Ground Hog Day

Yuma, Arizona                 High 80 Low 54

Just wishing everyone a Happy Ground Hog Day!

Thanks for visiting

Enjoying The Warm Weather

Yuma, Arizona             High 82 Low 53

According to the weather guessers it has been warmer than usual with a new record high for the date last Friday. The old record was set in 1986.

But we are really enjoying the warm spell. Last year it was windy and cold about this time of year so we are hoping it lasts.

Yesterday Cindy and I went to the Imperial Wildlife Refuge at Martinez Lake for a camera workshop. It went from 9:30 in the morning until 1:30 PM. We learned a lot more about our cameras and IPhone than either of us will ever be able to remember but hopefully we got enough notes and hand-outs to help some.

I have been going to Yappy Hour at the small dog park most afternoons. Penny likes to run around with all her doggie friends.

 Penny and Yogi take turns with this orange squeaky passifier.

These two are about 5 month old puppies that like to chase each other and they get a little rambunctious.

 The three closest to the stuffed frog were in a three way tug of war but I missed getting all three pulling on it.

  

All the owners like spending the time visiting.

We have been asked why we call it Yappy Hour and my reply is come out and get close to the fence, or have a new dog come into the park, or have someone walk by with a big dog and when 8 or 10 small dogs bark at you or them you will soon find out.

Some of the dog owners have decided that Friday needs to be Happy Yappy Hour and are bring treats for everyone.

The dogs aren't aggressive, they usually are just saying hello. The most dogs I have been able to count was 26 one day but usually there are in the neighborhood of 20 small dogs running loose in the small dog park. It's funny that there are way more white dogs this year than other years.

I am still playing shuffle board 2 or 4 times per week and some days I have a really good game and days like today, nothing seems to go right.

We still are having quilting get togethers on Wednesday afternoons and have 8 or 10 ladies every week. Cindy still makes a new block pattern for those that are interested in making them and we have seen a lot of progress in the ones that we new at sewing this year. They should have enough blocks for a quilt by the end of the season.

Last week we had a Trivia With A Twist one night. Along with trivia Questions, one challenge was to tie a banana from your waist and try to knock two oranges in the a hoop. It was so hard, that the moderator finally went with one orange into the hoop to get a winner.

We are still having lots of fun here in the Park.

Thanks for visiting.

Quilt Show in Yuma

Yuma, Arizona           High 77 Low 52

We have mostly been staying out of trouble here in Paradise. Mostly.........this afternoon Cindy came in to tell me that we had another water leak in the secondary water system. When I went out I could see water bubbling out of a section of our landscaping. This leak is the fourth one I've had to repair since we've been here this fall and winter. All of the leaks have been near where a coupling has been put in the irrigation pipe. It looks like, to me, that whoever originally installed the system used pliers to hold the pipe while they installed the coupling. And after a while where they pinched the pipe it started leaking. It's not too hard to repair, it's just the aggravation.

I wasn't sure Cindy had got a picture of the rainbow I talked about last time, but when I downloaded the photos, there it was.

It is a little faint but filled the whole eastern sky.

We went to the quilt show at the Yuma Civic Center. It is held yearly in January. There were lots of nice quilts. Some of the patterns were some we had seen before, but all the quilts in the show have to be entered by members of the local Quilt Guild.

There were some really nice quilts with some fancy quilting.

We both liked this one with the painted tree and animals.

This was  a block of the month back in Utah.

 Cindy got a picture of the whole quilt, and we both thought it was our favorite.  The squares of the  three above  and the square below are close ups of the quilt.

I think we liked this quilt best because of the quilting.

This quilt was hand embroidered. 

There were many vendors there selling lots of quilting supplies. We had bought a kit (at a yard sale) that was short several fat quarters of dark blue and so Nancy and Sandi,we did buy some material. Also a 10 yard bolt of good material for $3.95 a yard, if you took it all, called our name. We do have a quilt in mind that needs a back So it will get put to good use.

Thanks for visiting.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Yuma, Arizona       High 69  Low 50

Yesterday the morning started out OK. We had a some of shuffle board matches here at The Palms with another Park, but about when it was time to start, the wind came up and soon got so bad that both teams decided to cancel.

The wind kept getting stronger and the dust was flying so much that we couldn't even see the mountains.

Then at about 2:00 it started to rain and we had a fairly good rain until about 3:00.

At about 5:00 there was a large rainbow that reached clear across the sky. About that time the clouds started to break up and we woke up to clear sky today.

While it was a little cooler than it has been, it was still a nice day.

I got to play 2 games of shuffle board this morning, winning one and loosing one.

This afternoon we went to Cindy's quilt group where she is giving out a new block every week. I go along to help some of the new quilters with their cutting and with any small problems they might have.

After the quilt group I took Penny to the small dog park so she could play with some of her friends. She always lets us know when it is time for her to see her friends. Last year I had to carry her a lot of the way, but this year she will walk the whole way. It is about a half mile one way and she get a work out going there and then does a lot of running around while there. This is not too bad for such short legs. Then she walks back home. she usually settles down until it is time for bed when she decides it is time to play.

There is the annual Quilt Show here in Yuma Friday and Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes. We might have to buy more fabric. (As if we don't already have enough.) I think Cindy said she has finished 8 quilts since we have been here in a little over 3 months. But life is good.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy New Year

Yuma, Arizona

Just a short note to wish everyone  a Happy New Year. May all your wishes come true!

Thanks for visiting.

Merry Christmas

Yuma, Arizona       High 70 Low 43

The day started out a little chilly but turned out to be a really nice day.

We seem to stay busy all the time. For instance last week we had the lit up bike ride around the Park led by golf Carts decorated for Christmas. I didn't hear a count on the bikes, but we probably had more than usual. The golf carts went slow enough that we had no problem keeping up. Cindy rode along for the whole distance even without her bike being lit up. The golf carts went first, then the bikes that had been in the parade, then anyone else that wanted to ride.

Her I am  getting Penny ready to ride as Max, the Grinch's dog, one last time.

Of coarse there is still Shuffle board every other day. One day a week we trade off either going to other Parks or they come here. Last Tuesday we went to another Park. We play a total of 9 games, 5 games then 4. Our players only won one game of the nine but every one of was having trouble with their courts. Their players seemed to know how to play they better than us.

We gave each other Christmas presents, Cindy got a bigger TV with a built in DVD player and I got some new clothes.

Here is our Christmas tree.

Yesterday and today we each called our kids and I got to talk to my little shadow, who is now 8 years old. He told me he misses Penny.

This afternoon we had Christmas dinner for everyone in the Park. The Park supplies the turkey and gravy, the same as Thanksgiving, and 20 people per table supply everything else for dinner. We always have way more to eat that everyone can eat and there are always left overs.

Our friends, Rob and Sharon from the Park.

Cindy like to decorate our table and she and another lady went up early to decorate. The table probably looked better than any of the others.

Some of our small dog park people had just got to the Park last Wednesday night and didn't know about Christmas dinner and so I talked to the activity director and asked him if there was room for them. He told me sure and so I went to their motor home and invited them. They still didn't know if they we going to make it but I was glad to see that they decided to come to the dinner.

Here's wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Thanks for visiting.

Ouch!

Yuma, Arizona             High 71 Low 53

It has been a bit cooler the last few days. Thursday there was a lot of wind and the air was full of dust but the last two days have been nice.

We had a golf cart parade in our Park today but first some more pictures from the Light Parade.

Last night I went with a group of people from our Park to a place that is called spook mountain. On clear nights when there is no moon a funny faintly lit up fog appears on the mountain in front of where we park. No one seems to know what causes it and it only appears on days when there is a new moon. Last night we got to see the phenomenon about 10 times and we saw things that some of the group say they never have seen before. The dim light would appear and last a little while and then blink out just like someone had turned off a switch. It is in a really desolate part of the desert and the road to it is pretty rough. Cindy wanted me to see if her back could take the road but with the back problems she has been having, I probably would say her back couldn't handle the ride.

Tom Wells and his wife, Barbara. He used to be a science teacher and keeps finding things for us to do.

We got there before dark and had kind of a picnic while we waited. Tom picked last night because he thought no other people would be there because we were a day or two earlier than usual and we were the only ones there.

Last Tuesday we rode our lit up bikes through the neighboring RV Park following and crossing paths with their Parade. The Security man told us as we left our Park to go over to the other Park that he was sure glad he worked at a park where after 7:00 at night nothing happened...............Not! Something is always going on.

Today a lot of the golf carts got decorated and a lot of the dog owners took their dogs in the Pet Parade. They let some of us with smaller dogs ride on the trailer (float). We drove through a lot of our Park.

Tom dressed up as the Grinch.

We even had Santa.

Now the ouch part. We went to a nearby grocery store and after we did our shopping we backed out of our parking stall and were ready to go forward when a lady in a Dodge truck started to back into us. I laid on the horn and for a second she stopped and we thought good, she heard us. Then she proceed to keep backing up and backed into the right front door of our car. I thought it might be a 4 or 5 hundred dollar repair but It will be closer to $1000. plus the car rental while we get ours repaired.

The lady kept saying it was my fault but the lady officer that she called said she backed into us and it was her fault but since it was on private property, all she could do was give me a case number. When she talked to her insurance company, she tried to tell them the same thing, but the adjuster agreed with me that it was her fault. So now we have an appointment for January 2nd to get started on the repairs. I hope it goes well.

Thanks for visiting.