Taking Care of Business, Bocce Ball, Visit with Friends, Quiet Evening

Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA

I was up out of bed at my normal time on the holiday Monday, Feb. 17^th. I sat quietly downstairs with my book until Bill came down for his coffee. It was mild overnight so no need for heat this morning. At 7:30, we went for our walk. The daylight is starting earlier now which is a sure sign of longer days. It was a warm 57F with little to no wind as we walked the perimeter of the park. Back home, my creamy tea tasted very good.

We headed out along the back row past the White Lion

There were no issues with my gums overnight but I will continue to pop the antibiotics until they are done. I don’t want any problems by stopping too soon. We sat at our laptops and I read blogs while Bill checked out the prices of a new toilet online. Camping World is the best deal although it means ordering one in and waiting for it. Being a Good Sam member helps a lot and we got $30 off the sale price. So, we ordered it and will hope it is delivered here sooner than the suggested delivery date of Feb. 25. 

Sunrise today

Today is Monday, bocce ball day so at 9:15 I walked up to play. Bill was undecided when I wrote this so I left without him. It was a gorgeous day, the nicest yet at this time of the morning. There were16 players plus Gordon and Barb, the scorekeepers, so we switched between two courts. I think I only played 3 games this morning, not a winner on any, but at 11 I was ready to go home. I needed to take one of my pain pills as I was feeling a bit of discomfort in the socket.

Across from the park, another view of the sun

Back home, Bill was reading outside and when we came in, I made us sausages and eggs for lunch. At the same time, I boiled 6 eggs in Madame IP – 5, 5, 5 – and let them sit in ice water for the last 5 +. After dishes, I blended my cream cheese and heavy cream and added it to the raspberry Jell-o that I made up yesterday. We needed some no-cal, no-sugar desserts in the fridge again.

Lunch went down very nicely

Bill went upstairs to lay down and I sat in my chair with my book to let the pain meds work. After Bill got up to work on his model, I wanted to see Doug’s White Lion so wandered down the back row to his site. I also wanted to tell him that we wouldn’t be around for Happy Hour today. As it turned out, he must have got results from his phone calls about a bad tire. The White Lion was gone but his Jeep was still there. That can only be good news for him.

Ocotillo with some lingering blooms
on the top tendrils

I walked around the park a bit before heading back. I sat outside with my crochet bag and worked away on my slippers. It was very hot but it still felt wonderful. Around 2, I came inside and we put our drinks in a cooler. Bill had our bag chairs in the back of the truck already and at 2:30, we drove to pick Kim and Ken up with their chairs etc. Today, we drove to Westwind RV Resort in the Yuma Foothills to visit Jo-Anne, Bob and Higgins.

Higgins was just as cute as ever and very good today

They were expecting us and Jo-Anne and Higgy were waiting outside. We all had a nice catchup chit chat until 5 and talked about our plans after Yuma. It sounds like we will all be going together as far as Lake Havasu and that will be fun. We drove back the long way, stopping at Fry’s grocery store for fuel. For some unknown reason, Bill wasn’t offered the discount on fuel but at least it wasn’t a full fill so it wasn’t too disheartening.

Happy Hour this afternoon
Ken, Bob, Bill, Kim, my chair and Jo-Anne
Higgins sleeps in the middle

 Back home, we stopped to make arrangements with Keith for an outing tomorrow. We will be gone for the full day but you’ll have to check in tomorrow night to see where we’re going. For supper, our original plan went out the window as it was 6 pm and neither of us felt like cooking fish tonight. Instead, Bill had a toasted grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. I needed something softer so had rye bread fried in butter with cheese, onion and tomato. It was delicious!

It was nice seeing this little guy again

We've been seeing a lot of these lately

 There was a bit of apple crisp left that we polished off with a tad more ice cream. Now it is gone. While Bill did dishes, I made up some egg salad sandwiches. The eggs turned out perfectly, very easy to peel. I sat at my laptop and worked on my posting for today. We had a few programs to watch tonight so Bill went to work on the pvr. We decided what to watch and what to record for later. We settled on watching America’s Got Talent Finales. No reveal here though. I can say that we're happy with the results.

And the sun prepared to drop below the horizon
as we were driving home

 It has been a good day, playing some bocce ball to start and visiting our friends in the afternoon. Slowly but surely, my mouth is improving. I hope you’ve had a great day. Tonight, I’m going to sit with Bill and enjoy the evening.

Looking out our door at the sunset
Good night!

Thank you for your visit!

Summer Weather Returns, Bocce Ball, Black Bear

Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA

It was a lovely morning on Thursday, Feb. 13^th when we got up and moving. It seems 6:30 is about our ‘normal’. While Bill had his coffee, we read blogs and caught up with what our friends were up to.

Good morning sunshine

After our walk around the park, Bill informed me that he wasn’t going to play Bocce Ball this morning. He had things he wanted to do instead.

Good morning Oreo!
She is usually outside when we walk in the morning
and she waits for a pat

 It was a pretty nice morning with full sun, little breeze and about 54F so when he hopped in the shower around 9, I wandered up to see who was there. There were 8 of us to start and within minutes, by 9:30 we had enough for 2 courts of play. Gordon and Barb were back; they were away for Monday's game (which was cancelled due to weather anyway).

Still a few lingering puddles

I did well today, just happened to be on the winning team twice. The games were slow, although, I think we managed to play 5 in 2 hours. I enjoy the game and I very much enjoy the people who play. Allie made me feel pretty good, hoping I was playing Poker Pool in the morning. “It isn’t as much fun when you’re not there”. That was very nice of her to say and I told her that my plan was to go tomorrow. I mostly goof around to make the ladies laugh because I sure can’t shoot worth a darn!

There were enough for two full courts of play
16 people

Bill stayed home and puttered around. He went to the Chevron at the corner and filled up my 5-gallon RO water bottle for $1. Then he spray-painted his model outside. No wind so it was the perfect time to do it. He wasn’t done yet, he was replacing a light on his mud flaps for Black Beauty when I returned. I moved inside and started lunch. Mini sausages and scrambled eggs today. Hoping that fills us until supper.

Heading into Yuma

I had my shower after I did the dishes and then swept the floors throughout the Suite. Sometimes, we just don’t like getting the vacuum out so in between those good cleanings, I use the broom. Our home looks better and both Bill and I feel better after long hot showers. We have plans for the afternoon so Bill rested after completing his jobs.

Meeting at Jim and Sharon's site
Sharon, Ken, Kim, Keith, Jim, my chair, Bill

 I put a little colour into my outfit today since we were going out for supper. Not a fancy place at all but still supper out. We haven’t been out to eat since Lin’s a week ago so why not? Black Bear Diner is our destination after a stop at Yuma Lakes to visit with friends we haven’t seen for a couple of years. We were looking forward to seeing Jim and Sharon again and introducing them to our friends. I rode my bike up to the puzzle room and started a 1000-pc. puzzle, just biding a few minutes until it was time to leave.

Dave and Cheryl were surprised to see us
Hugs and hand shakes all around

At 2:30 we picked the ‘kids’ up and headed to Yuma Lakes RV Resort. Jim and Sharon were easy to find with our knowledge of the park and their site #. It was so good to see them again. It was 2017 when w efirst met them AND when we saw them last, in the same park. After introductions, everyone hit it off as we sat in the warm shade of their awning. We all got tours of their beautiful American Eagle motor home and used the facilities before we moved on around 5:30. Time flew by.

This guy floated overhead while chatting with the McMechan's

Leaving Yuma Lakes, the sky was pretty in the palms

Yuma Lake

Also, in the park, our friends, Dave and Cheryl, had set up camp for a couple of weeks. We drove around in the same area where they were parked in December until we saw the Cedar Creek and Alberta plates. Dave came out very surprised for the visit and Cheryl not too far behind him. With hugs all around, we didn’t take a seat but instead stood and chatted for about 20 minutes. Soon, we were off to the Black Bear Diner.

I should have stopped walking to take the picture

They do have interesting menu papers

Lots of food choices
They should have left the papers with us while we waited for our food

It looks very good but I'd give it only a 5 tonight

There was a 20-minute wait for a table and then we had a long wait for our meals to arrive. It just wasn’t the experience Bill and I expected it to be. We’d had meals at a couple of other B.B.D.’s and they were worth bragging about. Tonight’s supper wasn’t up to par for me. Bill had fish and chips, which he enjoyed and I had chicken parmesan with sweet potato fries in lieu of penne pasta. The veggies were hard, the chicken overcooked but the fries and free‘we’re sorry for the delay’ offering of corn muffins were delicious.

Driving into Yuma, more pretty sky

 Bill and Keith ran into Sam's Club for some milk before leaving the lot. It was a ‘later than expected’ 8:30 when we returned to the park. We dropped our friends at their sites and came inside. We watched some tv together but I was too tired to finish my posting. I downloaded the pictures and finished writing. The rest will be done in the morning. This was a fun day and wonderful to see Jim and Sharon again. We need to do that more often!

Kim and Bill noticed the sun dogs
Good night!

Thank you for your visit!

Bocce Ball, A Special Video Call, Baking and More Happy Hours

Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA

Monday, Dec. 23^rd, (wow! Already!) we were up and at ‘em before 7. Bill had his coffee but I waited and when it was light enough around 7:45, we went for our walk. It was a mild walk this morning, around 54F/13C but no sun again. Today, the forecast was for a 50% chance of rain so we didn’t expect much for outdoor activities. My tea tasted extra good this morning when we returned.

A cloudy start to the day
And it only got cloudier

Even though the lower sky looked a little promising

However, saying that, Bill and I first walked to the clubhouse at 9:00 to put a sign on the big television for something special we’d planned this afternoon. Then we went to the bocce ball court and helped Gordon and Barb set up the table and chairs. Game start: 9:30. It was another great crowd of approximately 20 people and Gordon, who keeps the score sheet with perfection, made sure everyone got to play a game or two.

This is a teeny hummingbird sitting
on an ocotillo branch while we played bocce ball

I got lucky, my first game with Kenny (not our Ken) and we won. Yay! That was a 2-way effort that paid off. Second game, Bill and I both sat out. Third game, we were up and my partner was the new friend we met at the Ice Cream social yesterday. Rick and I managed to pull another win out of the hat but that was a 1-sided game. He scored all the points. It was almost 11 o’clock and Bill and I hadn’t eaten yet so bowed out of anymore games.

Peanut butter cookies in the making

This is the recipe he found

Back home, I made bacon and eggs for our breakfast and after dishes, began mixing the ingredients for those Irresistible P.B. Cookies that Bill found the recipe for. Let’s just say he was happy. He had other things on his mind or he might actually have made them! Seriously! He wanted them that badly. Because of the little plan we had for 1 pm, he took his laptop up to the clubhouse at 12:30 and I covered the batter and followed him soon after.

We put this sign at the television in the clubhouse

I had texted all of our gang and asked them to meet us up there for 12:50. Our plan was to make a live video call back home to our good friend, George and his wife, Suzie. Many of you know them and also know of the situation that they are dealing with. Because he has come to this (and many other) park for 12 years, we had asked Cathy, a co-Manager of Pilot Knob, if we could use the big tv screen for a call. Her and her husband, Joe, also know George and Suzie well.

This is our group after Cathy, the manager left
L to R front row
Bill, Oscar, Judy, Deb, Kimberlee
L to R back row
Ken, Cheryl, Dave, Jo-Anne & Tom
Bob is behind Tom

With permission granted, we all gathered and connected with Suzie by text. Unfortunately, from their end in Stratford, they could only connect with the video screen on his phone so even though we got a lovely big picture of the two of them, they had to view our group of 13 on a small screen. That part wasn’t perfect for them but he turned the phone to see everyone and say ‘hey!’. That was a fun half hour or 45 minutes and there were a couple of times when Bill and I fought back tears. It was good to chat with them both and he made us laugh and visa versa.

On the big screen tv
George was as big as life

When we said goodbye to our friends and returned to the Suite, I finished the cookies. I don’t know how many the recipe made, maybe just shy of 3 dozen. They turned out pretty good with the exception of about 5 that got a little browner. Apparently, a convection oven doesn’t regulate heat, instead storing it for the next batch. I should have kept an eye on the ones at the back. Cookie sheets don’t turn in an oven like this. 

The spirits were good during our chat

Merry Christmas George and Suzie!
It was fun seeing you today

At 3, the cookies were done and cooling on the island so we made a hot drink and walked back with our chairs to Dave and Cheryl’s site. It was windy and chilly and maybe it was us ladies with our hoodies up that prompted Dave to be a gentleman and offer us warmth inside their Cedar Creek. I don’t think we hesitated too long at all and all 10 of us squeezed indoors. It is amazing how many you can actually fit in our units. And comfortably so.

ready for the oven

All done

Dave had made a batch of his 8-layer dip so of course we all got to taste it with crackers and pretzels. Hmmm, very good! Again, conversations ensued all around in the ‘OptiCreek’ (is that right?) and at 5 it was time to go. 

Dave's yummy 8 layer dip

The winds brought rain and by the time we left, the sky to the southwest were clearing. It was a pretty sight as we walked back home and then I had to slip out as the sun (which we hadn’t seen all day because we sent it home to Ontario – apparently) made a spectacle of setting beautifully.

I couldn't get everyone in the picture
but this our indoor Happy Hour today

Over there somewhere, towards Mexico in the free space, my sister and her husband were set up for a couple of nights. They arrived while we were being happy here in the park so I’m relieved that they made it safely from Casa Grande today. This is a nice surprise and we’ll catch up with them tomorrow. Bill and I sat and caught up on our blog posts. Yes, Bill is working on another one today. 😊

The sky was setting up for a lovely demise

Even from our bedroom window, it is beautiful

We had kind of planned on burgers for supper but with the rain and winds, changed our minds. That is an entitlement and as long as we agree on something, all is good. I went on a search in the freezer. Aha! Mini sausages would be easy to thaw and cook plus a can of Van Camp’s brown beans. We did have a nice snack at Happy Hour so the hole in our tummies isn’t too large.  That actually worked out really well, we enjoyed the pauper’s meal very much. Ha ha

And a few pretty sky pictures

I think one of those white units out there belongs
to my sister and her husband

Arizona sunset
Good night!

After dishes, we watched tv together and dessert was a topic that may or may not arise later. This was a good day, we got some exercise with bocce ball, had a great ‘visit’ with George and Suzie and a fun Happy Hour with friends. I’m looking forward to seeing my sister tomorrow sometime.

Thank you for your visit with us today.