Special Birthday Wishes, Change of Plans, MLK Day, Blythe

Today, Monday, Jan. 15^th is special. No, I’m not referring to Martin Luther King Day, although I’m sure that is special in itself for some of our American friends. I’m referring to an anniversary and a birthday. My parents were married on Jan. 15, 1946. They celebrated 49 years of marriage before Daddy passed in June of 1995.

I couldn't get this picture bigger
without it blurring out
Mom and Dad on their 45th anniversary
I think

On this day, Jan. 15 in 1995, my first grandson was born. My daughter and I were thrilled that my Dad at least met Taylor Jesse Patrick (Tj to his friends) before his passing. So, Happy Birthday Taylor, I can’t believe you are 23 today!

When Taylor was born, Bridgette and I shared an apartment together
I will never forget those beautiful memories of our time together
They were both so young here!

I love this picture of Taylor and his Mom, my daughter
I don't even mind that it isn't a clear photo

Bill and I were up shortly after 7 with the thought that we were going to dump our black and gray tanks today into the Blue Boy and pull it down the road to the dump station. We, like yesterday with our fresh water fill, are not desperate to dump but with friends coming, thought we’d take care of it now. Within 10 minutes of being awake and a hot drink on the brew, we changed our minds.

We had a beautiful start to the day

Bill mentioned in his post yesterday “OnOur Way” that we have ordered an RV Waste Pump (macerater) and with delivery expected on Tuesday, why not wait and save ourselves the aggravation of bumping down the roads in here? So, we relaxed, enjoyed our coffee and tea and caught up on our friend’s blogs and comments. Instead, we decided to take a drive to Blythe, Ca for some groceries and a couple of things from Ace Hardware.

I-10 is a nice highway with some very nice mountain scenery

We left the Suite around 10 MT, gaining an hour after crossing the Colorado River in California and were in time for store openings at 9 PT. 

Only Banks and Postal Services seemed to be closed for the day because of M.L.K. day. The rest of the city was up and ready for business. Bill drove first to Ace Hardware and found the screw he needed for a solar arm and the hose he needs for the waste pump. 

While he looked for his stuff, I got hung up in one spot, searching for greeting cards. I find some wonderful choices, ones I've never seen so picked out a few to have on hand.

Crossing the majestic Colorado River

From there we went to Albertson’s, and for some warm fuzzy reason, I thought of Rob and Pat, our friends back home. Last winter, we went to Albertson’s a couple of times together. I miss you guys! We found everything on our list, even icing sugar which here is called powdered sugar. I politely asked an equally polite American shopper for clarification.

Back into Arizona within 2 1/2 hours

We headed for Quartzsite and quickly lost our gained hour. As my sister said this morning, “how time flies, or not”. Ha ha. Bill got a notice on his phone that his parcel had arrived at Quiet Times today, a day early. We turned onto Main Street from I-10 and had a nice chat with the ladies in the quaint shop while they located our box. Yay! My parcel and my sisters are not expected for another day or two so we’ll go back.

I won't say anything about this as Bill will on his next post

Back home, we realized just how much the day had warmed up. It was 12:30 when we came inside and made something to eat. Bill had a peanut butter and cheese on a bun and I had a lettuce, mayo, onion wrap with cheese. It hit the spot for me and I moved outside with water and my next book. This one is a hard cover that I found at Pilot Knob. It is another James Patterson story called The Lake House.

Clemson looking for a cooler spot to lay

I got smart today and before sitting, prepared my lounge chair with a blanket in case I felt the ‘drowsies’ coming on, I didn’t have to move inside. Bill sat with me for a while after puttering around with the macerator and figuring things out in that regard. Finally, around 2:30 he moved inside with Clemson for a snooze.

Tom, Deb, Suzie and George

 It was our turn to host Happy Hour so at 3 our friends joined us. We had an unexpected visitor today.  You may know her, Shadowmoss, if you read her blog at all. Bill and I met her for the first-time last winter. We got reacquainted with her and her adventures. Paula is planning the Bloggerfest this year at the pavilion here in La Posa South on Jan. 27^th.

Bill, Clemson and Tom

At 5 it was time to say goodbye and everyone went back to their homes for supper. Tom’s ribs on his Weber sure smelled good! Around 5:30 Bill lit ours and we took some instruction from George (Our Awesome Travels) to grill our Wild Alaskan Pacific Cod. I’d never done fish on the Weber before. With double layers of foil turned up at the edges, I sprayed with Pam before placing the buttered and spiced filets on for about 20 minutes. No need to flip, George advised.

Fish prepped for the barbecue

This was about the length of time I deep fried the home cut fries inside. Because our fryer came with a basket, we have had to do two batches to make enough for both of us. 

The basket that came with our fryer is quite a bit smaller than the
whole circumference

This time, I didn’t use the basket and instead dropped the potatoes in the hot oil/lard. This worked perfectly although my fries were a tad too crunchy. Live and learn. My newly purchased metal slot spoon worked like a charm!

After eating, we had to wait for the hot water to heat up since we’d forgot to turn it on earlier. We now are in the habit of turning it off after morning showers but need to remember to turn it on when preparing our meals. Once they were done, we settled down for the night. I didn’t take a lot of photos today so it didn’t take long to download them.

We are both happy that we switched from Tilapia to Cod
It is a wonderful change up

This has been a good day and we have a fridge and cupboards stocked up for company. We won’t be eating many meals here, I don’t think, since they are only going to be here for one full day and we plan on going out with a group of friends. Oh well, we know we’ll eat everything we bought eventually. I hope you’ve had a good day too.

Nothing spectacular tonight in the sky but pretty all the same

Good night all!

Thank you for popping by. I enjoy reading your comments and I appreciate each one.