Homeless, Elvis, Outdoor Exercise, Indoor Crafts

The Ridge

Tuesday, July 14^th arrived and I actually felt cool under the sheet and bedspread this morning. I didn’t complain as I know before long it will be hot again. Bill was in the shower when I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30. It would have been nice to laze in bed this morning but that’s what I get for watching tv until 11.

A walk down the laneway and at the very top of the hill
you can see our Canada wind sock hanging very still
(I didn't plan for that to read like a poem)

This was my morning to clean the Mat so I left within minutes of 7. The back door was propped open and I was disappointed to see that a young homeless female was sleeping on the chairs at the front again. She was there Sunday when Bill and I went in and when she put her feet up on the washer, Bill asked her nicely not to do that.

She got lippy, belligerent and didn’t stop grumbling (not swearing though) until he said he could call the cops and have her removed. We really didn’t want to have to do that but it forced the issue and she moseyed on down the street. So, when I saw her again today, I was a tad nervous on how to handle it. When she didn’t move after I went about getting keys and cleaning supplies out, I said “Wakey, wakey”, thinking that was an ok approach.

Apparently not, she got lippy again and didn’t budge. Five minutes later, I went back and once more suggested she get up and leave so I could clean. More lip, about me not being her mother (to which I said, 'That's obvious, my children respect me' ((I couldn’t help it!)) and something about me being‘up to no good' so I texted Jamie and asked what he thought. He suggested that I call the West Grey police but before I did that, I tried once more.

From her comment on Sunday, I know he has called them on her before. I told her that she needed to consider the fact that she was very lucky she was even able to sleep in the laundromat. Finally, she packed up her stuff and left, coming back in once to fill her water bottle. So, stay overnight if you need to but when the place opens, please move on. Maybe we should drive in on Wednesday night after 10 and make sure the back door is closed so I don’t have to deal with that again.

A pond picture

I finished cleaning, chatting with a school custodian for the last few minutes and drove home. I debated making a tea and taking it to Mitch’s so I could be there for 9 but then comes the bathroom issue. I’m sure he has one (!) but I don’t want to have to use it. So, I stayed home until 9:15 and then took what I had left in the travel mug with me. Today, he had me working on a 2010 Ford pickup. This was much easier to sand, just taking the shiny paint off around the door for painting.

The 2 hours flew by with Mitch working on the opposite side. We chatted a lot about Elvis, Covid and moving on to Stage 3 and that helped with passing the time while working. As I was leaving, we discussed a couple of new jobs I’d be doing and payment. Back home, it was a bit overcast with some blue patches so a nice day. Instead of going to the garden right away, I decided to relax for half hour and then get something to eat first.

I feel better that at last the weeds are taken care of
if not the stones

After my tummy had something in it, I cleared the dishes up and went outside. The weather was perfect for working in the garden and the area I worked on was shaded for the most part. When the sun went behind a cloud, there was relief from that too. I didn’t stop until I was done pulling all the weeds and grass from the hill garden. That was an accomplishment and I’m glad I got it done before the hotter days return.

When I finished, I came inside and got cleaned up with a shower. I'm not sure what bit me yesterday but I’ve got a couple of bites. One on my temple, just under the arm of my glasses and one more on my upper chest where my straps go. Of course, in those spots where something rubs on it. I’ve been layering Benadryl cream on after washing so did the same this afternoon. Then, I figured after almost 6 hours of work, it was time to play.

Sitting in the Bunky, this picture called to be taken

I went into the Bunkie and starting reassembling our Mexican bell chimes that fell off the wall in the Suite during the heat wave. As they dropped, one broke and one cracked so I wanted to piece them together. A glue gun isn’t the best thing to use but even though Bill offered his 5 (2, 3?) minute epoxy, I wanted to get it done ‘now’. I noticed the string was fraying so took the time to replace it as well. Restringing was interesting but successful. I might touch up the paint too.

All back together again

Then I worked on the craft thing I started yesterday. You’ll soon see what it is, hopefully. Just something silly I wanted to try. Bill was home by 5:15 and we chatted, catching up on each other’s day. Inside, Madame IP cooked Italian sausages and a regular potato for Bill and a part of a yam for me. The potatoes took longer than the sausage, I didn't cut them small enough, so finished them in the microwave. It was quite filling and the sausage was delicious. I haven’t had a sweet potato for a while so it was a treat.

Supper was yummy

After dishes, Bill went to his cargo trailer. His flooring came in yesterday so his friend from work picked it up at Rona for him today. A few more touch ups and he can lay the 6 x 9 piece. I went to the Bunky and puttered away as well until just after 8. We were missing America’s Got Talent but Bill soon joined me and we watched it for the next hour and a half.

Another hint at the project
Have a good night!

This was a good day but it seems that I’m getting later with my blog postings. With my mornings busy, I don’t really want to leave them until then to catch up. I hope you’ve had a good day as well. The weather was exactly what I love!

Thank you for poking your nose in. 😊 If you wish to comment, I would love it.

Warm Laundry Day, Working Out, Trip to Grove, New Friends

On Friday, (yay Friday! Our working friends are saying) Mar. 16^th I was up at 7 to greet the day. The clouds were trying to keep the sun from making a grand appearance but I could see the brightness peeping through regardless. I opened blinds and then slipped on a jacket and went for a walk. This time I took along my camera with the ZOOM lens. It was a beautiful morning at 55F.

Started with some cloudy skies

 Thanks to our friend, Rose, we now know that all of that debris on the shoreline was from the flooding last year. Now it makes sense why it was up so far and why so much stuff floated in. It would take quite a bit of manpower and elbow grease to get it cleaned up again so you can walk down to the water. Right now, I wouldn’t want to attempt it, you don’t know what is there.

The sun was fighting to take over

Bill and Clemson met me up by the pool as I was on my way home. It still surprises me when he does that and I love surprises. 

Back inside we made tea and coffee but then drove over to the Laundry/Exercise/TV room with our dirty clothes. There are 3 washers and 3 dryers and with only 15 – 17 rv’s in the park right now, there is no rush. So, we took all 3! Bill and I even worked out on the treadmill, bike and elliptical machines while waiting for clothes to dry.

Look at him go!

The laundry was all done up and put away by 10:15. We each had breakfast, oatmeal for me and cereal for Bill. 

A pool picture for my sister, Donna

With an inventory taken of our dairy products and other things we were running low on, we took a drive into Grove. First, we stopped at Harp’s, their grocery store, and then to Walmart for the cheaper prices on dairy. Lastly, we pulled into Walgreens where we purchased our Omega 3’s.

Crossing the Sailboat Bridge over Grand Lake
going into Grove

I registered for their Rewards card so I got the second bottle half off the price. I don’t get deals like that back home! Back at the Suite, it feels good to be stocked up again for a couple of weeks. The temperature has risen to 78F yet the winds are quite strong today. Our Camp Host came around again asking not to light a fire or grill today, the winds are forecast to hit 40 mph at some point. No problem, we cook inside tonight.

Bill did the banking on line and I recorded our purchases in my registry. I’ve documented every penny we’ve spent since we left home and kept all our receipts in a folder. At some point we’ll figure out what we need to claim when crossing into Canada. With that bit of business done, I swept the floors in the Suite, things were getting a little out of hand!

Yup, if I owned this beauty, I'd park way back here too

I sat outside with my book, not sheltered from the wind but in the sun, snug up against the Suite, I was plenty warm. I watched as rv’s continued to pull out and others continued to fill the spots. Some fifth wheels, class C’s and class A motor homes. As I was sitting there, reading, I heard someone say “excuse me”. A man walked over from the Holiday Rambler I’d watched back in earlier.

Holiday Rambler backs in across from us

He said his wife sent him over to ask if my name was Patsy. Too funny and my response was “No way!” but soon clarified “yes, it is”. It just never ceases to amaze me when someone who knows me from my blog only, comes and introduces themselves to me. I love that!

Ron and Lori are from Arkona, Ontario and know George and Suzie, Gerry and Melinda, Rob and Pat and George and Rose for starters. Their home park is Rock Glen RV Resort, as is ours. Lori was busy inside setting up but came to their door and waved at us. Ron took their brown-eyed Freddy for a walk and suggested we get together tomorrow. I poured myself a drink and continued to read and watch.

At one point I took the 6 books that we have both read over the last two weeks up to the big clubhouse. They don’t have a huge book library in the Bear’s Den but at least there is someplace to leave and pick up books. I found a Stuart Woods as well as a John Sanford book, the latter was one of Suzie’s recommendations, so brought those back for us to read.

Not a field of green, but a field of purple
another hint of Spring!

I came back inside when I felt the heat and my drink hitting me. “Where’s the couch?” Ha ha, I stretched out on the sofa and had a little snooze. At one point, Clemson sat with me but when he got too hot, he moved to my recliner to have his own nap. We knew we wouldn’t be cooking outside so we had to discuss supper. The usual question is how hungry are we?

This day kind of went to the birds

Bill made it easy by saying he was good with just a toasted sandwich and when I opened the fridge to see what I’d like, my ‘doggie box’ from the other night’s dinner stared me in the face. Yup, leftover baked potato and hot roast beef sounded good to me. And it was. We cleaned up the few dishes and when Clemson wanted out, I took him for a walk around the block.

Back inside by 7, I finished preparing my blog and then sat to read more of my book. This one is the J.A. Jance book, Rattlesnake Crossing that follows Skeleton Canyon. Her stories of the Arizona desert are quite interesting now that we’ve been to so many of the places she writes about. Tombstone, Benson, Huachuca and Sierra Vista, places I’d never heard of before the winter of 2016/17.

and this was the sky today

This has been a fun day. I hope you can say the same!

goodnight my friends

Thank you for stopping by today! I love to hear from you and will respond to every post in time.

Empty Nest Again, Black Beauty Gets Oiled, Do Nothing Day

I woke up on Friday, Jan. 19^th with a tickle in my throat. Oh no! It was around 6:30 and I tried to give one cough to clear it but found it took a few and it still didn’t disappear. Not wanting to get up too early and disturb the fur ball under the covers (that would mean getting dressed and taking him out), I kept tossing and turning. I could sense that Bill was awake over there, across the King bed, somewhere on the other side of said fur ball.

You can tell the wind is fairly strong from the flag here

At 7 we all moved about the same time to greet the day. The tickle disappeared with a drink of water, I should have gotten up sooner. Our company has left, so we are back to the normal routines of opening the shades, making our drinks and sitting at the laptops to read blog posts. We are empty-nesters again; the kids have moved out. 

Randy sent me this picture of Brenda in Old Scottsdale, Az
from yesterday
Love it!

Bill had a bowl of cereal and got into the shower first as he had an appointment in Blythe for 11 o’clock, Pacific time. He also had a stop in Quartzsite to ship a parcel.

first look at how dry the ground is
then try and understand how this funny little plant grows

Not the healthiest Palo Verde tree

but one of the trees native to the area that I recognize now

It looks like a gorgeous day and since the sunrise would be identical to yesterday’s, I didn’t get a picture. The temperature at 9 was already hovering around 60F and the sun in total control of the blue sky. You gotta love that! This would be the last ‘hot’ day around 75F for a high and then for a few days, we’ll be experiencing daytime highs in the low to mid 60’s. Oh my! With sunshine, my family and friends need not worry. It will still feel like the high 70’s. Sorry!

Our dvd's lined up alphabetically

Our new binder

My project today was to start emptying our dvd cases and putting the movies and music specials in alphabetical order. Now that I have a binder specifically designed for storing these in a compact place, I was anxious to get them organized. I don’t have anywhere near what the binder will hold but that’s quite alright. A smaller one would still take up the same amount of room.

I slipped the dvd’s into the slots and then set about removing the cardboard inserts with the name, actors and whatever other info was displayed. These inserts will go into a separate binder, also in alphabetical order. I need to purchase that one at any Walmart or Dollar Store plus the clear plastic slot pages. This didn’t take me too long and I enjoyed the process while Bill was away.

We still have the Seasons of our favourite episodes still in cases
and they will stay that way
Bill will rebuild shelves for these

Empty cases

Voila! for now until I get a binder for the inserts

I then moved outside to sit with Clemson for about an hour with my book. The new one is Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson, so a quick read about Alex Cross. 

the little bum is sound asleep

It was 12:15 MT when Bill texted that the truck hadn’t gone in yet, Ford was running behind. We chatted briefly and when we signed off I realized that I needed to eat something. 

Leftover pizza! yay!

The cereal from earlier, not surprisingly, doesn’t last for long. I had 3 pieces of my pizza from Silly Al’s so took advice from Happy Hour the other day and warmed it up in a small fry pan on the burner. It was almost as good as the first time!

Clemson didn't budge when I came inside

After cleaning things up, I brought Clemson inside and with my hat securely on my head, my phone and a bottle of water I took the garbage up to the dumpsters. Once I got moving, I was surprised that even though it was 76F the breeze was quite refreshing. I didn’t walk fast, and after dropping the box into one of the bins (which had been dumped, thank goodness) I carried on up to the front check in.

I turned back and took the same leisurely stroll back to the Suite. Bill texted to say he was on his way home at 1:40. I thought he might pass me but I was home about 20 minutes before him. It only takes 20 minutes from Blythe to get to Quartzsite but it took him longer from the west end of the Q to get home.

Happy Hour today
George, Tom, Jim, me, Bill's chair, Sharon, Suzie, Deb
Can you say 'Happy'?

Sky squiggles

Just before Bill got home, I noticed that Jim and Sharon, whom we’d met a couple of times already, stopped in to visit The Yates’ so we poured a drink around 2:30 and walked over to join them for an early Happy Hour. Tom and Deb soon wandered over with their chairs. It was a nice afternoon and thank goodness for the breeze or it would have been too hot. After a couple of hours either the wine o the long walk had me feeling zonkered so I came home.

Bill joined me a few minutes later and we sat out with our books until quarter after 5 when he lit the Weber for supper. I have thawed 3 chicken thighs and 1 pork chop to grill tonight. 

My handsome guy

I have so much chicken in the freezer, remember my kerfuffle when I cleaned my freezer? I found way more than I thought we had. I’ll try my hand at making a chicken noodle soup tomorrow like my neighbor!

sorry for the blur, i didn't want to let the heat out so I hurried

So, with some more instruction from George, our butt chop and chicken on the grill mat was awesome! So tender and juicy. We’ll sure do that again!

Sometimes you must wonder what DO we have in common?
Ha ha, we don't always like to eat the same things

I steamed my asparagus, fried fresh mushrooms and we grilled Bill’s corn on the Weber as well. The sunset tonight was so gorgeous, I was in and out of the Suite during cooking and eating to capture those moments. Sunset overload coming right up!

No enhancements needed on these pictures

 It was a night with nothing special on tv so we cleaned up dishes, I finished this post and got into our books early. What a great day and I even got 4 miles of walking in. That feels fantastic! I hope you enjoyed your day too.

Good night folks!

Thank you for reading today. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish.