Empty Nest Again, Black Beauty Gets Oiled, Do Nothing Day

I woke up on Friday, Jan. 19^th with a tickle in my throat. Oh no! It was around 6:30 and I tried to give one cough to clear it but found it took a few and it still didn’t disappear. Not wanting to get up too early and disturb the fur ball under the covers (that would mean getting dressed and taking him out), I kept tossing and turning. I could sense that Bill was awake over there, across the King bed, somewhere on the other side of said fur ball.

You can tell the wind is fairly strong from the flag here

At 7 we all moved about the same time to greet the day. The tickle disappeared with a drink of water, I should have gotten up sooner. Our company has left, so we are back to the normal routines of opening the shades, making our drinks and sitting at the laptops to read blog posts. We are empty-nesters again; the kids have moved out. 

Randy sent me this picture of Brenda in Old Scottsdale, Az
from yesterday
Love it!

Bill had a bowl of cereal and got into the shower first as he had an appointment in Blythe for 11 o’clock, Pacific time. He also had a stop in Quartzsite to ship a parcel.

first look at how dry the ground is
then try and understand how this funny little plant grows

Not the healthiest Palo Verde tree

but one of the trees native to the area that I recognize now

It looks like a gorgeous day and since the sunrise would be identical to yesterday’s, I didn’t get a picture. The temperature at 9 was already hovering around 60F and the sun in total control of the blue sky. You gotta love that! This would be the last ‘hot’ day around 75F for a high and then for a few days, we’ll be experiencing daytime highs in the low to mid 60’s. Oh my! With sunshine, my family and friends need not worry. It will still feel like the high 70’s. Sorry!

Our dvd's lined up alphabetically

Our new binder

My project today was to start emptying our dvd cases and putting the movies and music specials in alphabetical order. Now that I have a binder specifically designed for storing these in a compact place, I was anxious to get them organized. I don’t have anywhere near what the binder will hold but that’s quite alright. A smaller one would still take up the same amount of room.

I slipped the dvd’s into the slots and then set about removing the cardboard inserts with the name, actors and whatever other info was displayed. These inserts will go into a separate binder, also in alphabetical order. I need to purchase that one at any Walmart or Dollar Store plus the clear plastic slot pages. This didn’t take me too long and I enjoyed the process while Bill was away.

We still have the Seasons of our favourite episodes still in cases
and they will stay that way
Bill will rebuild shelves for these

Empty cases

Voila! for now until I get a binder for the inserts

I then moved outside to sit with Clemson for about an hour with my book. The new one is Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson, so a quick read about Alex Cross. 

the little bum is sound asleep

It was 12:15 MT when Bill texted that the truck hadn’t gone in yet, Ford was running behind. We chatted briefly and when we signed off I realized that I needed to eat something. 

Leftover pizza! yay!

The cereal from earlier, not surprisingly, doesn’t last for long. I had 3 pieces of my pizza from Silly Al’s so took advice from Happy Hour the other day and warmed it up in a small fry pan on the burner. It was almost as good as the first time!

Clemson didn't budge when I came inside

After cleaning things up, I brought Clemson inside and with my hat securely on my head, my phone and a bottle of water I took the garbage up to the dumpsters. Once I got moving, I was surprised that even though it was 76F the breeze was quite refreshing. I didn’t walk fast, and after dropping the box into one of the bins (which had been dumped, thank goodness) I carried on up to the front check in.

I turned back and took the same leisurely stroll back to the Suite. Bill texted to say he was on his way home at 1:40. I thought he might pass me but I was home about 20 minutes before him. It only takes 20 minutes from Blythe to get to Quartzsite but it took him longer from the west end of the Q to get home.

Happy Hour today
George, Tom, Jim, me, Bill's chair, Sharon, Suzie, Deb
Can you say 'Happy'?

Sky squiggles

Just before Bill got home, I noticed that Jim and Sharon, whom we’d met a couple of times already, stopped in to visit The Yates’ so we poured a drink around 2:30 and walked over to join them for an early Happy Hour. Tom and Deb soon wandered over with their chairs. It was a nice afternoon and thank goodness for the breeze or it would have been too hot. After a couple of hours either the wine o the long walk had me feeling zonkered so I came home.

Bill joined me a few minutes later and we sat out with our books until quarter after 5 when he lit the Weber for supper. I have thawed 3 chicken thighs and 1 pork chop to grill tonight. 

My handsome guy

I have so much chicken in the freezer, remember my kerfuffle when I cleaned my freezer? I found way more than I thought we had. I’ll try my hand at making a chicken noodle soup tomorrow like my neighbor!

sorry for the blur, i didn't want to let the heat out so I hurried

So, with some more instruction from George, our butt chop and chicken on the grill mat was awesome! So tender and juicy. We’ll sure do that again!

Sometimes you must wonder what DO we have in common?
Ha ha, we don't always like to eat the same things

I steamed my asparagus, fried fresh mushrooms and we grilled Bill’s corn on the Weber as well. The sunset tonight was so gorgeous, I was in and out of the Suite during cooking and eating to capture those moments. Sunset overload coming right up!

No enhancements needed on these pictures

 It was a night with nothing special on tv so we cleaned up dishes, I finished this post and got into our books early. What a great day and I even got 4 miles of walking in. That feels fantastic! I hope you enjoyed your day too.

Good night folks!

Thank you for reading today. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish.