Polar Vortex, Saguaro Sightings, Kim’s Instant Pot Demo, Propane Top Up

On Wednesday, Jan. 30^th (wherever did January go?) I woke up at the same time as Clemson and Bill. It was 6:30. We all got up and yay, Clemson made it through the night again. 😊 He’s a little old man too and is dealing with little old man issues. We sat downstairs together while Bill had his coffee until it lightened up outside. It is going to be another cloudy day. The Polar Vortex that is bringing frigid weather to much of Canada is probably responsible for our overcast skies. How nice of the North Pole to share! We're not complaining though, it is still a very warm stretch of days.

Even clouds make for a beauty of a morning

 Bill got cleaned up to go into Quartzsite for propane and I got dressed for my walk. I started out in the same direction on the main road and then veered off to the east at the trash bin area. I wanted to find the stone map of Canada and US which has been in place since March 2000. It is well done and I’m very pleased that it has remained intact. People are respecting it, as they well should. Pictures from ground level do not do it justice. We need Bill’s drone.

Still a pretty sunrise, isn't it?

I turned towards the main entrance but only as far as a road through a wash and thenI cut through to the main road again. 

Black Beauty and Bill go to town early

Today's sightings of saguaros
My favourite is the second from the left on the top
Looks like someone waving at me

Bill had passed me on my way out and on my way back, I cut through behind the dump station to the west and wound my way back towards camp. Sometimes you get disoriented out here (don’t even talk about after dark!) in the daylight if you take the wrong road. I’m pretty good at reading vantage points to search for Bill’s 2 flags so I wasn't worried.

Sometimes, there is a fork in the road and you have to know which way to go
I turned left - no blinker necessary

I found the map easily

This picture was taken from the top west corner of the map

Bill wasn’t back yet when I returned home so instead of having my tea, I drank some water and prepared to hop in the shower. George drove by, again in their coach, as I entered the Suite to go and get the propane they couldn’t get yesterday. Bill returned as I hopped in the shower, at least at the time I hoped it was him! The hot water felt good and yet I didn’t want to dawdle. Our gray tank must be getting close to full.

It is very neat how they did our 5 Great Lakes

The most unusual Saguaro
Wait a minute!!! We're in the desert, aren't we??

Our first year here at Quartzsite, we camped here
right back in front of that saguaro cactus

I made my tea, finally, and then started breakfast right away. Bill wanted to take his satellite cable into Satellite Advantage to get it cut down into a shorter length. He never uses the length that he carts around. I wanted to go along to the Kitchen Store (Rada Cutlery) so we headed into town. On the way, we stopped at the Quartzsite sign to get our Selfie. I’d been talking about this since we arrived and this was the perfect day for us to do it.

This is quite the rig
A FullHouse is the toy hauler for DRV

Can you see Zoe in the back seat?

While at S.A. I waited in the truck until I noticed a very large truck parked with a DoubleTree Full House. That is the same manufacturer that makes our Mobile Suite. Well, now it is owned by Thor. It will always be DoubleTree to us. I’d never seen one and was impressed with the size of the truck pulling it. Not always the timid gal I was for most of my years, I hopped out and walked over to talk to the lady in the passenger seat.

Now you can
She is a beautiful dog and so soft to touch

We had a great chat and when Zoe their Weimaraner in the back seat barked at me, I got permission to pet her. What a beautiful dog and so friendly. Linda, as we came to introduce ourselves, and I chatted and she even showed me into their rv. They have need for a toy hauler to haul their 2 Yamaha motorcycles. This is their 3^rd winter to the southwest but 1^st in the Quartzsite area. Texas is usually their destination.

Today's selfie
It might show up on my header very soon

It was nice to meet her and I gave her a card in case she wanted to check us out on our blogs. 

Off in the distance, the Q mountain reigns
It never changes from year to year

We drove back home just before noon and gathered with everyone else to say goodbye to Rose and George. They got their Allegro Red all fixed up and they were heading back home to Lake Havasu City as they were expecting friends on Saturday. It has been nice to see them so much this winter and may yet bump into them in February in the Yuma area.

Tasty little sugar free delights

Kim informed us that her Insta Pot demo will be at 2:30 in their Winnebago Journey. That will be fun! She says we’ll be finished on time for Happy Hour too! I moved inside to make a coffee and test out the Sugar Free chocolate chip cookies that I bought yesterday. Hmm, they were very nice! They aren’t keto as they do contain flour but the no sugar fact is a definite advantage for a snack.

Drone lesson #1

Ken gives it a solo flight

Bill had a coffee with a couple of cookies too and then got his drone out. He had a couple of interested guys who wanted to try flying it. Ken and Rob didn’t take long before they were over and taking it for a spin and then George got in on the action. Boys will be boys. 

Lesson #2 with Rob flying and the paparazzi taking photos

I had to plan supper but since Kim was treating us to a taste of mac and cheese midafternoon, hmm, it wouldn’t need to be much. I think I’ll just warm up my 2 slices of pizza and Bill can have a grilled cheese.

They must be doing okay, it is still in the air

Lesson #3 - George as pilot this time

Shortly before 2, Bill and I went over to get a tour of Kim and Ken’s rv. It is a really nice unit and for a 2000 model, in very good condition. They have a nice little home away from home there with lots of space to relax. At 2:30 I went back with a glass of wine, heck, I took the whole bottle as Happy Hour was going to continue immediately following the tutorial. The guys sat outside and us ladies sat inside while Kim did her thing. Very interesting!

Lesson #4 of the day
"Instant Pot - 101"
Cooking with Kim

The mac and cheese dish was delicious and it was ready in less than 10 minutes. The only thing I have to wrap my head around is the pressure cooker part of it, releasing the steam, and that will just be a learning process. 

Rapt students

Yummy, it was delicious!

Pat and I are going to keep it in our heads as we look around down here for the best price before we decide on a purchase. We all gathered outside their unit and enjoyed a couple of hours together before most of us were separating at 5 for supper.

The boys enjoyed their treat too

I sat for a bit inside with my book and Bill went out to burn some more cardboard and paper. At 5:30, he started the genny as our batteries were slowly dropping. No sun today to charge them so we expect no less. One more day here at La Posa South and we move on to full hookups. I’m looking forward to that although I will miss the peacefulness and the scenery on my walks here. Everything has advantages and disadvantages.

Almost as good as the first night

For my pizza slices, I heated them in my tortilla oven first to warm them throughout and then fried them up in a fry pan. For Bill’s sandwich, I grilled them in the fry pan, almost too much, and we were eating at the same time. Mine was delicious and I hope Bill enjoyed his too. I worked on my post to see if I could get it posted tonight.

Through the window, the sun disappeared behind clouds and mountains

We had the last serving of Jell-o for dessert a bit later and sat and enjoyed our books. I hate putting mine down so I wanted to read it before I got too tired. This has been a good day. I missed out on getting the few things I wanted in town but I know that if I don’t get back in tomorrow, I could probably find one of them at a .99¢store in Yuma.

And then tonight's grand finale
Good night!

I hope that you have also enjoyed your day.

Thank you for stopping by!

Cloud Cover on a Easy Winter Day, Quartzsite and Wizard Fun, Collages

Bill was sound asleep when I began my ascent out of bed at 6:45 on Tuesday, Jan. 29th. I’m not noisy by any means but by the time I had slipped to the bottom of the bed and began dressing, he woke up and turned on our little desert night light. Now, I’m spoiled having a light to get dressed by. I hate waking him from a sound sleep and try hard not to. Downstairs, I made my tea and prepped his coffee. He was up soon after.

Gee, maybe we will get some sun!

When light dawned, we saw George drive out with their coach as it was scheduled for service in Quartzsite today. Suzie followed in the car. At 7:40 I was out the door and what a lovely morning it was for a walk. The weather station was reading 53F/12C and winds less than 1 mph. I rerouted my direction again today and walked behind our sites. There are a lot of nice areas if you were ever here for any length of time.

I took a few pictures and like other bloggers, I’m amazed at the bright green grass that is growing at the base of some of the trees and brushes. We are in the desert so it is quite unusual to see. 

By the time I returned, I hadn’t yet had my morning response from my sister, Donna. We text every morning exchanging weather information as well as daily plans. She is probably working this morning. Donna cleans homes for a handful of clients back home a few days a week.

So, last selfie beside these majestics was blurry
Let's try again

Canada Government pensions had been deposited in our account back home so Bill did the monthly banking.  Our work pensions don’t go in until the 1^st of the month and that amount never changes so he knows what we have to live on for the upcoming month. Clemson still hadn’t budged out of bed but he had Daddy up through the early morning hours again so figures he can sleep in now.

Simple breakfast this morning

At this time of the morning, there isn’t anything on our agenda today unless we get an Insta Pot demonstration/tutorial from Kim. They both love their Insta Pot and I’ve only heard good things about them so want to get a better look before I consider if it would be beneficial for us. It is like my clothes, I guess, an appliance in means an appliance out. 😊

Our new scatter mat
The hall runner is the same but needs to be cut at a 5' length
which whill give us one more of this size

Clemson approves of it too

 Bill had his shower and I got bacon and eggs ready for breakfast. We invited Rob and Pat over for a coffee and to chit chat about the day and so on. Going back and forth to each other’s places every few days has been our own ‘tradition’ that we’ve formed this winter and we hadn’t done it for a while. When they left at 11, we’d agreed to meet within the half hour to go into town for a bit. There are a few places we want to see. We drove first to the Mat place that Rose recommended to us.

a visit to an Antiquers dream corner

We have been keeping our eyes open for a hall runner in an Arizona theme as well as a couple of small scatter mats for downstairs. This was definitely the place! We were thrilled with the selection and the prices and quickly found the size we needed. We’ll need to get the long one cut and bound back home but for the cost, we are very happy. Even Clemson likes it.

We walked around the antiques and many other areas with tables filled with specialized ‘junk’. One man’s junk is another mans treasure, couldn’t be proven any better than here. We took a walk through the food tent and came out with a few goodies for a good price. Keeping an eye on the expiry date is key but the things I found were no older than the ‘best before’ date of Oct. 2018. I’m okay with that.

The last thing we did before leaving Quartzsite was drive to the end of Keuhn St. to see what old cars were for sale. He didn’t have too many at this location and told us that they were in the process of moving across the interstate. There were over 100 vehicles there already but it wasn’t open yet. We’ll check it out next year. I’m not into old cars unless they hold a memory for me. Some of these did. I enjoyed the walk through and Pat and I even tested out a bicycle built for two!

This was fun, just poking around
The bottom right, the guys are waiting outside for us

I like this one
Daddy owned a '64 Chevrolet but I'm thinking  his was a Biscayne

We can afford the Thunderbird! Bill said
I liked the SS Chevelle better though

Found this '58 Ford for Larry

 We arrived back at our sites just in time. Ken and Kim had just settled in their chairs in the Happy Hour circle and Deb and Tom were about to join them. George and Suzie were absent for most of it as they had taken their coach into town early this morning and hadn’t returned yet.  Cheryl or Shiryl (not sure) walked over with her dog Duchess to introduce herself to us fellow Canadians. She was from P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island) and camped further back in a Newmar motor home.

Pretty vehicles - I actually enjoy them better when they are untouched
The modified Cadillac is very sinister looking

She hung around and told us about herself and we did the same while enjoying various conversations. We’re good at that and there is never a dull moment. By 6 or so, Suzie arrived in their car and George pulled up in the coach. 

Pat and I wanted the 2 seater bike

The drinks were flowing and a good time was had by all. When Pat invited Ken and Kim to join us 4 in a game of Wizard at 7, we decided to hustle our butts home to make supper. It was 6:15 or so when we warmed up our burgers and buns.

I sense a battle here between
Mr. Saguaro and Madame Palo Verde

Supper was fast, but good and filling all the same. We’d been snacking at H.H. so it was all that we needed to fill our tummies. At 7 we went next door to Rob and Pat’s and the guys came back to grab our chairs. 

Happy Hour today
Left - Chery from PEI, Tom, Deb, Suzie, Ken, Kim, Pat, Rob and Bill

Duchess made the rounds and stopped with Kim and Pat

A little excitement as a hang glider almost flew over top of us

The winds were almost non-existent all day

Sunset before dinner

Simple supper too!

What a fun evening, we had! Kim and Ken had never played the game before but caught on really quickly. Because of my last experience, when I was in the winner’s circle, tonight I took a picture of the score sheet to prove that Pat and I were the top winners of the night.

We had a great evening

Kim and Ken picked up on the game really quickly

We chatted about campgrounds, heaters and games and just after 10 we took our chairs and drinks back home. Our generator had quit running so Bill assumed it had run out of gas. Inside, I caught up on my blog post and downloaded pictures. I’m tired so it isn’t being posted until early morning.

Before Rob destroyed the evidence
Pat and I finished 1st and 2nd
Yay!

This was a very enjoyable day. I hope yours was too! Thank you for visiting my blog today. I love reading your comments if you wish to leave me one.