Christmas has come and gone and we are all turkeys…..

Oops, I meant we are all turkeyed out.  There, that’s better.

Here, at the BLM Yuma, there is a place called the Christian Service Centre.  There, we can get propane, fresh drinking Water, Solar panels installed, mail and of course, being a Christian Centre, there is a church.  And what do churches do at Christmas time?????  They have a concert.  Being part of the Desert pickers (our ukulele) group, we were invited to play 4 songs at the concert.  So, Here are a couple of pics of my musical debut as a Ukulele player.

The fellow in the white shirt is the teacher, Gord.

We all had a ball.

I have videos of the choir and solos by Gord and Patsy Mae, but somehow, I can’t publish the videos.  (anyone know how to do this?)

These concerts were on the 21st and 22nd of Dec.

On the 23rd, we had our annual picnic for the Hurricane Ridge campers.  Had a great time.  As I was leaving the park, I tripped and hurt my shoulder.  By Christmas day, the pain was unbearable, so we went to Yuma emergency.  Took x-rays and got poked by several nurses and a doctor and finally came to a diagnose of a tendon ripped from the shoulder bone.  Ouch.  Ouch, Ouch, that sounds bad.  lol  So, received a prescription for Percocet and was sent home.  OOOOOOOh happy days……. until the Percocet wore off.  By yesterday, the 27th no meds left and the pain was constant.  Back to emergency for more Percocet and I had made an apt with  an acupuncturist, he did the trick.  Am in a lot less pain and no meds today.  Going to see him again on Monday and I will kiss his boots.

Christmas dinner was with Charlie, Lynden, Donna, Mike, Heinz and Ursula and of course, MJ. 

Boxing day brunch with the same rowdy crowds less Heinz and Ursula.     Good food with good friends.

Tonight, Friday, they are all gone bowling and I am relaxing here at home and blogging, with still no meds.  woo hoo.

Parade of lights around our campground

These folks decorate their vehicles every year and drive around making us smile

 

 

 

Then, there are the people camping here with their decorations.

 

Kathy and Jim and Snoopy                      Doug and Irene

Lynn and Wayne                                         Bill and Lorraine

 

Jo and Bert                                                 Eric

 

And or course, let’s not forget our nevergreen tree.

 

 

 

TTFN

Our Nevergreen tree.

In the desert, there are no evergreen trees.  Of course, we can go buy one for an arm and a leg, but, let’s face it, it’s much more fun to use our imagination and get something free from mother nature.  So, Mike and Lynden took off one sunny morning and went on a search of a Nevergreen tree.  They kept it a secret as to where they found it. We decorated it with stuff found at a second hand store, in the bowels of our rigs, along the desert floor and anywhere that something appeared that looked like it could fit on our tree. And of course, some made out of beer cans.  This is what it looks like now.

Mike, Donna, Charlie, Me, Lynden,  Dogs:  Mollie and Jazz

Lynden getting orders from everyone.      Burro supervising.

Lynden still taking orders from everybody.

 

TTFN

The New Brunswick girls are gone.

Yup, Lyse, Wendy, Leslie and Peggy along with the four dogs left this morning.  It’s soooooooooo quiet here.  Just for you Wendy. lol  Had a great visit with my old pal Lyse.

Our gas heater is giving MJ a hard time.  Was making noise, so she cleaned it up and now the gas won’t come through.  Grrrrrr.  Will have to wait and see if she can fix it.

A few pics that Lyse took of the gang.

 

Donna & Mike                     Charlie & Lynden

That would be moi and MJ

Peggy, Leslie, Moi and MJ.  That is water in my glass.

Lyse                                                                  Wendy

The weather here has turned just a tad cold.  When the sun come out it’s ok, but with clouds, it can be quite cool.  Beats rain and snow.

Old friend is visiting

An old friend whom I haven’t seen in about 27 years Lyse Audet and her partner Wendy arrived last Tuesday.  What a nice visit.  We have not stopped talking about the good old days. Two of their friends arrived yesterday.  They are on a trip of a lifetime that started in July in Fredericton, N.B. and will end in May 2014.

We went bowling with them and 4 other friends on Saturday and had a ball. 

We had our US Thanksgiving dinner on the 28th with about 40 people, what a feast.  Everyone brought a dish and we all enjoyed all the goodies.

Last night, we went to a Chinese smorgasbord.  Another yummy dinner.

Last night the wind picked up like crazy.  MJ brought in the slide just to save the awning covering it.  Still windy now, but not as bad.

Friends of ours, Linda and Ian had to put down their 6 year old golden retriever Ben on Monday.  He was full of cancer.  We are all very sad on the ridge as everyone knew Ben.  He would sit on your feet and push into you to get pets.

Rain has finally stopped.

In my last post (yesterday) I said the rain had stopped.  Yep, it had stopped for about 15  minutes and started as soon as I had published my post.   It rained til : 10:30 last night.  Total of 28 1/2 hours.  Now, am I to assume this is all the rain we will get this winter?  Last winter it hardly rained at all.  Wishful thinking on my part????????????????????

Rain, rain, rain.

Who said it never rains in the winter in the desert?  It has been raining steady from 6 o’clock last evening and just stopped a few minutes ago (3 pm).  But, it’s better than where we are from.  The weather in BC is in the minus Celsius.

Our friends from Logan Lake, Lynden and Charlie got here about a week ago.  Friends from Vernon, Mike and Donna arrived yesterday.

We have started bowling.  Our buddy Lynn organized a bowling night at the army base.  There were 9 of us last Monday.  Lynn, Wayne, Eric, Jim D, Jim B, Lynden, Charlie, MJ and me.  Cathy was with us also as an encourager, spectator.  We all had a ball.  Looking forward to going again next Monday.  Maybe will have some pics.

We have also started guitar and uke playing on the ridge (our area of the BLM).  We have Linda, Louise, Wayne, Lynn, MJ and me.  Here are a couple of pics. of us at Wayne and Lynn’s house.

Uke lessons for me have started two Mondays ago.  I really need it.  lol

My Uke teacher Gord stopped by to lend us his vocal chords.

Louise, Leona, MJ and Linda

Wayne

We have moved.

Yes, we have moved to a quieter place.  We did not move to Timbucktu, but just a ways up a little hill.  Still close to all our Snowbird friends.

We bought new reclining chairs.  Awwww.  so comfy.  One of our friends Jim bought our old chairs.

And, we broke down and got our fridge repaired.  We did all we could with the advise of our friend Gerald and other friends here, but the cold box gave up the ghost. 

Jim,MJ and I moving our two 6 x 10 panels.   Easier than dismantling them and rebuilding.

View of our set up taken by our buddy Trevor.

 

Jim (standing) bought our chairs.  Jim (sitting)  helped put the chairs in the truck.

 

Our yard at night.

One of the local inhabitants.  Was quite small.

New back of fridge.

TTFN

Fridge is not on the fritz.

Nope, we did not have our fridge rebuilt, just had to pay for a service call.  Two days after the repair guy came to tell us we needed a new fridge or rebuild ours, it (the fridge) started working right again.  The fridge fairy sprinkled magic dust and it works, or maybe it’s because MJ took a hammer to the cooling pipes.  We spoke to our buddy Gerald from Quadra Island who told us we were making a big mistake.  He was right.  It has been working fine since.

Went to Yuma yesterday and bought 2 new recliners.  We get them on Tuesday.  hee haw.

The weather is still pretty nice.  High 70s to low 80s.  Wish everyone could have a great life like we have.

Last night’s sunset.

These burros have learned to turn the water faucet on to get a drink.  Now, if only they learned to turn the tap off.

Marie, this is for you only.

You only get a blog when I write one.  If you get my email notifications, you don’t have to check every day.  I am not like some other bloggers, (wink wink) that write their daily activities.  Have a great farewell dinner.

Our fridge is on the Ritz,……………. no, no, on the fritz.

Yep, we need a new or rebuilt fridge.  We will rebuild ours at the cost of over $1330.

Gerald, too bad this did not happen in the summer, we could have given you the business.

Guess it’s one of those things, these trailers are not built for full time living so we have to do repairs once in a while.

We are at our winter home

We have arrived.  Good to see our winter friends. (the few that are here already).

We had a concert by the coyotes at Quartzsite last night. 

And today, saw a couple of our favorites:  Burros.

70 miles to go.

Slept at Wells, Nevada on the 18th Thursday, it was freezing there,  in Alamo, Nevada last night and tonight, we are in a BLM campground at Quartzsite, Arizona.  Tomorrow, we will head out to our final destination: Imperial Dam.  Just checked the temperature and it is 29 C.  Not bad at all.  Can you say shorts and flip flops.  All the windows in the trailer are open.  We are happy campers.

Our first visitor, while we were enjoying a beverage.

In our back yard.

David, this one is for you.  A 1940 Chevrolet, Business coupe.

TTFN.

Just moving on.

Had a great day on Tuesday leaving BC.  Sailed from Victoria to Port Angeles on the MV Coho.  Our friends, Lynn and Wayne were to take the same ferry as us, but missed it by one vehicle.  Good thing we had a reservation.  We waved to them as we left on the ferry.

We stayed at Walmart in Port Angeles after getting off the ferry.

Wednesday, drove to The Dalles, Ore. stayed at Big K Mart.  Today, Thursday, we are at Walmart in Ontario, Ore.  There are several RVs in the parking lot, presumably all going to Arizona.  Tomorrow, we are planning on driving as far as Wells, Nevada.  Will know better by next blog.

We were here just about 5 minutes and our friends from Prince George that we met in Yuma last winter came for a short visit.  They are also on their way to Arizona for the winter.  They are staying at a motel, since they are travelling in a car.

 

Went being tourists before taking the ferry on Tuesday.  here is the Empress hotel and parlement  building

 

 

The Coho

On our way in the morning (Oct 14th)

We will be on our way south tomorrow, so no internet for a couple days.  We will get our US jet pack running on the 15th when we are on the US side.

Had a great gathering here.

Great evening here on Friday with 2 old friends and 8 new friends from Quadra Island.  Had a big campfire and absolutely tasty food and a lot of bullshitting.

Kathy & MJ                                Gerald and moi, and Feather in background.

Kwazy me.

Last party before we leave tomorrow, on Monday.