Heating Up, Puzzling, Tentatively Making Plans

Park Place RV Park

On Sunday, Mar. 8th it was 7:15 when my eyes popped open enough to look at the clock. My boys had been out an hour earlier and Bill was bringing the clothes onto the bed for sorting. Laundry day! How exciting! With the hotter weather, no jeans were dirty, so the two loads were smaller.

Good morning!

He went to the field after we loaded the machines and I was finished by 9 am. I washed my hair, and it dried quickly within the first 100' of my walk with Gibbs. Fine, thin hair does that. Gibbs walked well, leading the way like a proud little man, There was a lot of P-mail today!

He has a birthday this week so I wanted to make his doggie cake this morning. Well, I think the verdict is in.........the convection part of our microwave oven is on the fritz. Not completely, since it baked the cake about 25% - the top half.

I made a coffee and took it over to the clubhouse around 10:30. Using the oven there is a bonus for guests, and it was baked within 10 minutes. It didn't turn out as good as it did the last time, so maybe I doubled the recipe that year. 

Renae worked on the sky last night.
She's the night owl of our group.

While there, of course, I worked on the puzzle until almost noon when I returned home. We had lunch, I finished the last of my cabbage stew (heated on the stove) and when Bill and Gibbs stretched out for their snooze, I went back. The grass is probably the hardest but I persisted and made good progress.

Bill took Gibbs for his walk and I started my blog. Today is a warm one, 85F/29C, with a clear blue sky and some moderate winds around 8 mph. It seems hot inside the Suite but the breeze and our fans are keeping us comfortable. Gibbs is not panting so much anymore!

For supper, we are having leftover lasagna, coleslaw and a couple of rolls. The reheat part of the convection/oven works so we'll just play it by ear and weight out our options. This is our 2nd replacement!

The last of the lasagna
and the coleslaw.
Rolls are in the freezer.

Supper was good and filling so we skipped pie tonight. We sat out for a bit after clean up and Bill went to get a water jug filled. We are volunteering over the next 3 days so won't be going anywhere other than to the mail depots. This has been a great day.

Back home our family and friends lost an hour of their sleep time. Now, we are 3 hours behind them for a while, until we start heading across the states. 

A memory photo from
March 8, 2023.
Love the saguaros.
💖
Good night all!

Thank you for stopping by.

Jeeping with Friends, Happy Hour, Days Get Hotter Still

It was around 7 when I got up on Monday, Jan. 29^th and made my tea. Half hour later Bill joined me for his coffee. Clemson brought up the rear about 10 minutes after that. I read a few blog posts from yesterday that I missed last night and we grabbed a bite to eat. Bill had cereal, I had a clementine and some yogourt. With a bottle of water and a snack bar each we joined Tom and Deb around 8:30.

We were offered a jeep ride today on our choice of trails. 

This was a fun trek and rather than try and name where we went I will sum it up by saying that Tom took us to the Crystal Hill, Scott Well and the MST & T Tower Areas off Pipeline Road. Time sure flies when we’re enjoying ourselves. We stopped many times to take pictures, thank you Tom, and saw some beautiful views. I’m going to let my pictures speak so you can see how our 4 ½ hours played out.

Perhaps Tom should slow down, EH?
4 mph!!

We saw so many Teddy Bear Cholla

Up close and personal

And actually some green ocotillo
Deb's favourite

Beautiful mountain ranges, love the colours

some little caves

some interesting rocks

some windmills

some interesting tent campsites

played with the saguaros
see the baby?

Looks like a night shot
but it was late morning

Tough walking if you dared

The inner workings of a saguaro
Now I truly understand how water makes them swell
It is like a sponge inside

Teddy Bear Cholla Reunion

the flowers reminded us of buttercups

We met Tom and Deb's cactus friend from their previous journey

When we got back at 1 pm Deb and Tom pulled their coach out to get in line to dump and get a water fill up. Bill downloaded his many pictures and I sat outside with my book. That sun was beating down and if not for the wind, it would be an extremely hot day. As it was, it was hovering around 79F/24C. I actually turned my chair away from the sun and Bill put the awning out and the sunshade.

Happy Hour photo
Tom, Patsy, Deb, Len, Brenda, Suzie, George
(thanks Bill for taking it today)

Around 2:30 I could hear Bill inside sawing logs while counting sheep so I took a short walk down towards the Magic Circle. I’m sure those folks will appreciate the heat today and I hope they use sunscreen! It was our turn to host Happy Hour so I placed our chairs against the Suite so we could all fit in the semi-shade.

Clemson was loving Len's massage

George and Suzie came over first and we caught up for 15 minutes when we were surprised to see Len and Brenda walk around the corner. Tom and Deb weren’t too long after that, returning their Stinger “B” to its site and walking over. Today’s conversation was about disposable gloves, Gem World, solar and burgers. I tell you, we covered a variety of conversations, sometimes many people talking at once!

Clemson settles on Suzie for a while

We said goodbye to our ‘visitors’ around 5:15 and Bill lit the Weber for grilling. 

Tonight, he had a pork chop and I had a boneless chicken breast and we both had a salad. We grilled up an extra chicken breast so I would be able to make another pot of soup in the next day or two. Supper was good and filling.

We cleaned up dishes together and sat at our laptops to download pictures from today’s adventure. This has been a fun day, different than any other we’ve had. 

Pink mountains to the east tonight

Thanks Deb and Tom for taking us out on the trails today.

Deb and me

Tom and Deb

Not much fanfare, but a pretty sunset

Thanks everyone for reading today. If you wish to leave a comment, I would enjoy reading it.

Getting Better all the Time, the Heat is On, El Centro Shopping, Happy Hour

When I got up on Thursday, Jan. 4^th, I felt chilled but well rested. No coughing last night, yay! We’ve been used to having the fireplace on low while we sleep to keep it nice inside when we wake up. Neither of us likes waking up in a cold house so that is something we agreed on from day one. We neglected to pull out our Blue Flame heater last night so before Bill rose, I turned the furnace on low.

I walked over to Lori’s, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, to try and connect to their wifi but it was a no-go. It only took me about 25 minutes to download pictures and get it published so not a big deal at all. We had our tea, turned the furnace off after 30 minutes and Bill got our propane heat source out of the closet. Not it is ready for use tonight if we need it.

I took this picture so you could see the 'non' existent wind by the flag

We had a bite to eat and by 9:30 drove into El Centro to find the Costco. We were there last year so Bill had a pretty good idea of where it was. We left a sizeable donation once we found everything. Each Costco store is different but we did pretty good. We then drove to a mall where Bill found a hair salon to get his wings clipped. He was very pleased with the fact that this gal knew exactly what he wanted.

If you look in the distance of these pictures, you can notice the dirt haze

Many people think this is where all of our coughing is coming from

It is really, really short, but as long as he is happy. I told him that he will have to wear a hat outside for sure now! While he was getting his hair cut, I wandered down the row and found Farra’s store. One of those stores similar to our Giant Tiger back home but not as neat and yet definitely better prices. I had fun and of course found a couple of things at $3 each.

The harvesting of crops here is a non-stop production in the winter months

We met up and walked through Harbor Freight. It seems the one thing we keep looking for is always out of stock, so maybe there is a hidden message there. We were hungry and it was close to noon hour so stopped at one of Bill’s favourites for lunch. He ordered the Big Carl and I ordered the Grass Fed All Natural burger. Both messy and good. Light supper tonight.

And you think your grass gets brown in the summer?

Bill filled up our gas can for the genny and then we headed home. It is hot now at 81F so we put up our sun shade on our awning. I prefer sitting outside with a slight breeze rather than inside with none. I poured myself a tall glass of ice water and took my book outside. The morning is gone and we’re sliding into the afternoon. I bet two people and one dog are snoozing before too long!

Lunch time

Okay, make that one person, one dog. I was quite comfortable in the air that was cooler than inside the Suite and also quite into my book. I was swatting at flies and flipping pages at the same time I was responding back and forth with my 2 sisters. The good news is that my sister, Gayle, and her husband, John, have arrived in Arizona to warm weather, after a rough start out on Dec. 29th. That is awesome news!

It was after this interlude when I heard a *ping* on my phone from Lori reminding us about Happy Hour. It was 3:30 so Bill and I grabbed a drink and our chairs and meandered over. It was Lori and the guys at this point since many of the group had taken a bus trip to the Acorn Casino for the day. Our circle became larger as they returned closer to 4:30 and I stayed until the cool air had me folding my chair up.

Hardly any traffic again on this highway at 1 pm

Bill joined me and we came inside to the warmth that I was running from earlier. Strange how it cools down so much within a 2-hour period. It was nice to see everyone although I still can’t remember all of their names. We sat with our books and read a few more chapters, biding our time until we were hungry enough for supper. It was after 6:30 when I was ready to have something to eat.

Early happy hour with a small group

And then we moved our chairs out for the bus trip group to fit in

Together we prepared toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches. Because we didn’t want to run the generator for toast, I grilled them in a fry pan on the stove. To me, this was nicer because the cheese is melted. 

We still only needed one sandwich to fill us and dishes were cleaned up in no time. I sat and downloaded my few pictures for today’s post and finished the somewhat boring tale for today.

Lori is the treat lady and the dogs all know when she has some left in her pocket

And Judy was our entertainment today
Looks like she has Cody (?) straddle as she tries to grab a snack
I was just a little too close to get the whole picture

I hope you’ve enjoyed your day. This has been beautiful here in the Hot Springs rising to 81F under perfect blue skies. I was in the midst of Happy Hour though when the sun made its descent……….a way over there, so didn’t capture the glory. You know what they are like so you can take my word for it today.

These Osprey were a hilight of my day, they flew over several times so I was able to capture them

I can't get over how alien they look

Thank you for stopping around. I love reading your comments if you care to share one.