Monday, January 21, 2019

Winds Over Quartzsite on a Beautiful Sunny Day, Slipper Success


On Monday, Jan. 21st at 2 am I woke to the sound of the outside door closing and a light on downstairs. Odd. I waited and listened, since Clemson was in bed with me, curious to why Bill was up and going outside. I had my ear plugs in and when I removed them, I couldn’t hear anything else. I first thought he was still capturing glimpses of the eclipse but common sense told me that finished a couple of hours earlier.
I'm going to leave eclipse photos to the ones
who know what they're doing
But there is one cool one at least!
I waited until he came inside and he told me that the winds were really rocking his flags and the noise woke him up. He brought the flag pole down in what he called ‘a very bright moonlight’. It wasn’t enough light for him though has he cut his finger while diminishing the size of the pole. When he came back into bed around 2:30, we both lay awake for a while and I said ‘I think it’s our sign that is banging’. Aha! Yes, but the flags needed to come down anyway.

So, instead, I captured the morning moon in the west
This is a series of photos as the moon disappears behind a cloud
and the cloud eventually drops it
The next time we came fully awake, it was still dark so we chatted about our travels, past and future. We got up at 7 and I was out the door for my walk shortly after. It was a beautiful morning and the wind was still prominent but not cold. The temperature was a mild 56F/13C and the sky was pretty all around me. Before I knew it, I was already at the mile marker and kept on going to the front entrance. This is where I text bill to let him know my whereabouts.

I really enjoyed this performance
Not the true Blood Moon eclipse but
a cloud eclipse at least
There were 2 rv’s at the dump station and 3 waiting in line, the last one being our friends, George and Suzie. By the time I’d walked to the front office, which was still closed, and back to the dump station, there were 10 rv’s in line including the 2 at the stations. I’m so pleased that we have other means to dump and get water rather than pack up and pull our home out of our site. I know we are told that it is easy to pull rigs out but with a 5th wheel, this is the easy way to take care of that business.

My morning walk was full of beauty no matter where I looked
Back home, I made my tea and sat with Bill. I caught up on a lot of blogs today. I’m having difficulty syncing my Fitbit so my step count on my app shows me way far behind. I’ve tried various things and I know eventually it will sync but it is frustrating. My last one was on Sat. the 19th. Before Bill had his shower, I asked him to turn the generator on and I made the promised batch of Pillsbury Cinnamon Buns. I cut up a Gala apple to share and spread icing and cream cheese on 6 of the buns. The other 2 were iced and sent home with Rob when he popped in to say good morning. Perfect timing!

This notice was on the events board
We Canadians will have to discuss whether we are attending
Bill and I have never attended so maybe we should go!
We cleaned up dishes, washed/showered as the case may be and I started my post with a coffee beside me. Our little gapher slept until 7:15, not disrupted at all by Bill’s early morning activity, and went straight back to bed. He hasn’t been seen downstairs since and it is 11:25. I guess he is comfortable. I’m pretty sure he has my shirt all bunched up underneath him too. We know better than to leave things on the bed if we care to wear them again. ‘Wrinkly’ isn’t always in style.

A cute directional marker in La Posa South
I sat outside for most of the afternoon with my crochet project. I had one slipper done except for tying up lose ends and the second one was half done. It was sheer determination that it would be finished today. Bill came outside and got his kite out again. More sheer determination was in play here. You’d think with the 20 – 25 mph winds today it would be a perfect kite flying day.

Good day for flying kites
The problem was that the winds were not steady at those speeds and would drop off occasionally. Bill didn’t give up and was able to tie down the string and let the kite do its floating, fluttering and floundering for about 45 minutes or so. After putting things away, he went inside to have a rest before Happy Hour and at 3 I went door to door to the sunny west facing rv’s to see if anyone had less wind than us. It was kind of a lost cause to gather in the middle because the wind had a chill to it.



By that time, I had finished my slippers. Tadah! First time ever for me so I was tickled pink or tickled multicoloured, I mean.  It didn’t matter to me that one was a big bigger in places than the other, they were just for me and in my mind a total success! Bill made us each a cup of tea and eventually our friends, Rob and Pat, Tom and Deb, George and Suzie and Ken and Kim, joined us in front of the Suite. Those that sat on the outside edge were in the chilly wind while 3 or 4 of us were warmer and sheltered.

Aren't they purty?
Clemson joined us for Happy Hour
The gathering broke up before 5 tonight which is fine on these Arizona nights. We decided to have fish and chips for supper so at 5:30 Bill started the generator for the air fryer. I had 2 pollock filets to pan fry with Fish Crisp and give the barbecue a break tonight.  The temperature got up to 67F today and it would have been much warmer if not for the strong winds. Rumour has it that they will be even stronger tomorrow. We won’t complain, at H.H. we discussed what our families are dealing with back home.


In one corner, Kim and Suzie in the cold wind
George sheltered from it

Pat, Tom and Ken in the cold wind

Bill sheltered, Deb in the cold wind

Rob and Bill sheltered from the wind

I borrowed this picture from George's blog
to show that I'm present - in the sun in a sleeveless top
Our supper was very good. I need to cook Bill’s plain fries a bit longer than the seasoned ones that I like just to crisp them up a bit more. Clean up is a breeze in the air fryer. Because we’re watching a few programs on television tonight, we’ll leave the generator running for a while. We had lots of sun today so we were in good shape for battery power until I turned on the fryer. This has been a great day and I’ve accomplished something I’d never done before.

I almost missed the dusty sunset
but caught it from our window
Because we have mostly carpet in our Suite, I am not worried about wearing my slippers without rubber soles or hot glue tabs, as suggested by Nancy, a fellow blogger. However, I will certainly keep it in mind if I’m taking my slippers as a guest at someone else’s home and look into a safer bottom so I don’t slip and fall.

Supper turned out very well
These are my crispy seasoned fries
Good night!

Thank you for visiting today. I love hearing from you if you wish to leave a comment.

16 comments:

  1. It was a wonderful sunny day and great out of the wind. The Pot luck is fun it has been quite a few years since we have gone.

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    1. We are enjoying the time at Quartzsite, whether we sit around camp or drive into town. We might have to check out the Pot Luck this year.

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  2. I love your slippers!!! They look toasty warm. It was windy here too but that's okay. It was my excuse for not going outside and working in the yard.

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    1. Thank you, easy to see the errors but it is a learning curve and I love them too!

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  3. OMG your slippers are too cute! Great job and so quick! I'm thinking I'm going to look into an air fryer, your dinner looks wonderful! Pot luck does sound interesting to check out. Good idea to sit closer to a wind block it sounds like. Love the happy hour pics and the moon pics too!

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    1. Thank you. Sometimes I even impress myself!
      The Pot luck sounds interesting, might have to take advantage this year and go with all of our Ontario friends!

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  4. Windy here too and hope it ends soon. You did a great job on your slippers! Ron loves to fly kites too.

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    1. The winds have been pretty strong but the sun has been so warm. We aren't complaining though, much nicer than home. I love my slippers and the next pair will be an improvement as I can see the errors. :)

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  5. I think the slippers look amazing. They look the same size in all places to me, beside you know what they say, a blind man won't see and a smart man won't say.
    You folks should have moved a truck over there to block the wind or at least deflect it a bit. Glad you all enjoyed happy hour.

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    1. Thank you Deb, not bad for a first try. Don't look close! haha I like that saying.
      You know what it is like at Happy Hour, lots of suggestions but no one wants to move to do it! :)

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  6. Good for you, your slippers are great!
    A project well done. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thank you, I really enjoyed doing it and now need another project until I can get more of the wool for the first project.

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  8. I too loved your slippers. Very cute. It's been very windy here too, and a little cooler than I care for. I just remind myself it's so much better than home!! It's cold and icy there right now. I love watching kites flying. We plan to go to Padre Island for their Kite festival next weekend.

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    1. Thank you Cheri. The winds are not fun but the sun makes up for it and it is bearable.
      Bill enjoys his kite but didn't dare try it on the windiest day or it would end up on the other side of the mountain! haha
      Have fun at the festival.

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