Monday, January 2, 2017

We had plans today when we got up this morning.  We would be meeting up with Phil and Joyce Bach from Martinez, California which is located in the San Francisco area up north.  We would be picking up Henry and Arlene LeDuc on our way since they’re in a campground 2 blocks down the road on the way out.  Besides the 6 of us know each other from the many previous years we’ve been coming here.

Sharon was off on her walk again this morning.  Down to the corner, around the stop sign, and then back again.  I held down the fort while she was gone.  It was the least I could do, and anybody who knows me, knows I’ll always do the least I can do.

About 12:45 we left the campground to pick up Henry and Arlene and headed out for the Hibachi Grill.  As the name implies it’s a Chinese food restaurant with fabulous food.  It’s located in Rancho Mirage so we have about 15 miles to drive to get there.  By the time we arrived Phil and Joyce were already there waiting for us.  They were a little early, cause we were right on time.  In any event for the next hour and a half we ate and visited and caught up on the last year.  The food, as usual, was very good and we didn’t have a bad bite among us.  Three of us even had a “Phil Bach Root Beer Float” for dessert.  But I got such an ice cream headache I thought I was going to pass out. But needless to say, I survived.

We came home and about 15 minutes after we got here, my eyes slammed shut for about an hour.  Sharon had taken the car and gone to the Angel Store down on Dillon Road.  That store was still in the construction stage so she went to K-Mart.  Something she always does when we’re in Desert Hot Springs.  I think she does it cause she knows it’ll close eventually.  They cut the store in half a couple of years ago but it’s still on life support.  She came back with a smirk on her face with the half price purchases she had in her bag.

There would be no Dinner tonight since we really had a late lunch today.  We would be going directly to TV tonight with full stomachs.  There won’t be much on until  later in the week but we managed to find some shows that we hadn’t seen yet.  I went to bed early tonight and Sharon stayed up reading.  She finally gave it up about 11 but was up again when she couldn’t sleep.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

We were planning nothing for the day, except to do what we wanted, without any obligations.  Sharon took off on her walk this morning covering what she said was 3 miles.  While she was gone, I whipped up a big Breakfast for myself.  Bacon, Eggs, Hash Browns, Toast and Coffee and Juice.  It was a wonderful meal and the first decent Breakfast I’ve had since last weeks Pancakes and Sausage.  I’m pretty picky but I do make wonderful breakfasts.  And I’m not bashful about cooking  it when I figure I have one coming. Sharon usually opts out, so I usually don’t cook enough for her.

By the time she got back from her walk, she informed me that she could smell something that had been cooked.  It’s pretty hard to cover up the smell of Bacon even if I had wanted to.  And my legendary Breakfasts are no secret anyway.

After my Journal this morning, I spent most of the day writing the Newsletter.  It’s getting harder and harder to write the Newsletter, since a lot of what happens to us is rarely “new and exciting” anymore.  We’ve been traveling so long that we’ve pretty much been through most of everything that the average person never experiences.  My feeling is that you have to be on the road to experience what it’s like to be in an RV for 5 months at a time.  Yet we have no desire to do this full-time either now or in the future.

Sharon whipped up some steak sandwiches for Supper tonight from the steaks we had on New Year’s Eve.  We had enough left over to make up a couple of sandwiches, and they turned out delicious along with some French Fries.  She made them up like a Patty Melt.  Yummm!

The networks are gradually starting to play original programming again.  We had a couple of our regulars on tonight and we watched them in between the repeats that we had already seen.  It took us right up to 11 tonight so we weren’t complaining.  I went to bed and Sharon stayed up for awhile again.  She’s got to get her tea and Melatonin down before she gets into bed.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Today is Taco Wednesday in the Desert Hot Springs VFW today.  We’ll be picking up Henry and Arlene and meeting up with Phil and Joyce and Bob and Marilyn and sitting down for lunch and beer.

The club was relatively full today with the parking lot overflowing, like usual at this time of the year.  It’s after Christmas and the Canadians are mostly here now.  At least there’s more of them here now than before Christmas.  Although our friends, Terry and JoAnne Bertamini went home for Christmas and are coming back later.

Our quartet arrived at the club first and went in and managed to find our self a table with 8 spots.  Phil and Joyce came a few minutes later with their friends from Thousand Trails.  Not much changes here except the price of beer, but this year they added chicken food to the menu.  And by the time we ordered, the only thing left was the chicken.  I guess we’ll need to drink less beer, and order on time, the next time we come.  We did have a nice lunch, however, even though it was quite loud in there, and hard to carry on a conversation.

After lunch we came home and it didn’t take much to sit and relax and have our eyes slam shut for an hour.  Sharon’s slammed shut for longer than that.  Phil and Joyce stopped over to the campground and took a dip in the pool and hot tub.  We invited them over after they were done, but we never got a knock on the door so we assume  they just went home.

We were munching everything in the joint tonight instead of sitting down to a meal.  That usually happens on a day like this where you get to drinking beer and then ignore you’re need to eat a meal.

In any event we camped in front of the Telly tonight until Yours Truly had enough for the day.  Sharon decided to stay up again and do a little reading.  This is getting to be a habit with her.  Oh well, if it helps her sleep, who am I to comment on it.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

We had a bunch of stuff to do today that was mostly housekeeping without being actual “housekeeping.”  Sharon took off after her walk and Breakfast to catch up on the laundry.  She goes to the Laundromat at Sam’s Town so she can get it done in a hurry.

I finished up the Newsletter and when she got back she proofread it and I got it sent out.  I heard from my brother that I missed a grammar mistake in the Letter.  I guess after 15 years I’m going to make a mistake or two from time to time.  I’m not perfect...........but then again, neither is he.

While Sharon was gone I made myself a big Breakfast of Pancakes and Sausage.  It was quite good and well deserved, at least I think so.

We also went to Wal-Mart shopping this morning.  When we got there we found there were no electric carts available.  So I came back out and waited in the car.  I like to go shopping so I hate it when I can’t find a cart.  Maybe we’ll try the Wal-Mart over in Rancho Mirage next time.  Sharon got the shopping all done and we headed home.

After we got home I decided to dump the holding tanks for the week.  I knew I was going to have to dump today anyway so I got right to it.

The wind was howling today so we were back on cable for the day. We’ve already had a couple of really windy days and it looks like this was going to be another one.

For Supper tonight, Sharon made Chicken Pot Pie.  It’s one of my favorite ways to eat chicken.  It was very good indeed.  She serves chicken quite a bit so she always figures a different way to eat it.

Tonight was also going to be Card Bingo night.  We’re pretty sure they changed the night from last year.  We thought it was earlier in the week last year.  It really didn’t make much difference what night it was going to be since we went tonight and got skunked.  We never won a candy bar and never won a pot.  There was 48 people there tonight so the pot was only $4.80.  It didn’t matter, we didn’t win any.  It cost us $4 to play tonight.

We came back home and the wind was still blowing pretty hard.  So Sharon decided to read and I checked our recordings, and none of them recorded right.  So I decided to watch a previously recorded movie, “The Revenant.”  It took us both right up to 11 tonight and we happily went to bed.

Friday, January 6, 2017

We picked up Arlene and Henry this morning for our first trip to the Cottage Too Restaurant.  It was our “once a week” for sure place to have Breakfast in Desert Hot Springs.  We had to wait for them at the gate because our meeting time got confused since Wednesday.  We finally drove into their park and they were walking out to meet us.

As we drove up to the restaurant the parking lot was crowded but the restaurant not so much.  We found a place to sit easily and noticed there were a couple of familiar faces still on the staff.

The Breakfast was very good as usual for a very reasonable price.  It’s why we keep coming back for more.  And since the Two Springs Resort won’t start their buffet until February, we are well satisfied with coming here for our food.

We came back home, and on the way, dropped Henry and Arlene off at their campground.  We were back home by 11 and I got about fixing a broken cabinet door.  The plunger to hold the door open was broken off at the rivet and I didn’t realize that I had another rivet that would work on it.  It took about an hour to get it done right.

I charged up my cordless drill so I could take apart the fan in the bathroom so we could clean the screen that prevents the bugs from coming in.  After a while it plugs up with hair spray and anything else that might be in the air.  That’s a job that has to be done a couple of times a year during the winter.

By the time I got done with the cabinet, Sharon showed me another one that was disconnected.  This could turn into a career like the broken drawer supports a couple of years ago.  I managed to get that solved in a couple of years and about a half dozen broken supports.

By this time we had already gotten a call from Phil who told us how nice and warm the Upper Pool was in this campground.  They were over on Wednesday after the VFW and took a dip in the pool and hot tub.  We took a nap that afternoon.

But today we decided we’d have a go at it and see if it was nice or not.  They usually keep the Upper Pool a little cooler for the volleyball players, but I guess they’re warming it up now since the Lower Pool is closed for the remodeling.  And as reported by Phil and Joyce the water was very warm and inviting.

We ran into Netta and Kim in the pool.  They’ve since bought houses in another park but they come back here to “swim.”  We stayed at the pool for about an hour and a half or so, and then came back home for Sharon to cook Supper.  We were having Crawfish Etoufee’ along with some Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits.  The Etoufee’ was very good but for some reason the Crawfish tails turned hard and rubbery.  So we  removed the Crawfish from the rest of the Etoufee’ and I’ll eat it again for lunch.  I love it and I hate to waste it.

We set up “camp television” tonight from our comfortable chairs and set in to catch our regular shows.  We had favorites on tonight that will take us right up to the time we go to bed.  Although we both decided to end it all at 10 tonight.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Sharon was up this morning and off on her walk.  After she got back she immediately went to the Gallery to work on a jigsaw puzzle.  We got a call from John and Judy Bjork, from home, just letting us know that they were in the area for a couple of days in case we wanted to get together.  We were tied up yesterday when they called, but I tried to arrange a get together sometime in the next couple of days.  We texted back and forth for awhile about Breakfast at the casino in the morning, but finally settled on a Dinner at Applebees tomorrow night.  Apparently they would be hiking Joshua Tree National Monument tomorrow morning and wouldn’t be available for  Breakfast.  I suggested they drive through the park and not just hike it.  They wouldn’t be disappointed in seeing the murals at 29 Palms either.

When Sharon came back home we took apart the fan in the bathroom and cleaned the screen from the hair spray and dust that gets stuck in it and plugs up the movement of the air out. It didn’t take as long to fix as the cabinet I fixed yesterday.  I still have another cabinet to repair probably tomorrow for that one.  Its got the same thing wrong with it that the first one had.  A broken rivet that holds the support that holds the door up when it’s open.

We missed our chance to go to the pool today as Sharon went back to the gallery this afternoon to work on the jigsaw puzzle.  Its hard to get used to going to the pool in the afternoon when we’ve only been in there once this week since we’ve been here.

Sharon was back in time to heat up our leftover chicken pot pie tonight for Dinner.  The texture tonight was a little drier but the taste remained good as before.  Sharon also made herself a salad and I was glad that I didn’t have to choke one down.

We planted ourselves in front of the TV for the night and watched a movie that was on the DVR.  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade took us right up to the bewitching hour at 10:30.  Neither of us had ever seen it before.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Sharon was up and off to church this morning while I sat and watched my Sunday political shows.  The only thing that was said all morning was that the Reverend Franklin Graham said that he believed that God intervened in the election.  Of course none of the Liberals would comment on that today.

Sharon called, and before she came home from church, wanted to let me know she was coming home with Tamales today.  Last year Sharon came home from church almost every Sunday with Tamales.  It got to be a regular thing last year.  Although they doubled the price this year to $2 apiece.  We got the pork BB ones today and we put Peach, Mango Salsa on them and they were fabulous.  We really didn’t want much to eat for lunch because we were going to Applebees for Dinner tonight with John and Judy Bjork, a couple visiting the area from home.

Well its Wild Card Weekend and the Packers drew the New York Giants for an opponent to play today.  Green Bay won the Division in the last game of the season against the Lions, and the Giants were the wildcard.  The Lions were also in the playoffs but got defeated yesterday by the Seahawks.  Actually I think the referees had a great deal to do with that game.  Green Bay overcame the referees and came out the victor in their game.  Go Pack!!!

As mentioned before, we headed out to Cathedral City for Applebees about 4:30 and even watched the end of the game on the phone at the restaurant.  Although the game was a nail-biter in the beginning, they managed to come around before the end of the half with another Hail Mary to go 8 points up.  Man, I never get tired of watching that happen since the Seahawks beat us twice that way.

We had a very nice Dinner with John and Judy that lasted for an hour and a half or so.  They were anxious to know the options for staying out here on a monthly basis and we were only too happy to give them some information.  Some of their options are limited not owning an RV, but renting property out here is very reasonable in this area.   know people whose kids rented property and they parked their RV in order to move in with them.  In any event we had a very nice conversation with them about their trip through Joshua Tree National Park.

After Dinner we came back home and sat in front of the Telly for the rest of the night.  Sunday is a good night for TV for us so we were entertained right up until we headed for the feathers at 10:30.