Chilly but Early Start to the Day, Couple of Birthdays

Quartzsite, AZ

Sunday, Jan. 19^th arrived earlier for us than we’d planned. Well, at least we greeted it earlier! Bill was up at 5 for some reason and I was up at 6. Slept out, I guess. Last night it was my normal 9:30 when I went up to bed. Bill had finished his coffee and blog reading by the time I came down so I sat at my laptop and got yesterday’s blog post published. The slow wifi is frustrating to say the least. 

Pre-Pop!

Pop!

Around 7:30 we went out to go for our walk and Bill asked Keith if we could take Oreo, since she was outside and he was indoors having breakfast. That worked out well and she walked pretty good at Bill’s direction. Bill and Keith planned to take a drive to the Quartzsite flying field this morning and it was my morning to have a shower. After my tea, I took care of that. The boys left around 9 and then I saw Bob and Jo-Anne hooking up Big Red. I can only assume they went to dump tanks.

Oreo had the leash here

There's the pretty girl

Bill had the lead here

Then there were three
Only temporarily though

I wasn’t too pleased last night when I determined that all the sneezes and runny nose through the day was me catching a cold. Hmmm. Not sure where I would have caught one other than maybe in the tent yesterday but those symptoms came on almost too quickly for that. I rubbed my chest and neck with Vicks Vapor Rub before bed last night and will see how today goes. A few sneezes and sniffles first thing but they seem to have calmed down.

The  Bluebird motor coach group returns each year

This saguaro seems to be flipping us the bird!

Before my shower, I took a chance and stepped on the bathroom scales. We think they weigh heavy by 2 lbs (at least according to our dr. office) and even without that difference, I am very pleased with the results after 19 days. As long as we can keep this up, we may get down to a goal weight allowing us still some leeway. I don’t believe in counting chickens before they hatch so will just remain hopeful instead.

Keith and Oreo having fun

Then I dressed in long pants, a long sleeve top and my long sweatshirt hoody to go for a walk. It was 11 when I left the Suite. I took the book I just finished and walked up to the front entrance. Once I reached the gate area, Bill and Keith drove in, returning from the field. They stopped to say hello and carried on home. Bill knew that I didn’t want a ride so that was at least nice of them to check on me. I left my book and picked up two Sue Grafton novels from the office.

Got the "G" and "H" novels

I was quite warm in the sun on the return journey but I made it. I was home by 12:30. As I approached the Suite, following Bill’s wind sock as I got closer, I noticed Bill outside talking to a couple of people. Deb and Tom? Nope, too short for Deb. Definitely Tom. Nope, shorter hair than Tom. Hmm, oh my goodness, realization hit me that it was Ken and Shirley from Nevada! What a wonderful surprise! We weren’t expecting to see them this winter with Ken’s impending appointments.

Bob and Jo-Anne took Big Red to dump
but it is still No Vacancy

They decided that by the time they arrived in February, we would all have vacated this area and they might have to track us down for a short visit. This way, they will stay here for 3 or 4 nights and head home for Thursday. 

Ken and Shirley's set up on the edge of our group

This is awesome since Bill and I have never actually camped with them before. We missed them last year when they made it to Quartzsite. How nice to see them, they both look great.

Go fly a kite!

Bill reeled the kite in after letting it
fly to the string's length
I couldn't get a picture of it wa-a-y-y up there

 So, Kim and I sat outside together for an hour or so and after Keith and Oreo went for a ride on the quad, Bill got his kite out and Keith got his drone out. There is no shortage of toys here! Everyone was having fun and around 3 we gathered in the middle, creating a wonderful Circle of Friends. 😊 Happy Hour had begun. The conversations filled the air, laughter, good times and a reunion toast of our first meeting with Kim and Ken took place as the clouds moved in and chilled the air.

Keith's drone was entertaining too

It was 5:30 when most of us packed up and went back to our units. The boys shared in the chore of moving rocks for a fire pit. The previous pit was too close to Ken and Kim’s Journey and we were all game for a fire tonight. Bob had been carrying wood with him for a while. This was the perfect crowd for it. Bill started the generator and I got Madame IP out for reheating our stew.

Circle of Friends
L to R
Higgins, Bob, Tom, Ken K, Shirley, Deb, Kim, Ken W, Keith, Bill, my chair, Jo-Anne

On the side we had salad and I also baked some refrigerated biscuits. Blowing the diet all at once! It’s funny that after eating less carbs for a couple of weeks, our body handles a meal with carbs like a yield sign. You can surely go past it but you must do it slowly to avoid discomfort. I could have treated the yield tonight like a STOP sign but went that step further and ate what I put on my plate. It was very good and filled my tummy. We cleaned up dishes and then joined the gang outside at the fire.

We all get excited when a para-glider goes by

My garden
Ken says they found it for us :)

Everyone was already there so they must have eaten really quickly! I learned later that some hadn’t eaten yet so that explained their earlier arrival. There wasn’t a lot of wood and by the time we got outside at 7, most of it was in the pit and close to burning down. The boys had no restraint! It was toasty warm and as it burned down to coals, we huddled closer to retain the heat. 

The boys pitched in and moved the fire pit
Tom, Ken K, Bobb, Ken W, Bill, Keith and Tom

It was a fun evening, many stories regaled all around the pit had us all laughing. I didn’t take any pictures though. It was close to 9:30 when we headed home. Bill and I read our books for about ½ an hour and then I remembered to run our dvd binder over to Kim and Ken. They might borrow a movie or two since they don’t have a satellite dish. This was a great day. Plans for Silly Al’s were put in play for Monday so that will be fun.

Our piggish supper
No regrets, it was delicious!

Happy Birthday to Chris! He is the special young man who has stole his way into my daughter's heart. 💓

Cutie patootie, he is

Also, Happy Birthday to Bill's Mom in heaven. I never had the opportunity to meet Jacqueline and sorely wish I had. She left this world far too young.

Love her smile
No sunset pics tonight
sorry for the late post!

Thank you for your visit!