Monday, January 8, 2007

We had nothing planned when we got up, but soon had a whole day planned for ourselves. It was going to be another fabulous day in the low 80's.

After Breakfast we decided that we would go to the Pak Inn this afternoon.  The Pak Inn is a favorite Chinese Restaurant in Rancho Mirage.  We gave some friends a call but they opted out.  We would make a couple of stops on the way and get there about 1 or 1:30.

Our first stop was CVS Pharmacy where coke was on sale for 5 -2 liter bottles for $5.  This was as cheap as we've seen so far in CA.  The Limit was 5 to a customer so Sharon and I both went in.  Of course the lady at the check-out reminded us that it was 5 to a customer and we reminded her that there were two of us.  She wouldn't give us the sale price until we told her to ring it up separately.  Do I have to do all the thinking?

Our next stop was Michael's where Sharon needed to pick up floss for cross-stitching.  We wandered around the store for an hour before we finally checked out.  I like perusing the aisles in Michael's just to see if I can find something to work for me that  it wasn't designed for.  I forgot when we left that I needed snaps for a black leather vest I bought last year.  So when I found the snaps I had no idea if they were the right ones or not.

After Michael's we headed for the Pak Inn.  I love the name of this place cause it's a descriptive word for what you do there.  By the time we left the restaurant we couldn't decide whether it was nap time or pool time.  We were sorely tempted to take a nap but went to the pool instead. 

Shortly after we got there a heavyset guy arrived and started swimming laps.  We figured he would be done shortly but he swam for over an hour without stopping.  How the hell he got so fat I'll never know since he had to do this on a regular basis.  After an hour we went to the hot tub and relaxed in there for awhile.

We were back home again by suppertime but we weren't planning on eating anything.  The residual feeling from Pak Inn was still hanging in there.  We would probably just end up snacking on something for the night.

We had a couple of new TV shows on tonight and they lasted until the bewitching hour.  Sharon beat me into bed and I told her I would "bewitch" her shortly.  It was better to go to bed than to keep on snacking.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

We got up this morning and had nothing specific planned for the day but Sharon soon decided that she was going to tackle a load of laundry for today.  The rest of the    day would be spent getting ready to leave tomorrow.  I also wanted to go to Best Buy and check out a wireless mouse for the computer.  I have so many cords hanging down around my computer table that I want to see if I can get rid of some of them.

We both made ourselves a Bagel, Sausage, Egg and Cheese Sandwich for Breakfast and then Sharon got immediately into the laundry.  It was expected to take a while this morning since she would be doing it at the campground.  I sat around for a while working on the Newsletter and eating lunch before I finally got in gear and took off to Best Buy.

The "mice" I found at Best Buy did not satisfy any of my expectations.  By getting rid of the cords around my table I would have to increase the amount of junk on top of the table.  Not what I was expecting so I opted out of buying the new wireless mouse.  I could also get rid of 2 cords by just using the touchpad but I hate that thing.  So I guess I'll just have to tough it out for now.

By the time I got back Sharon had finished up the laundry and was ready to go to the pool for the afternoon.  She was cross-stitching in her lawn chair outside on another beautiful day in the valley.

We went over to the pool for the last time this year and it may be for the last time forever at least at this campground.  We've been coming here for a few years to spend New Years with friends, but 2 weeks at this campground for 1 social gathering seems counter-productive when we could stay at other campgrounds with full-hookups, and not have to pull out to dump, for these 2 weeks.  We'll see.

We decided that we would have home-made pizza for supper tonight and it turned out terrific.  We found an Albertson's that was very close to the campground and did a little pre-supper shopping before we sat down to devour the pizza.  We chased it down with a couple of beers and then settled in for TV for the night.  We had a couple of episodes of "House" that we hadn't seen before and an episode of "Law and Order:SVU".

I tried to hook up the computer to the Internet for about 10 minutes and was completely unsuccessful, until Sharon tried it the first time and was on.  What a show-off.  She read her newspaper and checked out e-mail and we were both headed off to bed before 10.  She thinks that if she goes to bed early she'll get up earlier and that's not the way it works for her.  Oh well.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

We were up and rolling by 8 this morning headed toward Catalina Spa.  By the time we got there Phil and Joyce Bach had already found a spot and motioned us to a spot across the street from them.  I was hesitant about the spot because it looked like our dish would be affected by the tree in the next site.  And as luck would have it we couldn't find the satellite once we were settled.  It wasn't much of a problem since we get free cable here at Catalina but I like to have both.

We had another problem as soon as we got here. Sharon went to start the car and it wasn't budging.  The starter turned over but it wasn't catching.  We finally changed the three fuses that we need to remove when we pull the car, and it fired right up.  So now I'll have to remember to replace those three fuses before we leave here.

We stopped up in the Upper Campground to see Jack and Rosann Derlein for a few minutes to see if they had changed their mind about the VFW, and they hadn't.  They had planned to go to the American Legion tonight for the Burger and Fries night.  We had told them if we didn't burn ourselves out at the VFW we might join them.

It was getting to be time to go to the VFW and Phil and Joyce and Sharon and I piled into the car and headed out.  We would meet Jerry and Marlene               , friends of Phil and Joyce, at the VFW for Taco Wednesday.  We were there for an hour and a half or so and then came home where we headed immediately for the pool.  Soon after getting there the Michigan gang showed up.  Terry and Diana Brown had come into the park a few days ago, while Roy and Maryann Parent had gone to Cathedral Canyon Park in Cathedral City.

We stayed at the pool until about 4:30 when we left to get ready to go to the American Legion with Jack and Rosann.  We called them and they said they were already there and gave us directions again.  He said it was by Stater Brothers Grocery store on Pierson.  Well it had to be one or the other because Stater Bros. Is not on Pierson.  As it turned out it, Pierson was at least 4 long blocks or 8 actual blocks from Stater Brothers grocery.  Needless to say we teased Jack about his directions along with the two other couples seated at the table.  The food was quite good and very reasonable.  We got two Deluxe Cheeseburgers with fries for $5.  Of course the two pitchers of beer brought the bill to $16.

We came back home and watched a little tube before going to beddy-bye.  It was close enough to 10 o'clock to call it a day and we did.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

We had a couple things on our agenda today but nothing really planned.  Sharon went for her walk this morning down to the market on Dillon and it took her a half hour.  It's about a mile and a half down and back.

On her way back she picked up a paper and we spent the rest of the morning perusing through that looking for the deals at the restaurants.  We didn't find any new ones today.

I had trouble getting our e-mail this morning until I finally got logged on.  Then my ISP at home was giving me fits also.

After lunch I went over and paid for Wi-Fi.  It's only $10 for two weeks and that's as reasonable as we've seen anywhere except for free.

This afternoon would be the golf tournament at the mini-golf course in the campground and the 4 of us would be going and participating.  We called Jack and Rosann but he said that he had just dropped Rosann off at Wal-Mart and he would talk to us later.

At 2 PM we headed up the hill for the golf.  There was about 8 or 9 couples that finally played in the tournament.  Phil and Joyce ended up with 6 holes-in-one over the 18 hole course.  We didn't think there was any way they could lose but they came in 3rd.  We weren't even in the running another stroke back from them.  The wind was blowing pretty good on top of the hill but that didn't seem to affect any of the play.

After golf we came back down and headed to the pool.  We were over there for a couple of hours and the water was a fabulous temperature.  We only left because it was time to eat supper.

We had Beef Stroganoff and Shoepig Corn for supper tonight.  It was another of the meals that I suggested a couple of weeks ago.  I know Sharon likes it a lot so I thought I'd cut her a break.   And it certainly was very good.

We settled in for some TV tonight since there was going to be a couple of new shows on tonight.  Grey's Anatomy and Men in Trees were new shows.  We both hung in there until 11 cause it was too windy for the dish tonight so we had to use the campground cable for TV.

Friday, January 12, 2007

We got up this morning with a mission in mind. We had planned to go to the Family Motor Coach Rally in Indio at the Fairgrounds.  The weather was a little nippy out today and the wind was blowing pretty good.  I had sent an e-mail to Jack and Rosann to let them know where we were going today and they stopped by about 8:30 to tell us that they were going to the same place this morning.  We figured we would see them there at some point.

We left and headed for the fairgrounds about 9 and went by the way of Varner Road.  They have been doing construction on that road for at least the last 3 weeks that we've been in the area and I wanted to see how far they had gotten.  Varner is a shortcut to the Interstate and it's a long way around in both the other directions.  It looks like they'll be done before we get back from Yuma.

When we got to the Admission Window Phil paid our admission which was very generous of him.  The admission fee was $7 apiece.

Immediately inside, we went to peruse the vendors in the buildings.  After about an hour or so eating all the free stuff offered we left to go visit the motorhome display area.  We were all on a "fantasy trip" since none of us was seriously interested in acquiring another motorhome.  There were some real beauties offered though.  The graphics on the exteriors are the most impressive improvements in the past 5 years.  Although there are more "bells and whistles" to drive your pocketbook crazy.  While we   were looking through the motorhomes we ran into Jack and Rosann.  We introduced them to Phil and Joyce and after a few minutes moved on to keep on looking at the stuff we couldn't afford or buy. 

By the time we got done at the motorhomes it was time for the free ice cream.  We ran into Jack and Rosann again at the ice cream and told them we had a coupon in the car in case they wanted to go to La Casita restaurant for a late lunch with us. They were featuring a two-for-one dinner with the coupon, and the restaurant was just across the street from the fairgrounds.  Rosann was intending to go to a Convection cooking class that started at two and lasted for two hours.

The four of us jumped on the tram and left Jack and Rosann again as they walked off not wanting to ride the tram.  We toured the rally grounds and by the time we got back we decided to leave for the restaurant.

We had excellent food at the restaurant but by the time Sharon and I got done we ran the bill up to $31.  Apparently the beer we drank was not that great a deal.  In any event when we got home we both decided that a little nap was in order.  We each "rested" our eyes for an hour or so until the television starting producing something to watch.  We needed to stay up until 11 again tonight because the wind was creating havoc with the dish.  So another night of the cable and staying up late to watch it.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

The wind was whistling quite handsomely this morning and the temperature has dropped accordingly.  This does not appear to be pool day for sure.  A hot tub day perhaps, but no pool.

After Breakfast this morning we decided to take in some rummage sales outside the park.  There were only 3 parks having sales this morning and by lunch we were done with them.  One park we had to walk all the way through and my leg behaved itself today.  There wasn't too much that we couldn't live without so we didn't purchase much today.

We came home and ate lunch and then headed into Stater Bros to pick up some groceries.  We needed some basic essentials and Sharon picked up a whole chicken for about $2.50 and pretty good sized.  I think the dead bird will be supper tonight.

This afternoon the weather actually turned colder and of course the wind hadn't subsided at all.  I had to dump the holding tanks this afternoon and had to put up with the cold weather.  I, being the eternal optimist was still wearing shorts so the weather is making my knees rattle together.

We did have the Chicken for supper tonight along with Noodles topped with butter, olive oil and Parmesan cheese.  The chicken and noodles were absolutely a change of pace for what we've been eating over the past week or so.  They turned out to be very good.  And we washed them down with a couple of nectars.

After Dinner Joyce came over and asked if we wanted to get together.  So we went over there and played Chinese Checkers and drank Mudslides until we came home at about 10.  The walk back across the street was very chilly.

It's actually supposed to get colder tonight and if it does, our water will probably freeze in the hose.  I can't wait to see if that happens.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Well, the frozen hose became a reality this morning.  It wasn't frozen long however, and by 9 AM  it was running again.   It didn't get any warmer today though, and I was glad we didn't have anything planned.  Sharon was off to church as soon as she got up and ready to go I stayed home and cooked my Breakfast and was eating it when Sharon got back.  It was a 2-egg omelette with a couple pieces of Toast and quite tasty indeed.

The wind seems to have calmed down today but see what happens by tonight.  The NFL Conference games were on Tv today starting at about 10 this morning.  We watched the whole Bear/Seahawk game and Chicago pulled it out in overtime.  I told Sharon she had to call Dennis and Mary Ceshker.  (Friends from Tularosa, NM.)  We called them when the Packers beat the Bears at the end of the season.  Dennis was much happier today however.  Mary is a Packer fan.  The whole day was pretty much taken up with the two games.

By the time supper rolled around it was time for the Premiere of "24" to begin.  We had the dish up and running and were able to watch the show early on E.S.Time.  We got through the whole show until the last 10 minutes when the dish started to act up.  So all I have to catch later is the 10 minutes just before 10 when it comes on the cable.  It's off to a flying start and just as exciting as ever.  I watched the second hour over again and was flipping back and forth between that and Desperate Housewives.  That's off to a very juicy start also.

Sharon went to the bedroom to watch the housewives and I stayed in my recliner until I finally retired to the bedroom to watch the new "Without a Trace".  She was in the dark and ready to go to sleep when I got there.  I didn't watch it for very long before I decided to jam my eyes closed also.  Actually they pretty much jammed closed on their own.