Sunshine and Warmth Returns, Christmas is Over - Storage Not an Issue

Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA

Bill and I slept in and just played the ‘lazy’ card this morning, because we could. It was 7:30 on Tuesday, Dec. 31^st when we crawled out of bed. It was definitely light enough to go for a walk but Bill needs his coffee soon after waking so we waited. By 8:30 we were both involved on the laptops that we decided to wait until our neighbours left.

We buy Keurig coffee in bulk and Bill stores them neatly in a handy drawer
The balance is left in the box and stored in the hall closet

B & J were taking a drive today and were leaving the key with us, just as a precaution. It is always a good practice if you are going away for any length of time, especially overnight, to leave access to your unit. Plus, a rule in some parks that you notify the office of your absence. After some discussion at yesterday’s H.H. we’ve deduced that in case of a fire, park staff like to know they don’t have to risk life and limb rescuing someone inside a unit where no one is home. Makes sense.

Toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex and ziploc bags
all bought in bulk and stored above the couch
with the coolers

Jo-Anne and Bob popped over with Higgins just before 9 to say goodbye and we wished each other a Happy New Year. We’ll see them tomorrow. By then, the urge to walk, for Bill especially, had disappeared so I agreed and made my tea. We ate up the last two warmed cinnamon rolls and then we started taking the Christmas decorations down. Christmas is over and it is time to put our house back in order. It isn’t as fun as putting things up but we worked steadily until 10:30 when the tree was the last thing to be tucked under the bed.

Some Christmas ornaments, candles and games up here over the other
end of the couch

We do have a lot of storage. Under the bed and overhead cupboards all around the main and bedroom living areas provide plenty of room for things. Even when we shop at Costco or Sam’s Club and buy bulk items, we can tuck things out of the way fairly easy. We are very lucky and grateful for that since we do live in here full time. To me it would be very frustrating to see something that we needed that was only a deal if you bought in bulk and have to say ‘oh, we don’t have room’. We are kinda spoiled.

Under the bed storage holds the tree, extra wool, blankets, chairs
and more Christmas decorations

We each made a coffee and sat together to relax. Bill was disappointed but not overly surprised when we heard a thud outside. Oh-oh. Never a good sound but he suspected that his flag pole broke in the wind. LOL he has his trouble with those poles but it never seems to deter him from wanting one up. Sometimes, I just roll my eyes (as I would have given up long ago!) but in other cases, I love his determination and have to smile at that.

The hall closet is pretty jam-packed but without a washer
and dryer unit, we have room for our coats and other bulk items
plus the vacuum, file storage and laundry basket

I left him working on the battery thingy for his plane and took a walk half way around the park. When I got to the clubhouse, I picked up a new weekly schedule and went into the Puzzle room. No one around so I settled in and got to work. 

The sky was still debating what to do at this point

This puzzle has been fun and I’m at the point where I really would not like some newbie coming in and finishing it for us. Ken and I have made great progress on it and it would be nice if one of us put the last pieces in. No guarantee of that though. ☹

By the time I left, the Golden Retriever had made an appearance
front and centre

While I was in there, the sun came out, the clouds returned and then it rained lightly for about 5 minutes or so before the sun made a repeat appearance – and stayed. At 1:30 or so, I figured I’d made a good dent in the puzzle in 2 hours so returned home to see what my sweetie was up to. He had vacuumed, dusted the woodwork at the top of the slide-outs as well as washed some areas of the ceiling showing dirt specs. I should leave that man alone more often!

Walking back, the sun had decided to rule the day

I sat at my laptop and caught up on today’s post before looking up a recipe for ‘mushy bananas’. I found something different than the traditional banana bread which is not my favourite and certainly not something I want hanging around the house. We’ll just eat it. We, meaning Bill. It is usually the only way he’ll eat the fruit. So instead, I made a Banana Chocolate Mousse. 

The recipe called for 1 3/4 c. of tofu (who has tofu?) so I substituted
with 1 cup of thick yogourt and 3/4 cup sour cream
added 5 bananas and 3 tbsp cocoa

Then blended the daylights out of it

 I don’t know how it will turn out but I know that I will eat it and the bananas won't end up in the garbage.

Then poured it into 3 quite full dishes
I may make up some whip cream for the topping

Bill went up for a snooze around 2:15 while I was making it. I got three dessert dishes of mousse and put them in the fridge. I’m not sure how firm they will get but it doesn’t matter. Kim texted and invited us for Happy Hour so because of the warm temperatures outside, I changed into capris and a sleeveless top. Woohoo! Sunshine again! 

I neglected to get pics of the small group today
but did catch the sun making its slow decline

We gathered our chairs at the front of their coach and it was quite nice. Tom and Deb joined us until 4:00 or so when they left for a New Year’s Eve Mass in Yuma.

Walking back at 5:30, it was about to say goodbye to
a wonderful afternoon

Gee! I wonder who this Christmas bow belongs to?
My hands were full so couldn't pick it up

It was after 5:30 when we said goodbye to our hosts but not until we’d made plans for the evening. It was New Year’s Eve after all! We came home and made a quick supper in Rosy, our air fryer. Shrimp and fries and they were yummy. At 7ish, Ken and Kim joined us to help bring in the brand new year of 2020. We played Double Series of which the girls ran off with the win and then we stopped to watch Rockin’ New Year’s Eve on television until the ball dropped. 10:00 MT. It just isn’t the same without Dick Clark and we know none of the entertainers.

What a nice little meal!

Kim was taking a picture of tonight score before the
evidence got destroyed
Ladies 6  Men 3 (in case you were curious)

Happy New Year! All around toasting with our Cancun Quayabilla tequila before we played their game of Bananagram. This was fun too, a new version of Scrabble with a fun twist. Most of the game was spent chuckling at Ken in the flamingo pose, with the banana on his head repeatedly spelling ‘p-e-e-l’ over and over. You'll understand that if you've ever played the game. 

I was too close to get the banana hat in the picture
but we all saw it

I would play this again minus the party cubes. Great practice for the online Scrabble games that Bill and I play.

The pictures are mostly so I can remember how the game went

I was surprised that as long as I was having fun, I didn’t feel tired until after our friends left at 11:15. This was a great day and now we have a new decade starting. Let’s see if we can do it just as well or better than last year!

This was the last shot of a sunset in 2019
Good night and Happy New Year!

Thank you for popping by!

The Day After, Drive to Hanover, More Projects, Taking Care of Details, And the Sun Came Out

I was preparing myself to get up out of the warm bed by 6:55 and that turned into 7:10 on Monday, Sept. 24^th. Today, I am another year older and still everything feels the same as I go through the awakening process. Phew! I didn’t want any drastic changes which just proves the point that it is just another birthday and we all need to celebrate them in one way or another.

The hi-lights of my walk this morning were in the trees

I love the brave leaves that stand out, not afraid to be different

 Bill and Clemmy remained in bed as I got up and got dressed for my walk. “It’s very windy” Bill reminded me so I wrapped a scarf around my neck and headed out the door. I checked the outside temperature and it was 48F which was right on cue with what was expected overnight. 8C. I took my walking stick today for leverage, those gusts were quite strong. Not that it would blow me over but it would give me more ‘oomph’ if I needed it. There were a few areas on the way to and past Turbine Drive where the trees on the east side sheltered me and it actually felt warm.

These are a little more timid but still stepping out of the crowd

It was another enjoyable 2 mile walk but no sunrise this morning. By the time I returned to the Suite, Bill was up and we both doubted we would see any sunshine today at all. The sky was solid gray. We had our tea and coffee and read up on blogs of our friends. Some had colder temps than us and others warmer. We got cleaned up and drove to Hanover this morning. We had a few stops to make, some for me, some for Bill.

there were times when all you could see was her windshield, she was so close

On the way there, Bill set the cruise to 90 kmph and things were going fine until a little blue Chev pulled out behind us. This is a 20-minute drive, pretty straight forward with plenty of clear areas to pass other vehicles depending on the traffic. How many times do we all have those ‘jokers’ who need to ride less than 2 car lengths, sometimes even 1 car length behind us? Too often, we say.

There were opportunities for her to pass, yes, it was a female driving alone, yet she chose to just hang annoyingly close. The cruise setting controls the vehicle up and down the hills at the same speed, we all know that, but for those not driving on ‘cruise’, they speed up going down the hills and lag behind, going up. She followed us in this manner most of the way to Hanover and Bill was about ready to throttle her. I got her license plate, easily, she was that close, and snapped a picture through our back window.

In Hanover, I asked Bill to drop me off at the mall with Dollarama and Giant Tiger. I was looking for a neon safety vest for my morning walks. Cheap because I am ‘el Cheapo’ here, in the flesh. He drove further down town to drop off the chain saw to get the blade sharpened so we can get into some serious wood cutting before we head south. While he scooted around to Rona for some plywood, I wandered through Giant Tiger and found some mini gloves and priced the vests at $10. Not bad but I’d seen some at the Dollarama in London for $4.

You can see the reflection so I should be noticeable out there
My purchases today

I walked next door but this Dollarama doesn’t stock all the same things and didn’t carry them at all. No problem, I went back to G.T. and picked the size best suited for me, that would fit over a jacket, and left with a smile on my face. I told Bill he’d be able to stand at the corner and see in which direction I walked now. 😊 I will definitely feel safer, being much more visible to country road drivers. I’m sure many already look for me, I see a lot of the same ones on a daily basis.

I'll be happy to not have to weed trim around these and there were
just too many rocks down here
No wonder they didn't grow

I found a couple of plain camisole tank tops for $3.50 (Bingo!) in colours I don’t have so scooped them up as well. I love Giant Tiger but really controlled myself today. I walked over to meet Bill at Canadian Tire, just across the street and he’d found the half Rubbermaid bin that he was looking for too. Success twice! We drove to Wal-Mart before leaving town and got some 2% milk as we’d run out before his Costco run on Thursday.

Their new home

I'm feeling positive about this location

We both felt good about today’s purchases, oh, we also got a smaller truck container so it doesn’t take up as much room in the bed. The large one has already been designated for another purpose. On the way back through Durham, we did something we’ve never done before. We reported our tail-gater to the West Grey Police. He was a very pleasant detective and gave us some suggestions for next time. He gave us some satisfaction.

West Grey Police Services in Durham

Back at home, I remembered that I didn’t have any bacon so cut up some chicken with eggs, onions, zucchini and pepper for an omelette sandwich. It was noon hour. Clemson even got some of the egg/chicken mixture. Bill went out to continue working on his wind screen for the Weber and I called Southside Grille in London to make reservations for dinner with our kids in October. Hopefully all 21 of us can make it this year!

Nice blue sky for the most part today

I also went back and forth with Bill’s sister, Liz, about plans to get together either on Thanksgiving or later so we can see them before we leave for the south. We’ve made plans as well to drive to Fort Erie on Saturday to visit with Marilynne, Bill’s stepmom. Just a day trip but it fits in perfectly with ours and her other goings on.

Well, lo and behold, by 1 pm, the winds managed to blow the clouds away to the eastern horizon and the sky was solid blue now. Perfect! It was quite windy though so it didn’t warm up much more than 63F. I changed into work clothes and went out to dig up 2 hosta plants that are definitely in an unhappy place. I moved them up to the area where I dug the rhubarb from. I’m going to try them there since the ground is already worked up in that spot. With rain coming on and off for the rest of the week, today is a good day to get it done.

Bill's pump works like a charm

When I finished that, it was one of those ‘brush your palms back and forth across each other’ feelings. I’ve been talking about it for a while and now it is done. Hopefully, more of the hostas Rob gave me last year have found their happy place. Once I finished that, I realized that there was no point in moving inside when I was now feeling warmed. So, I primed our water pump and filled the watering can a couple of times and watered the rhubarb and newly planted hostas. Then, I got my book and sat outside for a while. 

It will be so much better with that bush gone

I do enjoy watching my sweetie work

We can clean this up tomorrow
More for the brush pile

 Bill drove back to Hanover after 3:30 to pick up his chain saw, they were busy earlier and couldn’t do it right away. No problem, for a minimal charge of $7 to sharpen the blade, he didn’t mind. The clouds rolled back in and it cooled off again so I moved to the bunky to read.

When Bill returned, he cut the shrubs and trees down at the corner where his cargo trailer and Hangar sit. It will make it easier to walk around and get through with the riding mower. He finished that, leaving a pile of brush and came up to cut some of the big log chunks that we’ve had from a tree chopped down a couple of years ago, I think. They are too big for our firepit. Bill made short work of cutting them into ‘bite-size’ pieces so now they’ll fit.

Stacked ready to burn

It was 5:30 and it was time to quit so Bill went inside and fed Clemson. I had had a break with my book so at this point I was gung-ho to pick up where he left off. I gathered and stacked the bigger pieces and then the small boards, raking the scraps of bark and sawdust into a pile. It didn’t take me long to get all the wood neatly piled and I came inside too. Another few things off the list of to-dos.

From across the corral, I'm showing you where I planted the rhubarb

My sweeties

 Just after 6, I started warming up the gravy, carrots and a few slices of beef in a frying pan. It didn’t take long to steam some corn and warm a couple of buns in the microwave. It was a quick tasty supper of hot roast beef and still there is beef leftover for another night. I have set some aside for Bill’s supper in London this week. One meal at least.

And one little Shasta Daisy hangs on

Look at that flag blowing

After the dishes were done, I downloaded pictures and worked on my post. As I write this, the winds have not dissipated at all. They are still gusting between 40 and 55 kph mark but it won’t be as cold overnight with 56F/13C. We’ll have to see if the winds change that but hopefully we won’t need added heat tonight. We’ll see.

And a pretty sky tonight
Good night from the Ridge

This was another great day and now we are enjoying the evening together too. Thank you for popping in to see what we’re up to. Comments are always welcome.