Clouds Roll in but it is still winter in Arizona.

Wednesday, Mar. 15^th here in Ridgeview RV Resort and the clouds have moved in. Still calling for 93F and we are still not complaining. Bill and I were up just after 6:30 this morning to read posts and have our first coffee.

Catching the sun just before she pops up

I need to find some good tea down here. I don’t like the bags with the strings on them, their tea leaves a lot be desired. I bought these by mistake and today I had tea grains with each mouthful. Pitoou! I thought I was buying the right kind, you know, actual tea bags in a box but when they say ‘individual’ they mean individually wrapped in paper and attached to a string. LOL

Horseshoe pits in the park

Enough about tea. Now coffee. Okay, we treat ourselves daily by using our Keurig, I’ve mentioned this before. However, when we shopped at Costco in El Centro, Ca, Bill accidentally picked up the box of Starbuck cups instead of the Kirkland brand. Blech! Not big fans of Tim Hortons’ coffee, because it is so strong, we are even less fans of Starbucks….now. As Bill says, no matter how you doctor it up, it still is not a good cup of coffee, in our opinion.

I'm thinking she'll dance on the pole?? Interesting.

The breakfast blends, medium roast, that we have picked up down here in various stores have been really quite nice. I’ve stopped drinking it and the tea which means I’m drinking apple cider now or my specialty coffee. It just isn't the same, we need to add it to our grocery list.

this Acacia tree is loaded and almost done for the season

There are a few things down here that we can’t find anything to match back home but then there are other things we love. Let’s talk bread. Gag! The loaves of bread here are not fresh, there is no give at all when you try to lightly squeeze for freshness. I’ve bought freshly baked French or Italian and they are nice but unless you ask the bakery to slice it for you, like Oscar does, it is crumbly, uneven and doesn’t make the best sandwiches.

A lot of people in the park taking advantage of this RV wash service

With this in mind, I picked up a pack of hamburg buns, the large ones with sesame seeds on the crust. They were heavenly fresh and great for Bill’s lunch time sandwich. I had already bought a pack of 2 loaves of ‘non-fresh’ bread (my words, not theirs) at Costco and with no room in the freezer, they have kept well in our fridge for at least 3 weeks. What does that tell you? The remainder was made into the bread pudding I mentioned earlier in the week. It is all made up ready to pop it in the convection oven early tomorrow morning.

Nice views from this park, no matter which way you look

We were warned about the cheddar cheese down here, before we came. Told that we would never be happy with the choices. It doesn’t matter who told us that but we think their experience must have been from years ago because we have found two or three brands of the best cheddar we’ve tasted. One is Tillamook, Kirkland and the other name escapes me but I think it was the store brand. We can buy them at a reasonable price in a large 5” x 2” block. Very, very good, their medium and their old/extra old.

I just shoo'd them out of our hitch

Not on Bill's watch!

I was also warned in November that I should savour my last bit of Caesar mix, aka Clamato, because I would not be happy with the choices here. Okay, so I ran out a while ago and put off buying anymore, until last week. It is still brand name, Clamato, but they don’t offer any of the ‘spicy’, ‘extra spicy’ or ‘the works’, just the ‘original’.

Not going to see these back home

Surprisingly, when I do have a caesar at Happy Hour, the vodka and my own spices added to it still glide over my tongue quite nicely. Maybe not the perfect taste, but close enough. So I think once in a while is the ticket, too often and the drink would taste only so-so. I believe I'm done my rant about food/drink in the southwest.

Bullhead City bus 

Oh, I did want to mention that this park has an abundance of pigeons, ravens or blackbirds, mourning doves and quails but it is the pigeons who are the nuisance. We hear them all over but they have a habit of building nests in the fifth-wheel hitches.

Each day for the past couple I’ve heard muted cooing from inside our Suite and each time I’ve come out and watched 2 pigeons scramble from way back inside our hitch. Bill has tried to discourage them a couple of times but today he put an end to their home building. That’ll fix them!

It has been a hot day with a nice breeze and the clouds finally moved out of the way for the most part. Bill and I decided to try Avon again this afternoon and I was able to talk my way into a nice 2 for 1 deal. I had a nice chat with the ladies at Amy’s Avon and they were very inquisitive when I told them I was a rep back in Canada. I can see myself going back but I will call first to see whether what I need is on sale.

My burrito

Bill's burger

Then we stopped at AutoZone so Bill could pick up some cleaner for the truck that he was looking for and he was very happy to find that DEF fluid was on sale. Bonus! We popped in to say hi to Kevin at the Tattoo shop where Bill got his tattoo in November but he hadn’t shown up yet. I got some pictures of his co-worker’s Harley. Love the skeletal hands holding the mirrors.

Love the heat and the skies as we left Chili's

Home again by 2:30 and I soon took off for the pool. Countdown, remember? I only have a few days left to fully enjoy this heat and these amenities in the park. The water is getting warmer every day and I enjoyed both the pool and the sun.

I noticed that Lori and Roland, Judy and Oscar and Shatzi were out when I rwalked back at 4:15 but I just waved hello. Bill had suggested we go to Chili’s, one of my favourite places to eat down here, for supper. Another thing I want to get the most of while here, Mexican fare.

Bill ordered the Ultimate Bacon Burger and fries and I had the Smothered Beef Burrito with a side of black beans. It was delicious and we toasted with a marguerita to the great winter we’ve been having.  My burrito was huge and half of it came home with me. Yum, I get to savour it twice.

When we got back we took Clemson over briefly to say hi to the Dryden gang. Plus I wanted to check out Lori’s hair and congratulate her on her new wheels. Say what?? I hope it isn’t a secret because she is tickled pink……..er, black.

Lori sporting her new 'do'

It was pretty warm inside the Suite so Clemson and I sat outside for a while and read my book. He doesn’t get much out of the book but loves the attention while sitting on my lap. By the time we came in at 7, the sun had set, the air was starting to cool down, now only 82F  instead of 92F and it was more bearable inside.

I was anxious to see if my pictures show an improvement, but they didn't, almost worse so I'm going to have to clean them again. I had tried using my protective lens cover and now wonder if that is what made it worse. The pictures you see today have been 'spot fixed' because they were so bad.

Thank you for reading today, I would love to hear from you.