Monday, March 26, 2012

We awoke this morning to a nice sunshiny day with a little wind hooked on.  We had nothing planned for today except to go to the Pak Inn today for lunch and meet Phil and Joyce there.

Since the oil change the other day I hadn’t had a final check on the oil level in the motorhome to make sure it was up.  I can never remember if I need 5 quarts or 6 when I change the oil filter.  The level was a quart low so that answered my question. I put another quart in and that was the end of that.

While I was outside, Anke and Wayne Doughty stopped by and chatted for a few minutes.  They’re friends that we met in the pool from Chilliwack, British Columbia, who come down here every year for a few months. We exchanged e-mail addresses so that we can keep in touch over the summer, until next year.

At 12:15 we got in the car and headed over to Wal-Mart in Rancho Mirage.  Sharon had to pick up a couple of things including a new noodle for me, and then we were off to the Restaurant to meet Phil and Joyce.  It is sad to see that the restaurant has lost its crowds.  The food is still very good but this situation can’t last very long and we may not see this restaurant open next year.

By the time we got home it was time for the pool and we got ready and left almost immediately.  The temp in the pool had been turned up again and it was warm.  Most of the people in our group are complaining that its too warm and Sharon and I agree.  But if the temp is not turned down it doesn’t seem to bother most people.

We got home at our usual time tonight around 4:30 and settled in for our usual game of Jeopardy.  The DVR was running full time tonight since the shows we wanted to watch were all over the spectrum.  We did manage to catch the ones we wanted, however, and lasted easily to our retirement hour. 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Today when we got up we had nothing planned but that changed quite quickly when Sharon thought about it.  She came up with the idea to defrost the freezer and clean up the shack today. After she got started I realized that it was time to dump the black water tank today.  So we both had our little chores to take care of this morning.

By lunchtime we were both done and toying with the idea of going out for lunch at Schmidy’s Tavern in Cathedral City.  But we knew that we were headed over that way on Thursday anyway so we decided that we eat there on Thursday.  Besides Mary and Jerry Milan will be here on Thursday and maybe we can talk them into going too.

We decided to clean up the leftovers in the fridge for lunch today and we had quite a few of them in there.  We didn’t manage to finish them all up but we still have supper to eat tonight.

We took off for the pool this afternoon in the hopes of finding it nice and refreshing and a little cooler than it has been over the last couple of days.  That didn’t happen unfortunately.  It was as warm today as it’s ever been.  We even have the ducks circling the pool to land and take a swim.  We get them every year at this time and we try to keep them out because they make such a mess around the pool.  And during this month there is so few people in the pool that the ducks think they can have their way.  Next month they can do what they want since most of the people will be gone home.

We got back home tonight just in time to sit down to a rousing game of Jeopardy.  After that we settled on more leftovers for supper tonight.  We had just enough Taco Loaf left for supper and Sharon got that hot in the oven and then we sat down to much it down.  It was still very good even though I had put too much meat on it when I made it the other night.  It was like a pizza with too much “stuff” on it.

Tuesday is a pretty good night for TV and tonight was just fine with me.  The DVR was taping and with our regular shows we had plenty to get us to 10 o’clock.  Another night with good TV and it looks like the rest of the winter will be original programming from here on out.  They were running repeats for an inordinate number of weeks this year, and it seemed like it was never going to end.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Today was going to be a regular Taco Wednesday today and Phil and Joyce were coming up from Thousand Trails to join us at the VFW for lunch and then come over to Catalina to take a dip in the pool.  In previous years we used to go to the VFW every Wednesday that we were in Desert Hot Springs, but this year has been different.  We haven’t been to the VFW since January 18 and it’ll be fun to go back again, even though I really don’t feel like drinking beer today.

We kept ourselves busy this morning til noon when we left for the VFW clubhouse to meet up with Phil and Joyce.  They were already there when we arrived.  They were seated in the inner dining room where we rarely sit, because the outer dining room was packed.  We like to sit out there because there’s more light but it’s usually noisier.  Today the noise was there but we weren’t.  No problem.  But I think I finally figured out why we haven’t been here since January.  You have to be drinking beer in order to make this food taste good. It’s not that it’s bad, it just doesn’t have any flavor.  The only redeeming feature is that it’s cheap.  Maybe I’m getting too cynical.

After lunch we came back to Catalina and soaked in the pool for a couple of hours.  The pool was relatively empty today but a lovely temperature.  It had been turned down a couple of degrees and everybody who was there commented about it.  We didn’t see Daphne or Dot and Jerry, but Phil and Joyce said they showed up later after we left to go home.

We invited Phil and Joyce over after they left the pool to have some snacks and a couple of adult beverages.  This would be our last chance to see them until next year and I didn’t feel comfortable just waving to them as we left the pool.  They stayed for about an hour or so as we talked and shot the bull.  They would be leaving for home tomorrow morning and would get on the road early.

After saying our good-byes we settled for the rest of the night to watch the tube.  Unfortunately the networks were playing repeats tonight.  And you have to watch the first 10 minutes of a show to find that out.  Our guide on DirecTV doesn’t show us whether it’s a repeat or not.  This year has undoubtedly been the worst for repeat TV programming.  Sharon decided she’d go to bed early so I was left up by myself tonight.  But I hung in there like a trooper until 10:30 watching a movie on tape.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

We got up this morning with a plan to visit the Cemetery in Cathedral Cityand see the celebrity grave sites of the valley.  Before we left we received a call from Mary and Jerry Milan who arrived in town last night, to see if we could get together today.  Assuming they would be coming from Palm Springs, we gave them directions to get to 

Schmidy’s Tavern in Cathedral City for lunch.  They were actually at Desert Pools RV Resort just next door to our campground, and we both ended up driving about 15 miles to the restaurant.  Go figure.

Before lunch we headed over to Desert Memorial Park which is one of the cemeteries here in the valley.  There are several celebrities interred there including Frank Sinatra, Sonny Bono, Betty Hutton, etc.  We spent about an hour there walking around and photographing the graves.  The actual physical appearance of the cemetery was unusual in our expectations.  It just looked like a park with no headstones except for the actual grave markers.  The individual graves were a little difficult to find, but we managed to find all the ones we were looking for.

We got done a little early and decided to come back home before we went to lunch.  So we were truly a couple of blocks away from each other before we both got in our cars and drove over to Cathedral City to the restaurant.

The six of us had a very nice lunch at the restaurant with the original $5 sandwich.  Mary and Jerry were with another couple, Betty and Bob, from Casa Grande, but also originally from Michigan.

By the time we got back home it was time for the pool and we got ourselves ready and headed over there.  There were a number of people in the pool today but that number is decreasing every day with people leaving for home.  The temp of the water in the pool is getting more consistently cool.  It’s still warm but not unbearably so.

When got home Sharon started cooking supper.  It was going to be Pork Chops with Dressing and Peas with a side Salad.  Not a meal that I would stand in line for, but I have to eat it, in order to get what I like.  Besides Sharon likes “meat” every once in a while, so I just go along.

After Supper tonight we had several shows of Impractical Jokers on TruTv tonight.  After Sharon watched our regular shows she headed off to bed.  She made it to 10 though, and I made it to 11 tonight.  But neither of us fought the feeling when it was time for the snoozin.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Sharon showered and took off with the laundry this morning as soon as she was done eating.  Yesterday Mary and Jerry Milan had indicated to us that they were planning to come over to our campground to swim today.

By the time Sharon got back around noon we still hadn’t gotten a call to tell us of the visitor’s plans.  It was lunchtime and I suggested that we go to Carl’s Jr. And get a fish sandwich for lunch.  We thought we might hear something before we got back so we took our phone with us.

By the time we were done with lunch and on our way home, we hadn’t heard anything yet so I wanted to stop over at Corky Zimmermann’s park and see his race track.  A while back he had purchased a remote control car that he was racing, an the campground owner allowed them to build an oval race track in an area that wasn’t being used.  Since then, they’ve revamped it completely and it now looks like a Formula 1 race course.  They have installed a few “dirt mound” jumps around the course and it really is a pretty nice setup. We only stayed over there for about 20 minutes and they had about 8 people over there either racing or just sitting and watching.

By the time wed came back home it was time for the pool and we still hadn’t heard anything from Mary and Jerry so we figured they had just changed their mind about coming over.

The temp in the pool was very nice today and very refreshing.  The last couple of days have been very nice indeed.  I just goes to show you that the last couple of days we’ll be here the pool is now pleasant to be in.  We stayed today until after 5 having eaten late downtown.  But we still settled in for our usual game of Jeopardy when we got home.

We had a couple of our regular shows on tonight and the taped ones took us right up to 10 o’clock.  By that time we were both ready for the Funny Farm.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

We awoke to very strong winds this morning that will definitely bother the TV if it keeps up all day.  The windmills are just churning out the electricity this morning.

We headed off this morning to our last hurrah at Two Springs Rv Resort for their Buffet Breakfast.  Not only will we be leaving the area on Monday but this is going to be their last Breakfast for the year.  We actually went to the Augustine Casino once, and the Agua Caliente Casino once for Breakfast, since we’ve been here this year.  And both of those Breakfasts were in January.  Two Springs has satisfied my need to go out for Breakfast.  And the food has been great every time.

After we got home we started putting away a few things outside that we knew we wouldn’t be using over the next couple of days.  And we’ll mostly finish doing that tomorrow since we’ll be leaving the next morning.

We headed off to the pool early today even though the wind was whistling across the desert for sure today.  I think the wind is blowing harder today than it has all year.  Our friends showed up today after us but they still showed up.  It was a fight today to keep the hat on your head and the sun out of your eyes all afternoon.  The temperature in the pool was perfect.  It’s been pretty consistent over the past few days and perhaps the people who wanted it so warm have now left the park.  We can only hope for at least one more day.

We stayed late today since we weren’t going to have a formal supper anyway.  We never do when we go out for a meal.  We played our usual game of Jeopardy late today since it didn’t record because of the wind earlier.  Of course tonight was going to be the usual crappy night for TV like it has been all year.  The only thing on was The Firm and we only saw about half of that.  We did however, stay up long enough to reach the “bedtime hour.”

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Sharon was off this morning to church while I sat at home and watched my Sunday political shows.  There were no surprises this morning and nothing learned except that the liberals want Rick Santorum out of the race.  Boy, that’s a big surprise.

I wanted to dump our holding tanks and fill the water tank today so I wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow morning.  I managed to get it all done before Sharon got home.  I also picked up a few more things outside, like our chairs and tables and put them away.

I left our mat down so that we wouldn’t be dragging any needless sand into the coach today after the pool.

Sharon had picked up some pre-made soups at the store today and one was Jambalaya with Chicken and Sausage.  Another one was West Coast Clam Chowder.  At lunchtime we each had a half of each and they were quite good.

We left for the pool early today knowing that we would probably stay late, but it would be our last day today.  Most of our group was already there and the temp in the pool was very nice.  When we left the pool today we said our good-byes and we were sad to leave.  Although this is another milestone to cross, to get Sharon and I home to the Grandkids.

We did stay late today and got home about 5.   Sharon put our Chicken and Rice in the oven for supper tonight but we had to wait to actually eat.  Chicken and Rice is another one of my favorites but only for the rice.  I have to eat the chicken in order to get the rice.  It’s chore, but I’ll get by.

After Supper tonight we settled in for our last night of TV here.  The wind was blowing but for some reason it wasn’t bothering the dish.  We managed to get a complete night of TV watching without having to rely on the cable.  Besides I disconnected the cable this morning when I disconnected the rest of our utilities.  I was hoping that we wouldn’t need it tonight and we didn’t.  We both hung in there tonight til well after 10 before we called it a night and folded up our tents. We’ll both be getting up early tomorrow to head out.