with dirt or … acorns ? By 7:30 I was up on the trailer roof. I removed the fridge roof vent cover and discovered that the screened vent underneath was perfectly clean ! At 8 AM I was inside Camping World and met with the General Manager, the Service Manager, and the shop foreman. The “defective” fridge that was removed from our trailer yesterday had been operating in their service shop for almost 24 hours without a problem ! While 3 out of 4 of us were trying to figure out whether to wind our watches, take a shit, or steal third base, the shop foreman suggested that there might be a low voltage problem in our trailer’s 12V electrical system. A “low voltage” situation in the 12V electrical system feeding power to the fridge’s control module might cause “mystery” error codes to occur ! < huge sigh > A low voltage situation could result from a failing 120V / 12V power converter unit in the trailer.
After some discussion with them I decided we would depart Camping World and head to Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, about an hour away, and there I would do extensive voltage testing at the trailer battery, and at the converter, with AC plugged in, with the truck alternator providing a charge, with an external battery charger connected to the trailer battery, etc. But … it was becoming obvious that I had insisted that Camping World remove and replace a “defective” fridge that probably wasn’t ! With that in mind, and some … criticism … from Joanne, I made the drive through rush hour traffic on Riverside Freeway and Escondido Freeway from San Bernardino to Hemet feeling like shit ! Not a fun drive !
We arrived, checked in, and got set up in a site at Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet. I spent much of the rest of the day doing voltage testing, recording data, and trying to interpret the data. I’m still a bit uncertain, but I think what it indicates is that the converter inside the trailer needs to be replaced … AND … the truck alternator is not charging the trailer battery. The latter is a problem that has been occurring intermittently for the last two months. Joanne is critical that I hadn’t already turned to a “professional” to address that problem.
We spent some time in the hot tub late in the afternoon. I did some online shopping for a new converter … at Camping World, of course. I summarized my voltage testing results in a spreadsheet and sent it by
e-mail to the Camping World General Manager in San Bernardino. I will phone him in the morning, discuss that, and make an appointment to have a new converter installed … I guess.
Wednesday ; Today was cloudy and cool. This morning I phoned Camping World in San Bernardino and made an appointment for the purchase and installation of a new converter / charger tomorrow. We went to view two other Passport America parks nearby, one just outside the city and one within the city. The one outside the city was a dump. The one within the city was worse than a dump. We went to the Hemet dog park. There were two other dogs there, both pit bulls. I’m of the opinion, ignorant as it may be, that the only good pit bull is a dead pit bull. Bo wasn’t very interested in socializing with them. Which was fine, from our perspective, they weren’t friendly dogs.
After the dog park we went shopping. Radio Shack, Walgreens, Lowe’s, Sally Beauty Supply, then Wienerschnitzel for lunch in the mall across the street from Golden Village Palms. Joanne walked from the restaurant to the 99¢ Only store in the same mall, then walked from there to home. I drove to Home Depot to buy something, then drove home.
It was too cold today for us to want to go for a soak in the outdoor hot tubs. I did some minor maintenance chores, and napped with Sully. We spent way too much time and effort squabbling and bickering and making one another totally miserable !
Thursday ; Hemet to San Bernardino to Cabazon, California
Today was cloudy with early morning rain. This morning we prepared for departure, then did more voltage testing ; at the battery, at the converter, at the back of the fridge … with no charging provided, with 120V AC charging, and with truck alternator charging. It seemed pretty conclusive. The converter was not functioning correctly. Time to head back to Camping World in San Bernardino.
We departed Golden Village Palms RV Resort and headed west on Hwy. 74 back to the LA freeways, then northwest on the Escondido Freeway and northeast on the Riverside Freeway back to Camping World on the San Bernardino Freeway. We arrived shortly after noon, got the truck checked in at the service department for installation of a new converter / charger, then walked across the street to have lunch at Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen … again.
The trailer’s converter / charger is the electrical “centre” of the trailer. It receives 120 volt AC power when the trailer is plugged into “shore” power. It receives 12 volt DC power from the trailer’s “house” battery. It distributes 120 volt AC and / or 12 volt DC power as needed within the trailer. It charges the trailer “house” battery from 120 volt “shore” power, or it charges the trailer “house” battery from the truck’s alternator when the truck engine is running.
After lunch we sat with Bo and Sully in the Camping World customer waiting area. They were both very well behaved. When the installation of the converter / charger was completed, we once again did extensive voltage testing. Yup … big differences. The old converter was “shot” ! And the “truck not charging the trailer” situation was caused by the malfunctioning old converter. So that problem was solved as well by the new converter. I met with the General Manager and the Service Manager, thanked them profusely for taking a bad situation and making it all better with a bit of common sense and lots of good customer service skills. And I apologized for insisting that they replace a “defective” fridge that wasn’t ! We will try to do as much of our Camping World shopping as we can at the San Bernardino store in the future. Thank you, gentlemen, for a job very well done !
Joanne wanted to boondock overnight in the Camping World parking lot. She didn’t want to leave until certain that the new fridge and new converter were both functioning correctly. I was confident that they would after doing the voltage testing. I wanted to boondock overnight at the Morongo Casino just west of Palm Springs on Interstate 10.
We left Camping World around 4 PM heading east on I-10. We were at the Morongo Casino about an hour later just as it got dark. We parked in the very large, very well lit parking lot dedicated to RV’s. There were only seven rigs there including us. We unloaded what little food we had from the little 12V truck fridge into our new fridge in the trailer. That little 12V truck fridge has certainly paid its way in the last few weeks ! I turned on my computer and … oh boy … free Wi-Fi from the casino, and it reached all the way out here to the back end of the RV parking lot.
Hopefully our fridge “drama” is now over. Hopefully our stress and tension will be over as well. I proposed to Joanne that we consider going into the casino to have dinner at the buffet restaurant to celebrate the end of the fridge drama and hopefully our personal drama as well. We went into the casino and walked around, checking out the restaurants and the gaming areas. It’s a pretty upscale casino ! The buffet restaurant looked pretty good, but a bit expensive. When we got to the “new player’s club” membership desk we found out that registering as a new player earned a free buffet meal. WOO-HOO … guess who are “new players” at the Morongo Casino ? ! ? HA HA HA !
Damn fine meal it was, too ! Joanne played penny slots until she lost a dollar. I played penny slots until I broke even. What a couple of “players”, eh ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Friday : Cabazon to Andrade, California
Today started out very cold at the Morongo Casino and ended up quite warm out in the desert not too far west of Yuma, Arizona. Our plan for today was to boondock overnight at “Slab City”. We didn’t !
This morning ( BRRRRR ) before leaving the Morongo Casino we pulled into their Travel Center, refilled Lanoire with diesel, refilled the little gas can with fuel for the generator, and refilled Harvey’s fresh water tank. We headed east on Interstate 10. On the east side of Palm Springs, in the very ritzy neighbourhood of Rancho Mirage we found our way to an Albertsons to buy some groceries now that we’ve finally got a functional RV fridge. We continued east on I-10 then southeast on Hwy. 86S and Hwy. 111 around the east side of the Salton Sea. We were on our way to Slab City.
Slab City is iconic in the RV world, a “Mecca” like Quartzsite, Arizona and Livingston, Texas. It is a boondocking area out in the desert near Niland, California. The “slabs” are the remains of the buildings of the military base that was there during the second world war.
On the way there we passed the little < ahem > “village” of Bombay Beach. We had heard of Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, and drove off the highway and into the village to take a look. It was a ragtag collection of decrepit old mobile homes, RV’s, and shacks. And old vehicles up on blocks. We’ve seen that kind of hillbilly poverty reminiscent of the movie “Deliverance” in the Ozarks in Missouri, but we never expected to see it in Southern California ! A few more miles south on Hwy. 111 and we were passing Fountain Of Youth Spa & RV Resort. HA HA HA ! We’ve shared many laughs around campfires with our SKP BC Okanagan Chapter 33 friend Susan as she tells tales about her experiences as a single woman staying at Fountain Of Youth. We drove in to take a look.
Our directions to Slab City were “drive to Niland … and ask anybody”. HA HA HA … so that’s exactly what we did. And found our way to Slab City. What a filthy dump ! ! ! It’s an area of desert filled with … shacks, decrepit old RV’s, and other old vehicles such as school buses being used as dwellings, and … < shrug > regular, modern, full timer / “Snowbird” RV’s. And 65 years worth of accumulated filth and refuse ! Or however long the disillusioned and psychotic have been living there. Why would “regular” full timer / Snowbird RV’ers want to spend the winter there ?
We pulled off the road into the desert. I asked Joanne to make us a very late lunch, planning to leave as soon as we ate lunch ! I walked Bo around the desert, trying to avoid stepping on broken glass, burnt remains of mattresses, and more filth and refuse than you could ever see in Mexico !
I can hardly wait for the opportunity to make a snarky response the next time I hear an American tell me that they don’t want to go to Mexico because of the “filth” !
Saturday ; Yuma, Arizona
Well, the good news is … Joanne’s water aerobics friend Eilene is not dead ! And the bad news is … 1. I slightly crumpled the bed rail of the truck on one side yesterday and 2. We were able to get a site at Kofa Ko-op only until Christmas morning !
Yesterday just before we got to Bombay Beach I pulled off the highway, through the ditch and into the desert to stop for a bathroom break. The ditch was a bit deeper than I thought. When I was pulling back onto the highway through the ditch, I saw in the truck’s rear view mirror that as the truck leaned one way coming up out of the ditch the trailer was leaning the other way as it was still going down into the ditch. With the truck and trailer leaning in opposite directions the underside of the trailer bedroom overhanging the truck banged against the truck bed rail. When we unhitched today at Kofa Ko-op I discovered that it had hit hard enough to slightly crumple the truck bed rail. Oh, well … just another “war wound”.
Today was sunny and warm. AHHHHH … welcome to Yuma ! This morning we departed our boondock camp in the desert and drove a bit east on Interstate 8, across the Colorado River into the state of Arizona and the city of Yuma. Arriving in Yuma and Kofa Ko-op feels almost as much like “coming home” as arriving back at Keremeos and Riverside RV Park Resort in the spring. When we arrived at Kofa Ko-op, the SKP RV park, and checked in, we were only able to get a site for one week. DARN ! ! ! We intend to be here for Christmas dinner, so … on the morning of Christmas Day, we will have to vacate our site, move to the boondock area overnight, and depart on December 26. Unless … another long term rental site becomes available. But … we are number 7 on the long term rental site waiting list, so that’s extremely unlikely.
We got set up in our site, had lunch, I went to nap with Sully and Bo, Joanne went to do laundry. We took Bo for a walk around the 7 acre dog park, a daily ritual for us when we are here. And … Joanne discovered that her friend Eilene is alive and well here. We were worried when we were unable to reach her by phone last spring on our way home, and there was no one at her home in Oregon when we stopped there on November 2.
Since we are probably going to have to leave here on December 26 we did some planning. After yet more discussion < sigh > we made a decision not to go to Teacapán, Mexico. I’m very disappointed ! Joanne has been expressing reluctance to go to Mexico this year ever since her family cancelled their plans to meet us in Mazatlán on Christmas Day.
After supper we did our Christmas decorating.
DSK
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