We Scored and Other Happenings

Yuma, Arizona       High 79 Low 52

It has been great weather here this last week.

We have been almost too busy here in the Park. They sure seem to have a lot going on all the time.

Cindy has been taking the pottery class and has worked on some neat things (some of which didn’t turn out quite the way she wanted).

Penny seems to have gotten over her surgery and, to me at least, is acting more like a puppy than before. She runs around when she meets a new dog and is running a lot in the small dog park when we go there. I don’t always make it, but I try to take her once a day.

We went to see what was going on at the pool party they held this last week and there was some more good entertainment and lots of people were dancing to the music.

I tried shuffleboard some more and it seems that I’m having a little trouble getting the right amount of push on the discs but no one seems to care. It is more about having a good time than winning.

We are still going to the square dance classes and Cindy has found she can handle it if she wears her back brace. We have a lot of new people and I seem to remember a lot of the calls, but still need a lot of practice.

Saturday morning there was a Park wide yard sale with about 30 people selling stuff. We found some pots like some we looked at in Algodones and bought them for less than there and didn’t have to figure out how to get them to the car. The same lady was in the process of getting ready to sell her house (her husband died a while ago) and made us a lot of bargains.

The neighbors across the street had a painting Cindy liked for our home and we got it. It reminded us of one of the towns in Spain, but found out it was of Italy. The neighbor found out that Cindy was doing pottery and she told us she had some clay that she would make us a deal on because she wasn’t able to do pottery anymore because of arthritis in her hands.

We have wanted to get some chairs for our back yard and another man had a whole set that we liked and so we bought the set. He even hauled it to us in his truck. We were happy with our yard sale purchases yesterday.

Cindy has been after me to cook something on our outdoor cooker and last night I finally did. I cooked some brats and they turned out OK.

Then last night there was a tribute to George Strait concert. I helped before as a greeter and then we got to listen to the concert. The group was all from the Phoenix area and did a good job with George Strait’s songs. There were a lot more people at this concert than the others we have gone to. Everyone there seemed to enjoy the music.

The violin play was excellent and got lots of applause.

He almost sounded like George Strait.

Right now it is getting quite windy and cooler weather is in the forecast.

Thanks for visiting.

Still Staying Busy

Yuma, Arizona        High 70 Low 46

After we left BloggerFest last Saturday we had a concert to attend at our Park. It was a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis and other artists from that era. It was well attended and very well performed. One lady got so into the music that she danced her way to the stage and danced for the crowd for a little while. The performers had invited the group to dance to their music, but probably didn’t expect anyone to actually take them up on it. It was all good fun.

Yesterday morning I tried the shuffle boarding but am not very good, but for my first try, I don’t think I did too badly.

After shuffle boarding, one of the security guards had part of his gun collection here. It is Western week here in the Park. After looking at the guns, he and some of his friends put on a comedy skit about a shoot-out in an old western town. Some of the parts were very funny. One of the ladies said she wanted to make a parking area for wagons. It was for the roving vagabonds. She was going to call it an RV Park. The guard, who played the sheriff, told the people he would be in the saloon if they needed him, after all doughnut shops hadn’t been invented yet.

He said that a lot of these badges are not real, just tourist stuff.

He told us he has over 500 guns.

Monday afternoon we went to a presentation on The Old Plank Road. It was a wooden road built in about 1915 so cars could get across the sand dunes in California into Yuma. It was 6 miles long and was one way with very few turnouts. The Ranger told us that it took probably 2 hours to go over the road. There is only a small section left and is on the National Historic Register. There are also two sections on display in Museums.

Last night we went to the square dance lesson. It has been almost 18 years since we last square danced and I don’t remember a lot of the calls, but do remember a some of them. Cindy’s back got to bothering her and may not be able to continue the lessons.

Today Cindy went to the Pottery lesson and picked up two of her creations. She said she still has some left there ready to fire. She has also been busy sewing. I have been walking a lot since we have been here and am averaging just over 4 mile per day for the past month. For me that is pretty good.

This Park seems to have a lot going on all the time and we can stay about as busy as we want. Sometimes there is too much going on. We still haven’t been in the swimming pool but now that it is warming up we hope to soon.

Thanks for visiting.

Quartzsite and BloggerFest

 

Yuma, Arizona        High 73 Low 48

The weather continues to be ideal.

Friday night the Park put on a meal for all the volunteers that help out at this Park. There were a lot of people there and the food ,which had a Mexican theme, was very good.

I managed to get some pictures of the sunrise after which we set out to Quartzsite. We are about an hour and a half away and had a pleasant drive.

I should mention that Penny is doing a lot better than she was Thursday and she went to Quartzsite with us. We have noticed that she seems to want to be near us more than before her surgery.

Our first stop was the big tent and we were able to get good parking because we were there right after they opened. Even so, there were still lots of people going through and some buying stuff. I’m still not sure what some of it has to do with RVing, but it seems there are a lot of those type vendors at the show.

On our way out we looked at some of the new fifth wheels and motor homes. Some are quite nice and some had things that we didn’t like. And no, we are not ready to trade in our Montana. We looked at one large, 45 foot, motor home that had a price tag on it for $450,000 and was marked down for the show to a mere $400,00. It seemed that some of the RVs were selling though.

By then it was time to go to BloggerFest. We found the spot very easily from George’s directions and signs. We didn’t get an exact count of the people there, but at least 50 showed up. There was a lot of visiting and meeting new friends and reacquainting with old friends. I won’t try to name them all, but will leave that to George. We did meet some bloggers that up till then we had only read their posts. It’s always fun to put a face to a name.

Jim and Sandy Dixon, sitting on the left.

Kevin and Evelyn next to Marikay and Craig MacKenna.

I think a good time was had by all and the time flew by and soon it was time to leave.

I invited Al and Kelly to stop and say hello when they get to Yuma and hope they take us up on it. We hadn’t seen them for a couple of years. We didn’t make it to BloggerFest last year, but were glad we went this year.

Thanks for visiting.

Poor Penny

 

Yuma, Arizona         High 72 Low 48

The weather has been delightful. Warm during the day and cooling off enough at night for good sleeping.

Yesterday we went to Algodones to get Cindy’s teeth cleaned. That went OK and then she went to the hair dressers for a haircut. For $7.00 she got a hair wash, hair cut blow dry and styling. At home she told me it would have been at least $30.00 for the same thing. She was happy about it.

While we were there we walked through a part of town we hadn’t gone to before and saw some more pottery, some of which we will probably get later when we figure out how to get from the dealer, through customs, and then get the dealer back his dolly. This will have to wait until our next trip to Algodones.

When we got back, it was nice and warm, so I decided to give Penny a bath in preparation for her trip to the Veterinarian today. I don’t know if I have mentioned how much she hates baths, but this was the same. The difference this time was that there is a dog grooming station in the park and I don’t think I got as wet as usual. It was warm enough that she dried off quite quickly.

This morning we had to be at the Veterinarian office at 7:30 for Penny’s spaying.  So everyone had to get going a little earlier than usual.  The Veterinarian checked Penny over before her surgery and found some baby teeth that hadn’t come out and asked us if we wanted them removed while she was under the anesthetic. We thought it would be easier on her while she was out, so we told her to go ahead. The only thing is her mouth would also be sore.

At that point we were told we could pick her up at 2:30. When we got her, she was still quite groggy, and as I write this, at 6:00 she still is sleeping a lot, and is hurting. We can tell because of all the little noises she makes when she moves. She has eaten a little, but hasn’t had anything to drink yet. The incisions for the spaying are tiny with dissolving sutures, so we don’t have to go back. The paper we were given on discharge said it may take 10 days before she is her old self.

We are sorry to put her through this, but hope she will be better off overall.

Thanks for visiting.

The co-ordinates are supposed  to be 33.619-114.207.

And Then They Were Gone…..Again

Yuma, Arizona       High 73 Low 52

The last 2 days have been nice here. We are enjoying the warmer weather.

I forgot to tell about my trip to Algodones to the dentist. I had a large cavity and one tooth with a broken piece. The total for the fillings and an x-ray of the cavity cost $100.00. I didn’t think that was too bad. That was my only reason for going. There was a short line going through customs and I got through in about 15 minutes. I was only gone for 2 hours, which I thought wasn’t too bad.

We have been very busy here in this park. Most of the snow birds are here and there is a lot more going on.

Yesterday we had our 2^nd Spanish lesson and I felt kind of lost. I hope to be able to learn a little Spanish.

Sunday Linda and Cindy’s Mom came back to stay with us for 2 nights while the motor home finally got the slide working. Linda’s appointment was for yesterday and La Mesa seemed to get the slide working properly.

Last night we went to a beginner square dance lesson and stayed until Cindy’s back started bothering her. It has been almost 19 years since we last did any square dancing and I don’t remember all the calls, but most are familiar.

This morning Cindy went to her pottery class and she is excited about the things she has made so far. In a week and a half she has used 25 pounds of clay and is going to have to buy some more.

Cindy’s Mom got a puzzle for Christmas and has been trying to get it together ever since. While they were here before, I got her a piece of plastic to hold the unfinished puzzle and she worked on it while in Phoenix. She told me that it was the hardest puzzle she has ever worked on. While she was here I helped her try to put it together and when they got back there were about 150 pieces to put together. She was getting close last night and when we got back last night, I helped her until 10:00 and we finally got it together other than two pieces of boarder that were missing. She was happy to finally get it done.

Whenever we go out, Penny wants to go with us.

This morning they left for Fort Mohave where they are staying tonight and then they are driving to Pahrump, Nevada where they will spend a week. After that they are not sure where they are headed.

Cindy has an appointment to get her teeth cleaned in Algodones tomorrow and then is getting a haircut while there. We want to have some more shrimp tacos and I might try the tamale.

Thanks for visiting.

Craft Fair and Visitors

Yuma, Arizona        High 70 Low 48

It was another nice day. There was a nice sunrise, but I wasn’t able to get a good picture.

Today at our Park they had what was called a farmers market, but there wasn’t a farmer to be seen. There were a lot of vendors selling various crafts. With it there was a burger bash which a lot of people took advantage of. There was also some entertainment.

This afternoon we had some visitors: Dan and Patty Chance and Nancy Kissack. We haven’t seen them since we met them at Long Beach, Washington in late summer of 2013. They got to see our new, to us, home and we visited for a while. Dan used to blog, but quit in February of 2014.Tomorrow they leave Yuma for Quartzsite for a few days and then on to Tucson, where Nancy will visit with Dan and Patty at their home near there. Nancy told me she would be back this way in March and maybe we can get together then.

From Left to Right: Dan and Patty, Nancy, Ray

I took Penny to the small dog park and she seemed to enjoy running with all the dogs. Today there were 12 small dogs running around.

We don’t have much planned for the early part of next week.

Thanks for visiting.

First Quilt Show of 2016

Yuma, Arizona       High 72 Low 46

This morning started out on the cool side, but by noon had warmed up nicely.

This morning we went to the quilt show at the Yuma Convention Center. There were lots of nice quilts entered and lot of vendors. I would have trouble picking out my favorite quilt, but I have put some of them on this post.

We liked this reminder to not touch the quilts.

We didn’t do much the rest of the day until this evening.

This evening there was an owner’s dinner at the club house. It is pot luck and is held once each month.There was lots of good food and we spent some time visiting with some of the owners that were sitting at our table. One of them told us that other years 81% of the people at this Park were from Canada, but the numbers seem to be somewhat lower, probably because of the low rate of exchange for the Canadian dollar. We have also heard that some of the Canadian owners are selling their lots here and are not traveling because of the low exchange rate. I checked the rate tonight and $100 US will buy over $145 Canadian. When we went through Canada in 2013, the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar, but only by a little bit. This might be a good summer to visit Canada.

Tomorrow Cindy wants to go to the Arizona Flea Market. She wants to check out the fabric store there to try to find some white to match a project she has going. We looked at the quilt show, but no one seemed to have much white on white.

Thanks for visiting.