Monday, March 20, 2006
Today would be Len and Rose's last day here and their wish was to have Breakfast at the casino one more time. Who was I to deny their wish? So they picked us up since we were in the same campground, and we would meet Jim and Jackie at the casino. As usual the food was fabulous and we all left having wished we had eaten less than we had. But the food is so good it's not hard to overindulge yourself there.
After we came home we lft for Circuit City in Palm Desert to buy some memory for our computer. It was on sale and, after rebates, we would be paying $9 for 256 MB. We forgot where it was and spent a half hour looking for the place when I remembered that Phil said it was at the end of Fred Waring Drive. I spent about 25 minutes in the store before the guy figured that he didn't have the memory in stock. He said they had it in Blythe and I asked him how soon it could be here, and he said it doesn't work that way. He couldn't get it here. This could only happen to me.
We headed back home to check the mail for our data cable and it wasn't there. We got our regular package of mail and headed back to the motorhome. Sharon checked out the mail and by the time she was done it was time to go to the pool.
By the time we got over to Catalina, Jim and Jackie were already floating in there. The Brown's and Parents showed up shortly afterward. They are also at Desert Pools but prefer to swim at Catalina. Jim calls us refugees. We're not refugees, were transients. But I don't know if that's a "better" term or not. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed back home. I had to be home and ready when "24" and Prison Break come on tonight. The wind was blowing today so I'm hoping that the dish will behave itself for two hours.
We still weren't hungry for supper so we just fended for ourselves instead of having to cook something. I found a leftover cheeseburger from last night and Sharon had some slices of our grilled London Broil from the other night. We were just fine and ready to sit through two hours of suspense.
As luck would have it, the dish behaved just fine tonight and, we watched TV for the whole night without a problem. Of course by 10 we had given our best for today and now it was time to retire............again. At least for me. Sharon's not old enough to retire yet. HaHa.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
The wind was still blowing again today but for the past week we've been just adapting to it. If we didn't we wouldn't be enjoying ourselves here at all. And if we didn't do that we should be at home..................shoveling Yeah right!
I was on-line early this morning to see if I could track the shipment of our data cable from Ebay and didn't have any luck. There was nothing on the website that I could see that would allow me to do it. I just ended up more frustrated than I was before. I never got a confirmation e-mail because the website wouldn't let me change my e-mail address. Sometimes technology isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Sharon got up and went for her walk, and while she was gone she checked out the laundry room, to see if she could do up a couple of loads this morning. By the time she got back she had already decided that today would be the day and packed up her clothes and went o the laundry room.
Len and Rose were headed out to Yuma today to get some dental work done and after they got there they called us to make the reservations we would need in Las Vegas next month. They wanted us to make both reservations to make sure we both got in. We did and we did.
While Sharon was gone with the laundry I decided to get a few things ready to go tomorrow. I picked up our chairs, mat and grill and dumped the holding tanks for our two mile trip down the road. As long as the wind was going to be blowing we didn't need anything outside because we wouldn't be sitting out there anyway.
At 12:30 we left for Catalina to check the mail for today and no cable again. The Manager's meeting was at 1 o'clock so we just went up to the Upper Clubhouse for the meeting. We didn't really find out anything new except that the campground on Long Canyon road would not be available for out-weeks, something that had been promised for years. Catalina Spa is very good at breaking promises and making claims that never materialize. I'd have to think twice about buying into this park now-a-days with the promises that have been broken. But then the prospective members never hear about the promises made and promises broken.
We went to the pool after the meeting and the waves were actually getting larger. We've got moulting birds around the pool and their feathers occasionally show up in the water. Ick. But the skimmer handles them pretty well and I think they'll makes pillows out of what they collect. HaHa.
We came home after the pool and Sharon was going to make Fajitas out of the London Broil we had cooked the other night. She's been eating off that baby for a few days now. It was the size of Rhode Island and at least an inch thick when we put it on the grill. It was quite tender when we finally started eating it.
After Supper we just settled in for TV for the night. The Unit was on tonight and it was original but most everything else was a re-run. It didn't matter cause we had extra minutes on our cell phone that we would lose tonight so we just surfed the Internet for most of the night. I also re-ordered the cable tonight being extra careful to make sure all the information was 100% correct. Sharon was having trouble staying connected when she got on-line, and got frustrated, and just quit trying. We gave up on the day at our usual bewitching hour.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
We awoke this morning to just a wisp of a breeze. Hopefully it will stay like that all day. One never knows.
Today was moving day albeit only 2 miles down the road. We were making our final, for the season, move back to Catalina Spa. We'll be here for twelve days at this stay and then we'll move somewhat toward home to Casa Grande, Arizona. I say somewhat because our route home this year will take us West to get to Las Vegas on our first stop toward the Great Basin National Park.
We made the move about 9 and selected the spot we had seen yesterday without any trouble. We were in and settled in about a half hour. Jim and Jackie had stopped by before we got all our stuff together. When they left we went to the office to register and make a preliminary check of the mail. There was nothing there yet, of course.
At noon I checked the mail again, and nothing. Jim and Jackie had picked us up for Taco Wednesday at the VFW and we were off. You could tell that it's getting late in the season by the number of people at the VFW. There was nowhere near the number that were here just 2 weeks ago. We managed to find a table for four easily. By the time we left there was hardly anyone in the place and it by no means was late. We were in the pool before the Browns and Parents.
We left the pool by 3:30 and got home in time for Special Report with Brit Hume on Foxnews. The only reason I knew that was because we rarely get home in time to watch that show. By the time 4 o'clock rolled around our eyes were getting heavy and a nap was in our future. Before we came back to life again, Jim and Jackie were knocking at the door. None of us was hungry for supper so we just sat around and snacked for awhile before it got a little nippy and we came inside. We had a couple more nectars and some more snacks and then they went home cause it was getting close to Jim's bedtime.
We propped ourselves in front of the TV for the night. We were just in time to catch the later versions of all our usual TV. But by 10 we were ready for bed since we had been jolted out of our naps earlier in the day. Sharon was already in bed sleeping by the time I got there. Somehow she had sneaked away when I wasn't looking. Oh well, I got more of a nap than she did.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Last night we had planned to go to the Street Fair in Palm Springs today with Jim and Jackie but our plans changed before this morning. We had decided instead to go earlier in the day and stop at "Tyler's on the Plaza" for lunch. Jim and Jackie had told us about this place but we couldn't understand the directions to get to it. So we left this morning about 10:30 and headed out to downtown Palm Springs. We did a little shopping and I picked up a T-Shirt. We've been coming out here for 9 years and I never had a t-shirt from here. We stopped into a couple of upscale shops but the one we really enjoyed was a clock shop right in downtown. We were parked in a two-hour zone so we had to get our lunch and get going.
Tyler's is a little street cafe in the middle of one of the streets downtown. It's on a side street and not difficult to find if you know what street it's on. They serve just plain old hamburgers but they are very good. The basket of fries is huge and very good also. We sloshed our burgers down with a pitcher of beer. Jim and Jackie bought our lunch for us which wasn't necessary but we thanked them for their very generous gesture. By this time we were running close on our two-hour parking limit. When we got back we observed the chalk mark on the rear tire so the cops were out and checking.
We shopped on the way back to the truck and made it back to the campground after 1 o'clock and too late to check for the mail. I had no confidence that my cable was there anyway so I wasn't concerned.
We had just enough time to get to the Mini-golf course and participate in the weekly tournament. We pay a $2 entry fee and today we took third which was worth $4. At least we got our money back + today. Things were looking up indeed.
After golf we headed for the pool. It was quite warm on top of the hill and the pool felt really nice today. Because we were late today we stayed a little later before going home. We invited Jim and Jackie over for a cocktail hour and they stayed for a couple of hours before they headed back home. It was dark by this time and starting to get a little nippy outside. It always gets cold in the desert at night.
We didn't have a nap today and the T was rotten tonight so about 9 I slinked off to bed. I was already falling asleep in my chair so it wasn't unusual for me to just give it up. Sharon stayed up surfing and reading her paper and e-mail before she gave in also. I was already snoozing by the time she got there. I was tuckered out today.
Friday, March 24, 2006
We had a relatively busy day planned for today. First off I went over and checked for mail before we really got going. Nothing yet....again. We took off on our odyssey about 8:30 heading to Mission Hills Country Club for the meeting with the Parking Committee. We needed to check in to see what our assignment would be for this year. Since Media Parking was moved someplace else, we were assigned to VIP Parking. We didn't know if that was a step up or down. It didn't matter cause at least we were working the hours we wanted.
From there we left and headed toward Trader's Joe's for the supply of wine that Jessica, our daughter, wanted. We were requested to bring home 3 cases of 2 Buck Chuck for her and Mike. We picked up the wine and then we had to find Wal-Mart in Palm Springs from there. Everyone knows you can't get there from where we were at. But after driving for about a half hour and halfway across the desert we finally got there. We picked up the groceries we needed and headed for home satisfied that we had completed all the things we needed to. We actually got back just before lunch so we made ourselves some sandwiches and I settled in for a nap. I had been up since 4 o'clock and for what reason I had no idea. But I was tired having gotten up yesterday at the same time. I slept until pool time and while I was getting ready Sharon washed the dishes from Breakfast and Lunch. While she was getting ready I dried them.
We headed over to the pool and were actually there for about 3 hours. Unusually long for us. Jim and Jackie were there but the rest of Michigan seemed to be doing something else today, although we found out later that Roy was in the Poker room and won the High Hand with a Royal Flush in spades. That was worth $36 today. Maryann also showed up later but the Browns were in the Upper Pool with their Kids and GrandKids.
After the pool we were invited over to Jim and Jackie's for a little pre-Dinner cocktail party. She had enough liquor left for 3 "Appletinis." Apple Liqueur and Vodka in a wine glass. It was very good and quite potent. We had a few snacks while we were there and not wanting to eat supper when we got back home. In fact we both settled in for a nap, and still didn't want to tackle our Cod that we had planned for Supper when we woke up.
We each fixed ourselves something to eat and finally settled in for TV. There was absolutely nothing on tonight and we ended up watching a repeat of America's Funniest Videos. We were really hurtin' for something to watch tonight.
Sharon logged on to the Internet and read her paper and checked e-mail but was getting continually cut off the connection. She got frustrated after a while but hung in there until she finished. I went to bed at 10 before she got all her reading done.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
The wind was howling again this morning and they were predicting a severe weather alert. From early this morning I was trying everything I could possibly think of to get our new phone working. I had checked the mail this morning and our regular mail and the new data cable were in. So I was working on the new system to get it up and rolling. By the time I was completely frustrated it seemed that I was going about it backwards. I had all the updates installed without the phone activated. Installing the phone proved to be impossible. Before I was finished I decided that I had to start over from the beginning. That meant having to download about 30 MB from a dial-up connection. This was not going to be fun. And now I had activated the new phone and am without e-mail or any other connection to the Internet. I called Phil in Yuma to tell him about my dilemma but apparently he was not getting good service where he was at.
We took a ride into town to pick up some anti-freeze for the car and stopped at McDonald's to pick up lunch. We had a coupon for a buy one, get one free so we thought why not? We took them back home to eat so we wouldn't have to buy cokes to wash them down. That "free" kinda gets counter-productive after a while, if you need to spend money on side stuff.
After lunch I tried for most of the afternoon to get the Phone connected to the Internet without any luck, before I finally decided to un-install the whole thing and start over. I had already invested all morning and most of the afternoon to get it up and running and now I was back at square one. At least now I knew where I was at in the installation process.
We had bought Tamales when we were in Indio in January and never knew how to eat them. We had tasted them a couple of times and never saw the attraction to them. So we ate half of them and saved the rest in the freezer. After talking to several people here we finally heard how they're supposed to be eaten. So Sharon heated the rest of them up and we smothered them in Chili, Onions and Cheese. They were fabulous and another meal we took a liking to. We HAD to wash them down with beer because they were Mexican food. I'm sure we'll have them in the future when we can find them again.
After talking to Phil we he called me back, he suggested that I go to Desert Pools RV park to try the download. It wouldn't be any quicker but at least I could start it today. I went over to Desert Pools after supper to start the downloads for the new phone. I got hooked up by 7:30 and got disconnected by 9:20. I really didn't feel like continuing for the night. Besides I could only stay here til 9:45 anyway so I called it a night. I came home and tried to get hooked up to the Wi-Fi in Catalina to no avail. It would be so much simpler to download it on Wi-Fi and a hell of a lot quicker. Unfortunately it looks like I won't have that option. I'm worried now that I'll have trouble publishing the Journal to my website on Monday. This has not been a good day for the most part.
By the time we got in bed the wind was so bad that I put the Living Room slide in. The awning was making just too much noise to sleep It quieted down some after the slide was in but we could still hear the wind howling. We must have had gusts of up to 40-50 miles an hour today. The pool will no doubt be 10 degrees colder tomorrow. No matter, I've got downloads to complete.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
The wind was absolutely still this morning after the wind storm we had all day yesterday and last night.
As soon as I had my Breakfast this morning I thought I'd get an early start on the downloading of the updates and headed to Desert Pools RV Park. Unfortunately when I connected it put me right back to square one like I hadn't spent two hours downloading last night. I disconnected all my crap, packed it up and went back home. After getting there I immediately called Verizon and transferred my service back to the old phone and got a number to call at Motorola. Needless to say the two people I talked to at Motorola had Indian accents and were hard to understand. I absolutely love this situation. By the time I got done with them I realized that my only solution was to start downloading the files from my cell/computer connection. It took about 2½ hours for the first 22 MB and another hour and a half for the remaining 11 MB.
We had decided earlier that the pool probably wasn't going to be a nice temperature because of the wind all day yesterday and last night so we didn't even try to go over there.
We ate Supper between the downloads. We had BBQued Ribs for Supper tonight. We had them stewing in the seasoning since yesterday afternoon. Sharon made up a Lettuce Salad and some Garlic Bread. We chased em' down with a couple of beers and they were fabulous.
After Supper and the second download was complete it was a "simple" job to set up the phone and the modem in the phone. I say it was simple but who knows? I still haven't got the whole thing up and working yet. Perhaps tomorrow. But only after I've published to my web site.
We settled in to watch TV for the rest of the night. We had a couple of original shows on tonight but also a couple of repeats. Sharon did all her surfing of the Internet this afternoon so she didn't have anything left to do by tonight. And by the time 10 rolled around I was ready to just slink into bed and let my eyes slam shut. I did and they did. It was quiet for a change tonight and it was deafening.
