A Baking, Walking, Musical, Painting, Lazing Kind of Day

Park Place RV Park

On Wednesday, Nov. 22^nd we slept in until 6:30 and Bill was the first one up. It felt cool in the Suite so he kicked the furnace on for a cycle or two before he and Gibbs went for their early morning walk. That meant, it was comfortable enough for me to slip out from the warm covers. I made my tea right away and after Bill left for the field, I took Gibbs for his second morning walk. With the sun coming up in a totally blue sky, the 46F/8C felt quite pleasant. 😊

A nice morning and a nice morning walk

He met Gerald just before turning the corner towards our site. I only had one thing on my mind today and that was to make two pies for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I set about the first one, involving a regular single pie crust and it was finished and cooling by the time Bill returned from his ‘errands’. A teensy part of me was hoping he’d return with a box the size of a bread maker when he came back from our mail depot. I knew better though, really.

Just thought I'd share this 
addition to our Youtube files

While he was gone, I found videos on Youtube of a ‘new to us’ artist that Sue introduced us to last night. Dan Vasc(oncelos) has an amazingly powerful voice and we very much enjoyed his talent. I was watching him sing covers for some well known songs by the time Bill got home. 😊 He has the look of one of my grandsons, although both are handsome, Dan is neater and his music is understood. I can’t even pretend to understand the heavy metal stuff Jake is in to. LOL

See the resemblance?

We had lunch together, just French bread with cheese and/or peanut butter and then I went to work on the second pie. No homemade pie crust with this one but it still needed to be baked after filling it. Of course, they both involve pumpkin. Deb and Tom popped around 2:30 with food from Coytote Fresh Foods, a grocery store in town, that they’d ordered for dinner tomorrow. Lots of food, should be a great day together with friends.

The finished puzzle

The rest of the afternoon involved some rock painting, some picture transfers from laptop to phone and a walk with my favourite little 4-legged friend. The day reached 74F/23C until around 4:30, the sun disappeared from our site and it dropped to mid-60’s. Time to come in from the gazebo. For supper, Bill barbecued brat sausages, something different for us. I fried leftover potatoes and mixed up some coleslaw.

Before the final gloss coat

Not sure what nighttime will bring, definitely some tv of some sort I’m sure. 😊 It has been a very quiet day, I didn’t venture over to the clubhouse at all but was pleased that Susan sent me a picture of the completed puzzle. I hope Adele had a hand in finishing it too! Have a great evening.

Another memory from November 2017 this time.
Set up at Rose and George's home in
Lake Havasu.
Good night!

Thank you for popping by.

Can You See Me Now? Christmas Music, Marina Walk, Outdoor Happy Hour

Elephant Butte Lake State Park, E.B., NM

We were up on Friday, Nov. 22^nd at 6:15 and downstairs. Where ever did the week go? While Bill made his coffee, I bided my time until it was light enough to go for my walk. It looked quite gray outside and indeed it was. The fog off in the distance was hovering over the rest of the park and yet it looked pretty and spooky the way it hung over the lake. Which way to walk today? The temperature is 36F/2C but completely calm.

It was a little spooky this morning when I went out for my walk

I'm sure this little guy thinks he is invisible
And he almost is except I saw him move there before he stopped

I didn’t have a route in mid, basically just going where my toes were pointed. I went to the lakeside first and took some pictures before cutting across the dunes and up towards the campsites. It is always slow walking in the sand but today even though some areas had solidified after the rains, others were softer. I had to be careful where I placed my feet, even more than I usually do.

To the right, looks like some sunshine may appear

When I was working, I used to hear horror stories of co-workers falling on ice or just tripping on ruts etc. It is so easy to do and I’ve always tried to make it a practice to slow down when my eyes want to check out the views around me. That’s what my photography (if I can be so bold as to call it that) does. It slows me down. BUT, as I age, I also am more aware of the path ahead of me.

This is the road down to the beach after a heavy rain

Looking to the north, you can't even see the lake

After falling a couple of years ago across asphalt at a rest stop and then Bob taking a tumble last week while walking Higgins, yup, we gotta be watchful. I’ve wanted to take a picture of this rig since our first day here but didn’t want to risk the owner seeing me. He was trying to be hidden, after all! So, at this time of the morning I could only assume he was still asleep so got as close as I was comfortable but still a fair distance away.

A camouflaged truck and 5th wheel trailer

The paint job seems to be working!

I didn't think I'd see the need for a grader here but they needed
it to clean the roads

And quite a few sink holes off the road sides

And through the washes

Back home, looking back at the lake, the fog was even heavier, looking more like a thick blanket covering the flock for the night. I made a tea, read some of our friend’s blog posts and perused other friends' stories on Facebook. 

With small trailers (or in some cases, NO trailers)
people can pay a minimal fee and boondock just anywhere

I need to make one clarification, while I’m thinking of it. I keep forgetting! I mentioned earlier in the week that this park is $14/night with full hookups. It isn’t full, only electric and water. There is a dump station at Loop Desert Cove that is very easy to access as we leave. I just wanted to clarify that.

Now look at the lake - it's out there

The lights you see as I look towards the beach
are not ufo's but our lights inside the Suite

Around 8:30, I had my shower and then rooted around under the bed to bring out something to work on. I have quite a few hobbies so what was I in the mood for? I decided I ‘might’, ‘possibly’, ‘perhaps’ feel like crocheting so I’ll start with that.  As you can tell, it wasn’t a very firm choice, yet. 

Do I feel like doing a crochet project?
apparently not.

Maybe cross stitch is more what I’m feeling. LOL Bill has moved on to his next book, King and Maxwell by David Baldacci, another good story with the same characters as in Simple Genius. He likes that flow, while having the players in his mind. Me too, come to think of it.

We had a good breakfast
I fried up the leftover sausage and onions from the other night
with our bacon and eggs

Around 9, the fog was noticeably cleared and I could see the lake clearly again. For a while, it seemed as if night was returning. Black fog, eh Daddy? Bill had switched our XM Sirius Radio to Channel 065 ‘Holly’ to put us (me?) a bit in the Christmas mood. One of my Blurkers also mentioned a few channels from which to choose. It is a lot easier than digging out the cd’s and continually changing them. We did not keep our 5-disc changer since the Suite had its own player.

And it cleared up nicely so I sat outside with my book

Look at that sky - no sign of any fog

The day for me consisted of sitting outside at the back of our site in the sun, inside playing online, a nice long walk down to the Marina, more outside sitting at the front of the site (following the sun, basically) and then we joined Bob and Jo-Anne (& Higgins) for Happy Hour. They had full sun on their patio so we sat outside. We haven't done that for a while. They’ve had a busy day with things back home and they filled us in on what they've been up to.

On my walk to the marina

A little fun along the way

making my way down there to the marina
This is about half way
I walked just under 6 miles total today

Starting to see more and more cacti

We chatted about plans, trailers, the weather, food and the park before returning home around 4:45pm.  When that sun dropped below the trees, it got chilly very quickly. I had ground beef thawing for supper and still hadn’t quite decided what to make. It will definitely be a surprise to both Bill and to me. As you’ve noticed there has been no other mention of the crocheting, well, I didn’t feel like doing it today after all. I was able to find enough otherwise to keep me busy.

This is a beautiful protected sand sculpture
Mrs. Ellie Phant

Boats at the marina

a little history for you buffs

At 5:30, I fried up the ground beef in bacon grease rather than olive oil. This was something we talked about at Happy Hour too. I added onions, garlic and oregano and when the meat was brown, I broke a handful of spaghetti noodles and crisscrossed them on top of the meat. Then the sauce was added to the middle, basically over top of everything. After 7 minutes on Manual, the noodles weren’t quite done so I cooked them for 4 more minutes with a 1-minute release. Perfect.

Another elephant sculpture up near the entrance
Such talent!

Invitation to use social media

There's my walking partner

I had some French loaf that I cut in half lengthwise, buttered and added grated cheddar before reheating it in the microwave. It was soft rather than toasty but with the cheese melted, it was the best I could do minus garlic. 

Happy Hour with Higgins

Stand off between Bill and Higgy
Notice the treat on Bill's shoe?

Supper was good and there is enough leftover spaghetti for another night with a salad on the side. For dessert, we had another piece of cheesecake and it was all very filling. After dishes, Bill went up to watch a Christmas movie and I watched Live PD downstairs and finished today’s post.

The sun dropped and so did the temperature
It's going to be another cool/cold night 34F

I took this from up on the hill behind Big Red

Jo-Anne, Bill, Bob and Higgins
down on their patio

This was a relatively quiet day. We didn’t have anything pressing going on and sometimes that makes for a great day. We were surprised with the turnout of the weather today and all 4 of us enjoyed being outside for a Happy Hour.

supper was good

 There were a couple of downers for today – one for some home issues for Bob that he's dealing with and the other for our good friends, back home. Our hearts are breaking for the news on the latter and there are no real supportive words other than ‘Continual prayers and hugs, George and Suzie. You are ever on our minds’.

Yum
good night y'all!

Thank you for your visit today.

Mexico Dental, Cal*Am Party, Puzzle Completion

On Monday, Feb. 4^th we woke up with a mission. Bill had his alarm set for 7 am but it wasn’t necessary since we were awake and up by 6:45. I had enough time to go for a walk, so out I went. It was 53F/12C with no wind. After Bill showered, he had some toast and jam while I warmed up some oatmeal and cream. At 8:30, we met Rob at Black Beauty and were not too surprised when Pat had declined joining us. She was just not quite there yet as far as feeling well enough for the trip across the border.

And from that top level, I caught the sun just beginning to rise
the people up here have a beautiful position for this daily viewing

The three of us had appointments with Dr. Eva. Rob also had an appointment with another root canal dentist. The office was buzzing! George, Dr. Eva’s husband and receptionist, drove Rob to his first appointment and Bill went in first for his cleaning. There were some new discoveries when the girls were cleaning his teeth and George informed me another crown was necessary. Oh dear. That was a new development that we hadn’t counted on but agreed that it was better to act on it sooner rather than later.

I had to walk out to the road waiting for it to happen

And then back at the Suite, the sun rose

My turn next and we had asked that Dr. Eva take a look at my chipped tooth from summer of ’17. She came in after my cleaning and looked at the pictures the hygienist took. Hmm. Because I’ve had a root canal on that tooth, I’m feeling no pain in it but she said that decay had began to edge down to the root. No point in spending any money on trying to save it. Just hold off for as long as you can and when it starts to be an issue, we’ll pull it. I could have hugged her!

Even though George is a cutie patootie, I took advantage of
his absence to snap a picture of the reception desk

We also talked about an upper right wisdom tooth that could also be removed at a later date. It was crowding the tooth beside it and making a nest for food to gather. Okay, no problem, I’ll think about it. What dentist tells you NOT to spend money? They all try to save our teeth, regardless of cost. I felt pretty good walking out of there. We made appointments for later in the month to get Bill’s work done and paid our bill.

I like the ceramic inlay on the outdoor tables
at Dr. Urena's courtyard

Rob returned, saw Dr. Eva for a bit, made his appointments to match ours and we left by way of the Purple Pharmacy. Let’s stock up on meds while we can. 

If you're having dental work done down in Mexico
We recommend her
You'll love George too

The money we saved today is crazy compared to what we would have paid back home. That’s why we don’t mind waiting in the hour long lineup to cross the border to the U.S. We would have liked to have Pat along but we were appreciative of the fact that she was home to let Clemson out.

The patio across the road from our site was full
They were there for either the music, the companionship or the drinks

Back home, we felt hungry, thirsty and dry but since it was 2:30, it wasn’t a good time to be eating much. So, we poured ourselves a diet soda and had a snack of cheese and chips. The park was putting on a Cal*Am Party on the patio just across the street from us. While many people had to drive or walk across the park to enjoy the music, we could hear it clearly from our Suite. A 3-man band were performing all kinds of familiar tunes from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

The band was really good and played until 4,
stopped for 2 hours while a BeeGees Tribute was going on inside
then played again until 7 for the same entertainment
that was open to the public, not only park residents

I walked over only to snap a picture and then returned home to relax. When Bill stretched back in his chair, I decided to take my bike up to the puzzle room. The one I was working on yesterday was finished, not surprisingly. When I arrived, there were 2 people working on the other table and they didn’t ‘really’ invite me to join, he didn’t budge an inch, but I moved in anyway and began slapping pieces in left right and centre. Eventually, his wife came out of the shower and he left.

Jewel and I finished the last half of this pretty picture

The other lady and I worked together in our own corner and chatted as we filled in pieces. She was doing laundry and when she left, the puzzle was half finished. I worked almost better alone because I wasn’t timid to reach over to the section she was working on. It was a few minutes later that Jewel (sp?) came in and asked if he could help with the puzzle. He is a nice older gentleman with a bit of a hearing impairment but not too bad.

Clemson and I took a walk and I saw this sign and bucket
at the garbage
Interesting, I'll save my caps

Sometimes you meet ‘like’ puzzle partners where they share their pieces and openly encourage others. Kind of like my buddy Pat does for me. We were determined as we finished the whole thing. It wasn’t an overly difficult one so we don’t deserve a medal but it had been there for 3 days and time to seal the deal. Jewel is a Canadian from B.C. but born in the eastern province of New Brunswick and ended up buying a park model here in Sundance. We parted ways, he hopped on his bike and I hopped on mine.

The sky was pretty tonight again

I had texted Bill to check on the ‘home’ status and neither of us were hungry enough for a big supper so there was no hurry for me to leave. When I returned home, the sun was shuffling behind some clouds but I managed to get a few pictures before it dropped below the horizon of the park. It was a mild night at 65F. I was surprised to hear the music still playing at the park patio at 6 pm. This has been an all afternoon thing and it is quite loud. I didn’t want to close the windows and doors but it was necessary to watch our programs. Too loud for our liking.

Bill and I agreed on a cup of tea and a few sugar-free chocolate chip cookies. That was enough to fill the gap. I sat at my laptop to catch up on my blog and downloaded pictures. I finished my David Baldacci book. If you haven’t read End Game, you must, it was not only a page turner but a chapter turner. 😊 We’ve had a good day here in the park, getting our dental appointments over with for now, some puzzle time and some more relaxing time.

The clouds were performing all around me

 By the way, Bill is almost clear of his cold and Pat’s medications are kicking in so she also feels a bit better each day. Thank you for all of your concerns, suggestions and good health wishes for both of them.

Good night!

Thank you also for stopping by today!