Monday, February 20, 2017

We awoke to a beautiful sunshiny day today that looked like it was going to turn out nice and warm.  The wind would take care of any excessive heat today.

We were hungry again this morning so we were off to Palm Springs for Breakfast at the Sunshine Café with Terry and JoAnne. We left early this morning, and consequently beat them to the restaurant.  Only by a couple of minutes, but we arrived first, for a change.  It was quite busy this morning and we had to sit in the back room.  The parking lot didn’t show how busy it was so we didn’t know where all the people came from.  In any event, we had a nice Breakfast and were headed back home in about 90 minutes.

We didn’t have anything special to do today or anywhere special to go, except to Harbor Freight to pick up a couple of for “sale signs” to hang in our motorhome window.  We were surprised tod find that Harbor Freight didn’t have any.  So we went a couple of doors down and picked them up at Pep Boys.  Just when you figure you know where to pick something up, you get disappointed.

We got back home and Sharon made out the information for the signs and hung one on the motorhome and the second one near the gate of the RV Park.

She also found a Chinook camper on the Internet that she sent an inquiry to this morning.  With us hoping to downsize it would be the perfect choice for us.  It was a 21' Class B Van.  We would use it to drive back and forth from California or wherever we choose to go next.  We like this park so if we chose California we would probably come back here.

By the time we got back from Breakfast we already had an answer to our inquiry about the Chinook camper.  They reported that it only lasted one day on Craigs List and it was gone already.  Much like our Malibu when we listed it on Craigs List.  We sold it the next day and for $1000 more than we expected.  Sometimes you just find the person who wants to have it.

Sharon didn’t lay down and take a nap today when I told her it was getting to be a habit.  I was only joking with her but I guess she took me seriously.  She denied she was taking a lot of naps lately.  It really didn’t matter to me whether she was or not.  We both watched the TV for the rest of the afternoon.

At Suppertime I had the leftover Bratwurst and Sharon just whipped up a salad for herself.

Afterward we settled in front of the TV for the rest of the night.  We had some regular shows on tonight which took us up to our usual bedtime.  It just seems to be regular fare every night now.  Just watch TV until it’s time to go to bed.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

We were up this morning with really nothing on our agenda.  Breakfast at home, and sit around and watch the news on TV.  It was the workaholic who finally broke the mood.  She decided today would be the perfect time to catch up on the laundry.  So she gathered everything up and took off for the laundry room in the park.  She’s been doing laundry at Sam’s Town out on Dillon, but recently she found that the cost is quite a bit less here than doing it over at Sam’s Town.  If she manages to get the machines open it actually takes less time to get the laundry done.

The wind was preventing us from going to the pool again today.  The water temp in the pool is fabulous, but when you get out, the dry air makes it intolerable to withstand the wind, which makes for a very uncomfortable situation.  So we stayed home again today.

Sharon had put some Country-Style Ribs in the crock pot this morning and they were going to be ready for Dinner tonight.  She also fried up some potatoes that were the best I’ve ever eaten.  She added a little cheese to them and they were superb.

We assumed our usual positions for the entertainment tonight.  We had a bunch of regular shows on tonight and what we couldn’t watch live we recorded for later watching.  We had the final episode of The Curse of Oak Island on tonight.  We had to record it at 10 because we had a full schedule for the DVR tonight.

We got a call from Terry and JoAnne tonight wanting to go to lunch tomorrow.  We finally decided on the Emperor Buffet on Highway 111.  We’ll meet them there tomorrow at 1 PM.

We finally gave it up for the night at 11 after watching one half of our two hour finale of The Curse of Oak Island.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Today is Taco Wednesday but were executing a change of pace and different plans.  For the first time in years we’ll be missing it.  I’ve gotten disillusioned this year and am just not enjoying the beer or the “Mexican” food that they serve.  A day off the regular schedule won’t hurt us a bit.

Besides Terry and JoAnne called last night and wanted to do lunch somewhere today.  After a while we finally decided to go to the Emperor Buffet on Highway 111.  We have to drive over to Rancho Mirage, but after a while you get used to driving 15 miles to get anywhere in this valley.  It took us about 30 minutes to get to the restaurant but it had been a couple of years since we’d been there.  Lately we’ve been going to the Hibachi Grill with other friends Phil and Joyce Bach, from Martinez, California.  But they’ve gone back home for a month, but will be back shortly.

I generally don’t enjoy the lunch at Emperor as much as Hibachi, but today was different.  They seemed to have all the food that I really like.  I don’t eat stir fry, but they had a wonderful variety of other things to munch on.

By the time we got home it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon.  The wind was blowing so hard that we were discouraged from going to the pool.  The damn wind this year has been horrendous to say the least.  Today we had to finally put our slides in, in order to sleep.  We put the living room slide in this afternoon and then finally put the bedroom slide in when it was time to go to bed.  It also prevents the awnings from being ripped in the wind.

Neither of us was hungry by Suppertime so we didn’t eat anything then.  We did, however, make ourselves some popcorn later on.  The wind was blowing hard enough to CANCEL our TV viewing for the night.  We couldn’t even play our pre-recorded stuff tonight.  That’s never happened before.  We were always able to play the recordings regardless of whether we were receiving signals or not.  So when we got bored, we whipped up the micro-popcorn.

We still managed to stay up until our regular bedtime tonight.  And in fact the wind held up, just enough tonight, so I could watch SIX at 10 o’clock.  Go figure.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

We woke up this morning and I had a hunger for a big Breakfast.  I usually make my own Breakfast and this morning I was going all out.  Bacon, Eggs and Hash Browns with Toast and Juice.  Sharon was off on her walk while I was playing chef.  My Breakfast was very tasty but as usual the Golden potatoes don’t work well for Hash Browns.  After trying to cook them they turn quite mushy.  They’re excellent potatoes in taste, but they just don’t cook up well for Hash Browns.

The wind was blowing again this morning which means another day without the pool.  Watching TV is nice, but to have to watch it to stay entertained is not very pleasant.  We stayed glued for the entire afternoon.

For Supper tonight Sharon warmed up the leftover Lasagna from the other night.  She had saved it in such a way that she could just reheat it for another meal.  She made us a salad and toasted a little Garlic Bread and we had a very nice Dinner.  We didn’t have any wine leftover, however.  We usually don’t.

After Dinner we went to Catalina Spa for the Card Bingo tonight.  Sharon won a candy bar and two rounds worth $9.60 tonight.  I was skunked and never came close to winning.  I was a heavy load tonight.

After Bingo we came back home expecting to watch the shows I had recorded on the DVR.  The DVR refused to record tonight and we had zilch to watch.  It didn’t stop us from surfing to find some shows tonight and we still made it to our regular bedtime.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Another day, another Breakfast.  We were headed to the Cottage Too this morning with Terry and JoAnne.  The place was crowded this morning and the parking lot showed it.  Inside we barely found a place to sit for the 4 of us.  We sat at a booth in the back Dining Room.  The waitresses were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.  Plates stacked up and down their arms, and rushing like their life depended on it.  It took us a few minutes to get our order this morning but it was worth it.  We had a very nice Breakfast together.

On the way home we needed to stop at the grocery store to pick up some stuff for our Potato Bake tomorrow night.  The campground is holding a Potato Bake and Sharon has decided to make mini-cheese cakes for our share of the pot luck.  She’ll make them up tomorrow before we got to the Clubhouse.  The Potato Bake is free but the residents are expected to provide the side dishes and desserts.

When I got home I checked the jugs under the motorhome that were put there to catch the transmission oil that has been leaking.  With the wind blowing they were moved again today even though I put rocks in the bottom of the containers.  This leak has gotten to be a pain in the ass.  It hasn’t leaked enough yet to put enough Stop/Leak in to stop it. So I lined up the containers again hoping they’ll stay in place.

We went to Outback Steakhouse for Dinner tonight.  We met Terry , JoAnne and Ron at the restaurant.  Outback is featuring a special of Steak and Lobster for $1499 and we were there to get it.  The 5 of us all ordered the same thing with just the side orders being different, and the Tails were cooked to perfection.  The Tails were just a little small but the meal was fantastic.

We drove home in the dark tonight which rarely ever happens to us out here.  We needed to make a quick stop at the Flying J to fill our gas tank.  It was on our way home so it didn’t add anything to the journey.

Last night we were having trouble with the DVR.    It wasn’t playing back the recorded programs that we had.  I reset the receiver earlier and it seemed to be working just fine tonight.  I was not up to a fight with Direct to replace the receiver.  It’s always a song and a dance to have to speak with those people.  I was happy to see it working again without the hassle.  We made it to our regular bedtime tonight before we closed up the theater and went to bed.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

We were off to Two Springs RV Resort this morning for the Buffet Breakfast that they’ve been holding on Saturdays.  Unfortunately we found out that this will end in two weeks and they won’t be back next year.  We’ve been attending this breakfast every Saturday it was available, for about the last 5 years.  It’s an excellent Breakfast and it will be sorely missed.  We met Terry and JoAnne at the clubhouse this morning.  Actually we ran into them in the parking lot as we arrived this morning.  And as usual we stayed and drank coffee after we were done eating, and that’s how we found out about the cessation of the Breakfast.  We talked to one of the workers who put on the Breakfast and she said they can’t get any help for the occasion.  Apparently the park really doesn’t support the meal but they don’t mind using the profits for their own whims.  She told us that most of the customers come from outside Two Springs and the whole group is tired of being taken advantage of.

The wind was playing a factor today in us not going to the pool again.  That seems to be the norm this year.  When the weather warms up so does the wind and it’s not pleasant being in the pool for that.  I should say its not pleasant coming out of the pool and standing in the wind.  With the air being so dry, when the wind evaporates the water off your skin it gets very cold.  Maybe were getting too old to have to put up with that crap.  Who knows, but in any event it’s kept us out of the pool this year.

We sat around watching taped shows on the TV this afternoon until we finally got ourselves ready and went over to the clubhouse for the Potato Bake.  There we 83 people in attendance tonight and we think it might have something to with it being free.  But all the side dishes were made by residents so it really wasn’t free.  There was a ton of food on all the serving tables and I made a huge mistake.  They put a whole potato on my plate and I took it.  I’m not a baked potato person and that’s what I managed to fill up on.  I missed out on all the pasta dishes and about a hundred desserts.  Sharon did it right by only taking a half a potato and leaving room for all the other stuff.  Sometimes it just doesn’t make any sense to be the first in line.  The meal was a good one though, and we had a fun time.  We also had a very friendly and talkative table to sit at.

We came back home after Dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.  We had some stuff recorded on the DVR and a couple of shows that we regularly watch.  They were reruns but for a Saturday night we were desperate. We did manage to stay awake until our regular bedtime, however.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Sharon was off to church this morning as I headed for my Sunday shows on TV.  I think they’re getting tired of bashing President Trump as the shows were quite tame this morning.  The usual haters were out in full force, however, but generally the shows were only critical and not nasty.

Sharon called this morning from church to report that the church ladies had made Tamales again this week.  I gave her the usual order of 5 for our lunch today.

She was going shopping after church to Walgreen’s and K-Mart for a few things that we’ll probably need this week.  She tries to get them on sale but that’s not always possible.  Sometimes if they’re not on sale, and we don’t need it immediately, she’ll try later on in the week.

By the time she got home this morning it was almost Lunchtime for us.  I took one look at the Tamales and it looked like they had been through a war zone.  It looked like the lady who had made the BB Pork Tamales had trouble with the outside crust.  They were quite good, however, even though we only ate two apiece.  We didn’t have any Mango Salsa left for the topping, but the Black Bean and Corn Salsa was really great tasting for the top.

We watched TV for the afternoon until we had a visitor at our door.  An elderly (84) gentleman was knocking and inquiring about purchasing our motorhome.  We really didn’t take him too seriously since he’s expecting to sell his mobile home for $40,000.00.  That price just doesn’t fly out here.

I managed to finally take my shower at 3:30.  We would be going to Appellee’s for Dinner tonight with Terry and JoAnne and their friend Ron.  We’re supposed to be over there by 4:30 and it takes a few minutes to get there.

As we arrived Terry and JoAnne announced that they would be going home (Lethbridge, Alberta) tomorrow.  It seems that a close friend has died and they wanted to be there for the funeral.  They’ll drive home in the car and then come back for the motorhome later on.  We had a very nice Dinner with the three of them, and Sharon had a steak and I had Ribs.  Both were very good.

We marvel sometimes of the beauty of this valley at night.  The desert is completely black except for the spots of light from the streetlights.  And of course the blinking lights from the top of the windmills. When you take the trip up the mountain (San Jacinth) in the tram, it is a very spectacular sight.

After getting back home we settled in for TV for the rest of the night.  With the DVR working we had a few shows that were on tape for the night.  It was a good thing since the wind decided to make an appearance later on tonight.  We almost had to put the slides in for the night.  We managed to fall asleep with the awning flapping, however.