Up With the Birds, Los Algodones, Karaoke Night

Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA

We both were awake before the alarm on Saturday, Feb. 15^th. Bill set it for 6 am just in case. The day you need to get up would be the day you sleep longer than you want. Murphy’s Law, right? So, we took our time, had our coffee and tea and then got washed and ready to leave. We got caught up on blog posts to see where friends are and by 7:30 were out the door.

A pretty sunrise

Driving towards the Algodones cut off

I wasn’t nervous, yet. I’m not crazy about dental work but who is? By the time we’d crossed the border and were sitting in the waiting room of Dr. Eva’s office, my breathing was a bit rapid. I was called in right on time and within 30 minutes, we were paying the bill. My wisdom/molar came out easily although I couldn’t have told you that with the freezing.

Algodones Rd.

There seemed to be a lot of things happening in my mouth which Dr. Eva later told me it was infection she was cleaning up. I was pleased that the tooth was removed with no extra work required. George, her husband and receptionist, gave me a prescription for antibiotics and pain pills which we had filled at the Purple Pharmacy. It was a quick in and out and we walked right through the gate, and past security by 9 am.

I have to admit that I was much happier after the appointment
so was putting on a brave face here before we went in

The park across from the dental office wsn't 'awake' yet

When we got back into Arizona, we turned our phone’s Flight Mode off and I texted the 3 people mostly concerned about me. The freezing would come out during the morning, I’m sure, so I took a pain pill as soon as I got home. I’m not tough and won’t pretend to be so would baby myself today. We were pleased that the dentist bill plus meds was no more than we’d planned for it to be. Back home, I started my post and then sat in my chair with my book.

The storage area across from our site is almost cleared out for the weekend

Sitting at our site, this is our view of the storage area

Bill and I dozed off a bit and I got a few chapters read too. He was charging plane batteries and before too long I started breakfast. I made him bacon and eggs and warmed up the last of my steel cut oats. Nice soft food for me and I had some large curd Cottage Cheese as well. That was very tasty. We got the dishes done and we moved outside to sit with our books. I wanted to walk but Bill was being protective of me and suggested waiting for a bit. That was sweet.

Ken is modelling my hat for me

Around 1:30, I walked, slowly, with my hat on, up to the puzzle room. Carmen was waiting for the mail to arrive so we worked on the new puzzle together. She doesn’t play by the ‘border first’ rule all the time but I do so while she worked on the sky, I finished what I could of the outside edge. The pieces are odd and they don’t all join together so in Carmen’s defense, she started the sky to find the pieces that would do that. She just got carried away. LOL Around 2:40, my tooth (or lack of) was starting to throb a bit so I walked back home.

A couple of surprise visitors for Happy Hour
Ken, Doug, Yuma, Kim

 We’d invited K & K for Happy Hour so we prepared for company. I just had water, not wanting to mix alcohol with the pain medication I took. The sun was hot and at one point Kim had to move to the shade of the truck. Our big surprise today was when Bill looked across the lot and said “Is that Doug and Yuma?” It sure was! Doug arrived before noon today and was parked in the back row along the fence. We didn’t know he was coming but were all very happy to see him.

And bill was in the other corner of the patio

There are some things about the White Lion that he doesn’t know how to deal with so Bill and Ken offered to go around tomorrow and see if they could help him out. He is finally feeling a bit better after being under the weather and once he gets things a bit organized, hopefully us gals will finagle a tour. 😊 It takes time to get things put away into any new ‘home’ and moving from one rv to another is no exception. We had a nice visit and around 5 everyone left to go home for supper.

I almost forgot to take the picture
The cherry tomatoes were added on the side

Wanting soft foods and following the dentist’s advice, I started Madame IP to make Cheeseburger and Bacon Soup. It was a recipe that came up as a suggestion the other day and I saved it. It sounds good. I had 2 Pillsbury buns to bake so pulled those out of the fridge as well. We had planned to go up to the clubhouse tonight for a while since rumour had it that there were going to be one or two good singers, for karaoke. I didn't think it would take long to prepare supper.

Bill was concerned about Keith, who had gone out with Oreo earlier and we hadn’t heard that he was home. He hopped on my bike to ease his mind and found them both home, safe and sound. We could breathe a sigh of relief now and enjoy supper. Speaking of supper, the soup tasted really good! I had to thicken it a bit and know that I’ll make it again but next time I’ll add mixed vegetables. Noodles of some kind or rice would work too but tonight’s meal was still a success.

Isn't this a pretty sky?

We rushed with dishes and then walked up to the clubhouse for Karaoke. We aren’t big fans of this type of entertainment at all. Ken was the attraction for us and together we enjoyed him singing 2 songs tonight. He had two more but Bill left before his turn came up again. Before I left, I slipped my braided wig on as Ken sang Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain by Willie Nelson. I told him I was his biggest fan. 😃 He has a very nice voice and kudos to you, Ken, for stepping up to the mic.

On the way to the clubhouse, Keith was enjoying a small fire in his
propane firepot

It was about 8:30 when I walked back part of the way with Keith and then flicked my flashlight on to guide me the rest of the way home. It was a very mild night. Back home, I finished my post and then sat with Bill until I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I debated whether to take a pain pill before bed as I wasn’t feeling any pain at all. This was a day that I wasn’t looking forward to but now it is behind me and so far, no repercussions from the extraction.

Karaoke
Ken, Gordon sings Tequila
Deb, Barb and Joe
Ken 

It is a long weekend here in the U.S. for President’s Day and it is a 'hot' time out on the dunes. We’ve watched the stored toy haulers and cargo trailers get picked up from the park since late Friday afternoon and we’ll watch them come back again between now and Monday evening. Keith reports that the sand dune areas west of us are jam-packed with avid ‘quaders’. I just hope everyone is safe.

A little more of that pretty sky
Good night from Pilot Knob!

Back home, it is a long weekend too. We call it Family Day weekend and all children are off school and many businesses are closed on Monday. I hope you’ve had a great Saturday no matter what holiday you are celebrating.

Thank you for stopping in. Your comments are always welcome.

Los Algodones, He Can See! Christmas Shopping, Sun in the Park and Karaoke

Saturday, Dec. 23rd was a sleep in day, for me at least, as I didn’t drag myself out of bed until 7:30. I was about to miss the sunrise if I didn’t hurry! I got dressed and checked the temperature while opening the blinds and turned on the Christmas tree lights. Because  I can. It was only 5C but with no visible wind I knew it would be a nice brisk walk.

I didn’t see George this morning while walking but after skirting the park, hitting most streets, I saw him in the car away across the lot heading out somewhere. It was a nice walk and I actually caught more of a sunrise today than yesterday. 

When I turned onto the last street towards home, I had a couple of welcome greeters. The way Clemson walks has always made me smile, like a little prancing colt.

Back inside, Bill had our brew while reading blogs and comments. He 

had cereal, I had cottage cheese and an orange before we said goodbye to Clemmy once more.

The 'puzzle' room needs me

So, tomorrow, I'll choose a puzzle and get to work!

I walked the key over to Suzie and we were off to Los Algodones by 8:30 ish. We beelined straight for Vision Optical and met Maura at the door. She remembered us from yesterday and got on the 2-way radio to ask that Bill's glasses be brought over.

When we turned off Hwy 8 towards Winterhaven, this was
a pretty dam

It is funny how they work, it is another location where you pay and where the fixes and glasses are prepared. No matter to us, it works. Bill put the glasses on and the first word he said was “Oh!” I was happy to hear it was followed by “that’s great! I can see!” He was holding a placard with various size letters on it. A breath of relief came over me as I know how he has struggled for so long with his bi-focals.

We left there with Bill calling back “Feliz Navidad!” to Maura and a few other vendors on the streets. We were no more and no less than 45 minutes from the time we drove into the parking lot and out of Mexico. 

There was really rough section of this road and then it smoothed out nicely

That’s the way we like it unless we are there to shop. Once more, we turned towards Yuma. We were doing some favours for Santa today!

Oh no!!! The massacre continues in Winterhaven!!!

First stop, Best Buy, just to look and then to PetSmart to find a few things for our good little pooch. From there, we drove to Walmart for some goodies for ourselves and then to Baron Fuels for diesel. Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder about some gas stations. The price was great at $2.59/gal but to get in and out of these places is crazy. Mind you, the patrons sure don’t help matters. Especially those who don’t need diesel but park at one of the only two pumps that provide it.  Just get out of the way! And trust me, I am a patient person but I was infuriated.

Merging onto the highway again

We drove home a bit of a different way, this time turning off Hwy 8 before the construction area and drove through Winterhaven. That was Winterhaven? Well, what a junky little dive that is. Sorry, just one person’s opinion. Lots of nice crops growing although some of it I couldn’t name what they were. It didn’t work out quite as planned as we ended up merging right back on #8 but at least we were much further along than what we dealt with yesterday.

We never have had to stop, just get waved on through

We were home before 1:30 and after putting things away I made us up a western. Bill had his in a toasted bun and I had mine on a tortilla wrap. It was good, hit the spot, filled the tummy and all of the above. Just in time too. I poured myself another tea and then wandered over to retrieve our key from Suzie and caught them up on our morning. 

My lunch

Bill continues to be impressed with his glasses, checking on the laptop and his book, at the difference they are making. Bonus! We got dishes cleaned up and I went outside with Clemson until he had his fill of wandering on his long rope. After putting him in, I remained outside with my laptop, getting a head start on my post. The flies are crazy here, not much different than what Deb and Riley are dealing with where they are with the bees.

There is my happy guy, he can see!!

Looking forward to Quartzsite with no bugs! The wind we felt in Mexico is almost non-existent but there are quite enough clouds to hamper a full sun sit out. I texted Suzie, over there, to invite them to Happy Hour at our place and then sprayed with some Off. God, I hate flies! We had already planned to have steak for supper with baked spuds, corn for Bill and spaghetti squash for me.

Remember the box?

For those of you who were wondering what was in the BOX that I received yesterday, here it is. First, I need to thank Barbara from Me, My Dog....and My RV who shared the link of a friend, Bren on the Road. In his post he answered a question for me without even knowing it.

a Cozy Christmas picture

If you know me at all, you know that I always carry a camera where ever I go. Either my Canon EOS 30D, our Canon Powershot SD100 or my phone camera. I’m lost without at least ONE of the above. You also know that seldom am I included in pictures around the place unless I put the idea in someone else’s head, namely my sweetheart, Bill. 

What's in the box

So, I’ve learned to put myself in some pictures. I want to remember places and things and that I was there so I’ve set my cameras up in some pretty weird spots to capture me, as I run in the allotted 10 seconds, with a neat background.

It’s almost the only way I like selfie’s. 90% of the time I don’t like how I look holding a camera an arm’s length. This works for me except when it doesn’t. So, back to Bren. His post was about taking pictures of yourself, in various poses in great settings. Bren suggested the CamRah tripod. That is what is in the box.

The legs are flexible and I can wrap them around pretty much anything and it holds my phone and our small Canon with ease. It also holds my large Canon but I would need to be very careful with where exactly I ‘plant’ it. The neat thing is that using my phone, it came with a Bluetooth remote so no rushing in a 10 second time period to a position. So far, I love it!

My big camera sits on it but I won't push the limits

And I can wrap it around most anything

George and Suzie joined us at 3 and we solved a few more things, laughed and chatted about anything and everything. I interrupted the chatter at one point to test out my tripod which I’d previously set up on the tonneau cover of Black Beauty. After a true 4-person Happy Hour, with me in it, we resumed our chatter until 4:30 when we split up to get our supper.

All set up for a 'selfie'

Testing it out

Supper was great and we were cleaned up and ready to join our friends for Karaoke with Joe at the clubhouse by 6. This was a change of pace as we’d never gone to a karaoke here or anywhere together. 

Happy Hour  with a bunch of happy people

Even Clemson is happy getting his ears rubbed by Suzie

Joe was the star of the night, in my opinion, although there were 3 other regular singers. After a while, other than Joe’s upbeat songs, we’d heard enough sad, break my heart, lovers leaving or dying country songs, and we walked home.          

My favourite was when Joe sang
People are Crazy

Bill preparing supper

and me getting right into it

Back home, I poured myself the last of the Desaronno that Donna and I bought together. A little sipping drink while I finish my post with a Christmas movie playing in the background. The thought of some goodies in the ‘Santa’ closet had us digging in for an evening snack. Oh-oh, keep that a secret!

And from this, the sky went crazy
Crazy beautiful, I mean

It was a good day. Not too many pictures were taken but just wait. Once I get more familiar with my little tripod, you’ll probably be wishing I hadn’t got it! 

Looking east

Anyway, we did have a fun day and got a few things crossed off our list, shopping for Christmas for one. With just 2 more sleeps, there are little ones all over the world but especially in our families back home. We’re hoping to catch them all on Christmas morning.

Good night from Winterhaven, California

Blurry yes, but colour is the main thing here

Thank you for sliding in to see what we’re up to today. I love getting your comments and read every one.