Monday, January 2, 2012

Sharon and I both got up with the same plan this morning.  We’ve done this before and it’s quite eerie.  After her walk, and after I publish the Journal, we would go to The Cottage Too for Breakfast and then drive up to Joshua Tree National Park so I could pick up a new “Passport”. 

By 9 o’clock we were on the road into Desert Hot Springs to stop at the restaurant.  A couple of the same waitresses were still there, and the food was still good and reasonably priced.  I had the Breakfast Special and Sharon had Oatmeal.

A half hour later we were on the road again headed “up.”  I say up because it’s all uphill to get to Joshua Tree.  It’s not very far, but it’s all uphill.  It’s funny because the towns you go through are Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley and when you leave the National Park you go downhill 5 miles to get to 29 Palms.  I’ve always said that when you travel in California you’re either going uphill or downhill but never staying on the same elevation.

We actually got to check out the restaurant we ate at last year with Terry and Jo-Ann Bertamini in Yucca Valley.  It was a Sizzler and now they have one in Cathedral City.  I am sure that when Terry and Jo-Ann get back from Disneyland we’ll get a chance to eat there.

By about noon we were done at the Park, only driving the northern loop through.  We really didn’t have a plan to visit the park today but just to drive up and pick up the new Passport.

We got back home about 1:30 and we sat around and watched TV for awhile before we headed over to the pool.  We were pleasantly surprised to see Dot and Jerry Pittsley soaking when we got there.  We had assumed they wouldn’t be back from Disneyland until later on this afternoon.

We stayed at the pool until the lights came on which was after 5. 

When we got home Sharon hadn’t decided what we would be having for Supper tonight, so I suggested Tortilla Soup that I had seen a package for in the cupboard.  I’m not much of a “soup person” but that sounded good for a change.  And as it turned out, it was quite good.

We spent another night in front of the tube again, but this time catching up on American Pickers episodes for the night.  Out of about 6 shows that were recorded today we found about 3 that we hadn’t seen.  So now we’re all caught up for when the series starts again this year.  We actually stayed up tonight til after 11 which is quite unusual.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Well we finally made it to the Iowa Caucuses.  They’ll be voting tonight and frankly I’m tired of hearing on the news, every morning, who is ahead in their Mickey Mouse Polls. 

Sharon was up and walking this morning and when she got back she settled in to give me a haircut.  I’ve been getting a little shaggy since my last haircut.  We had to buy new clippers, before the last one,  because we forgot the old ones at home, and she was a little timid about cutting it too short.  There was no timidity this morning as she lopped it off.  It did look nice, in my opinion, however.

After my haircut, and lunch, we went to the pool early today.  There was quite a crowd in attendance today even though we didn’t know most of them.  But then it’s always easy to find someone to talk to even if you don’t know them.  We stayed at the pool til around 4:30 and Sharon came home early while I soaked in the hot tub.  I was only there for about 5 minutes longer, but it feels so good on my achy bones and joints.

At home we were having Patty Melts for Supper tonight along with Cottage Fries.  A favorite meal of mine and I wasn’t complaining.  We actually sat down for our usual game of Jeopardy before supper tonight.  As usual the guy on TV won all the money and we got squat.

I couldn’t tell if the networks were actually playing new shows tonight or not.  There were two episodes that we watched that we hadn’t seen before.  It’ll be nice to settle into our usual pattern for the nights we have ahead of us.  TV does happen to be one of my best pastimes.

We were up tonight til way after 10:30 catching a little of Craig Ferguson before the final curtain came down.  We took our bows and headed to the dressing room.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I was a regular Wednesday when we got up this morning.  It was sunny, warm and a very nice day indeed.  It was also going to be “Taco Wednesday” with a slight twist.  Corky and Deb Zimmermann would be joining us for the authentic “Mexican Food.”  Yeah right!  The food isn’t  authentic or Mexican but it is something you can wash down with the cold beer that always good.  Besides it’s more like a meeting of friends than an actual dining experience.

I had a job to do this morning before we left for the VFW.  Our holding tanks needed dumping and I took care of that before noon and after Sharon’s walk today.

By noon we left for the VFW and met Corky and Deb and Phil and Joyce Bach at the clubhouse.  We encountered an unprecedented situation when we got there.  Apparently people were saving places in the outside dining room so we had to sit  in the bar dining room.  It wasn’t much of an imposition but I didn’t like being put out.

Phil and Joyce came back to the campground with us and we all went to the pool for the afternoon.  There was a few people in the pool with a lot showing up later on.  We stayed at the pool until about 5 before we came home for the night.

We watched a couple of our favorite shows tonight and didn’t recognize that they were repeats until right at the end.  We also had a couple of shows on the DVR that were new and we watched them also.  It’s not enough to just watch the network shows when we’re here, because it doesn’t take us up to bedtime.  So it’s a good thing we have some interesting shows on our side channels to take up the slack.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

We awoke to another beautiful day today.  The days are  almost getting boring it’s been so nice since we’ve been here.  We haven’t had this many nice days in January in several years.  It’s been absolutely fabulous every day of the last week.

Sharon got up this morning and went for her walk only to come back all congested and blowing her nose.  Obviously she’s allergic to something out here.  We went through the same thing last year at different times.  I guess our sensitive midwest systems can’t handle the desert and all its environs.

Later this morning Corky and Deb stopped over so he could check out my generator.  It quit working at Quartzsite and we haven’t needed it since then.  For some reason it’s not putting out any electricity.  Corky checked it out as thoroughly as he could given the circumstances, but couldn’t find the problem.  Short of dropping it out of the compartment and taking it apart, it wasn’t going to be fixed at this time.

After Corky and Deb left, we sat down for lunch and we both had leftover Beef Stroganoff.  It was still very good and just enough for lunch.

After lunch, it was the end of the day for Sharon.  She headed off for the bedroom and that was the last I saw of her until late afternoon.  I decided I wouldn’t go to the pool today, so I stayed home for a change.

At suppertime the sickly had arisen from the bed and meandered to the couch.  It didn’t appear she felt much better than she had when she retreated to the bed in the first place.  Oh well.

I took it upon myself to make us a tube steak extravaganza for supper tonight.  Sharon agreed with my choice simply because she wasn’t planning on cooking anything anyway.

After Supper we settled into our usual positions in front of the television and watched a couple of our favorite shows tonight.  They were repeats but they were still entertaining.  From all the commercials it looks like some of our regulars will be playing new shows tomorrow night.  That’ll be a nice change of pace.  We watched a movie tonight titled “Hangover” for a couple of hours.  It was okay but not a movie that I would have paid to see.  It did, however, take us right up to the bewitching hour.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Today was going to be a shopping day.  After Sharon’s walk we had Breakfast.  Since my friend was under the weather yesterday, sh didn’t feel much like doing any grocery shopping.  Besides today worked out to be a better day anyway.

At noon we headed out toward town to Carl’s Jr. For a Fish Sandwich.  We didn’t know if they actually had one or not, but we were pleasantly surprised to see it on the menu. It was actually called Carl’s Catch and it was two pieces of fish inside a bun with tomato and lettuce.  It was actually very good except for the sloppy sauce they put on it.  The sauce destroyed my shirt after a couple of bites.  It always takes me longer than that to completely ruin a brand new spanking clean shirt.  But not today.  That information I’ll remember for next time.

After lunch we drove across the parking lot and I dropped Sharon off at the grocery store while I headed for the Chinese Bakery.  I don’t know if it’s Chinese or not, but they are Oriental and speak little English.  And they make one of the best tasting Apple Fritters we’ve ever had.  They’re pretty good sized and a buck and a half apiece.  I drove back to pick up Sharon after the bakery and had to wait about 20 minutes or so.  It seems like picking up 4 Fritters takes less time than a weeks worth of groceries.  Go figure.

By the time we got back it was time for the pool.  The Michigan Gang, Terry and Diana Brown and Roy and Maryanne Parent are still not here.  We heard that they would be here sometime between the 4th and 7th so tomorrow is going to be they’re last day.

We were at the pool til around 5 before we came back home.  Neither of us was hungry for Supper but we did each latch onto an Apple Fritter to snack on instead.  They were just like we remembered them.  Very, very good.

We settled in for TV watching tonight with the hope of seeing a couple of new shows tonight.  And a couple of our favorites we hadn’t seen before so I guess they were new.  And they took us nicely to the time when the day ends and the sleep begins.

Another successful day under our belts.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Sharon was intending to go off rummage saleing today at Quail Valley Campground but took the car when she left.  She first intended to incorporate her shopping into her walk, but it was a good thing she didn’t. Quail Valley’s sale is next weekend and not today.  Quail Valley is the next park over so it wouldn’t have been much of a disaster if she had walked over there.  So when she got back from her non-shopping trip she took off on her normal walk this morning.

While she was gone I cooked myself a very nice Breakfast of Eggs, leftover fried Potatoes and Toast and Coffee.  It was quite good if I do say so myself.

By non we were sitting and watching some Tv and a new show on TruTV called Impractical Jokers.  It was absolutely hilarious.  I actually took a little nap before we headed out for the pool today.  When I got up to get ready for the pool the little Mrs. was also catching about 40 winks.

While we were at the pool today the wind decided it was going to make a showing today.  The sky was clear and the sun was out but the wind was gathering strength for the rest of the afternoon.  By the time we came home it was whistling pretty good, and it continued for most of the night tonight.

We sat through a repeat version of Jeopardy tonight and we still didn’t know all the answers.  After Jeopardy we sat down to BBQued Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Potato Salad for Supper tonight.  Sharon had bought the Pork and cooked it the other day.  She thought they were Country Ribs and it turned out to be Pork Shoulder.  Maybe next time we’ll get the ribs.  The sandwiches were excellent however, and a very good alternative to the ribs.

We settled in for our usual TV for tonight with the exception that we watched a Republican Debate and a Playoff game.  The Lions got walloped by the Saints and nothing much changed in the Debate.  But the nice thing was that those two events took us up to 9 o’clock.  From there it was just a short trip to 10:30 adding a repeat of The Mentalist to the end of the program.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sharon was off to church early this morning as I was searching for my Political News shows on TV this morning.

We had another Debate on this morning and I found it by accident when I went to watch Meet The Press.  It was about an hour and a half with one of my “favorite” Liberal Newspersons, David Gregory.  The fireworks started to fly this morning but it never did turn into an all out fight.  Everybody’s trying to be civil.

After the debate I settled right into a playoff game between the Giants and the Falcons.  The winner will be meeting the Packers next weekend so I was anxious to see who would win.  The Giants emerged victorious and will head to Green Bay next week.  In the second game the Steelers got Tebowed on the first play of overtime to send the Broncos on to next week.  We didn’t get to see the end of the Bronco game because the pool was calling out to us from across the campground.

There was quite a few people in the pool when we got there.  It was definitely a nice day for floating in the pool with noodles. (The extent of our swimming) We stayed until at least 4:30 today leaving early to get back home so Sharon could cook supper.  We were planning on having Gnocchi with Elk-Meat Meatballs and a salad and Garlic Bread.  It all fell apart quite by accident when the Gnocchi started to turn black from the freezer and the Meatballs had a spice in them that neither of us cared for.  So Sharon quickly boiled up some Rigatoni and we had that with the meatballs.

After Supper we settled neatly in front of the tube for the night.  We watched an excellent new show called “The Firm” for a couple of hours tonight.  It looks like it will be one of our regulars this winter.  We managed to get to 10:30 very handily tonight.  We both caved at the prescribed time.