Homeward Bound

After five, not as warm and sunny as we would have liked, months we are heading home 🙂 The weather was definitely a disappointment this year but we still had a great time with lots of socializing and maybe too much eating and drinking!

We left under sunny blue skies but the cold wind kind of made me happy we were leaving, if I have to be cold I might as well be cold at home! Once again Maxx cooperated after his five month nap and we had no problems getting him prepped and hooked up, but the lights on our bike rack didn’t cooperate 😦 The driver’s side tail light on the bike rack wouldn’t work but the tail light on the rear of Maxx worked so, after hugs from the neighbours and a farewell to Penelope, we headed out. We arrived early for our 10:00 a.m. Spectrum appointment to cancel our internet so hubby fixed the light in the parking lot … gee I love how handy he is 😀

The light he fixed is on the left at the bottom of the bike rack … and I love our new bike bag!

A half hour later we were on the road and headed to Laughlin, NV the first stop of our trip home. I had a chuckle when, while texting with our son-in-law, he said he knew we were on our way to Laughlin. I share our RV calendar with him so that someone knows where we are travelling from and to and where we plan to spend the night, so I was happy he was on top of our travels. If we change our minds and stay somewhere different I always update my calendar right away and some days when the jello is really wiggling I can update the calendar alot which means he gets alot of notifications but he has put up with it for years and I feel so much better knowing someone can track us if we ever disappear. Now you may wonder why our son-in-law does this and not one of our three children, well we chose him because, with his job, his phone isn’t far from him and he was willing to take the job on. And while texting with him today I thanked him for doing this and he told me “That is why I’m your favourite son-in-law” and yup that is true and not just because he is our only son-in-law 😀

I only took one picture today because this is a route we have done many times and I have taken many pictures of it and honestly I was just bored and couldn’t bothered.

This was pretty much what our route was like, long, straight, and up and down.

Four hours later we were set up in the back parking lot of the Tropicana Casino in Laughlin, NV. After filling the truck and a propane tank we chilled and got to bed early because we have an early start tomorrow.

Until next time …

Success

We are packing up our site so I had to empty my planters and put them away and that meant Penelope, and Paul her husband, had to move homes. I set up a cardboard box, inside a garbage bag, with some dirt and plants and move the nest over. Hubby provided a broken brick which allowed us to get the box up off the ground. Before I moved the nest I got a few last pictures of Penelope and Paul … after watching them exchange places many times I figured out that Penelope sat facing to the right and Paul sat facing to the left … and Paul is much more skiddish than Penelope.

Penelope

Oh and I don’t think I told you, the day after I posted my last blog Penelope layed another egg.

Once the next was moved Penelope quickly came back but she was very out of sorts and did a lot of chirping and flying around where the planter had been. Finally hubby and I went down to a friends place for a visit and left the site empty. When we came back she was sitting on the nest again!

I am so happy that it worked and really wish I was going to be around to see the eggs hatch but a friend has promised to keep an eye on them and then throw away the box once it is no longer needed. Hopefully I will get some pictures, and if I do I will share them with you.

Until next time …

It’s Been A Difficult Relationship!

But the doves finally won 🙂 We have an abundance of doves when we are here for the winter and this time of year they are mating so they can be paticularly annoying. They love to sit in my two tall planters and I’m constantly chasing them out … and they have no fear!

They like the two tall planters on the right of the patio.

To get rid of them I have to walk right up to the planter and slap it to scare them into flying away. Finally I had hubby put long nails around the edges and that seem to work.

The plants have died because they kept sitting on them.

Well it worked on one planter, the other one they pushed the nails back and made themselves at home and despite me constantly scaring them off one enterprising couple was able to make a nest and yesterday we found an egg. I finally accepted that Penelope and Mr. Penelope had won and I let them stay.

But now the problem I have is that the nesting period for a dove egg is fourteen days and in six days I have to empty the planters and put them away for the summer. Many people have suggested that I just leave the planter out and let the flowers die but it is an expensive planters and I don’t want the summer heat to deform, discolour, or destroy it. So I am going to prepare a box with dirt and leftover plants from my other planters and using a shovel gently lift the nesting material and the egg (when mommy and daddy are away) and place it in the box. I will then move the big planter and put the box back in it’s place. Hopefully mommy and daddy will come back and continue to sit on the egg.

I really hope it works and I also wish we were going to be around to see the egg hatch. Maybe next year they will lay an egg earlier and I will get to see it hatch.

Mommy and Daddy (they take turns) have no fear when you get close but I like to give them as much space as possible.

Until next time …

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

From our house to your’s I send you this wish on St. Patrick’s Day …

I hope our children at home are keeping up their childhood tradition of green milk on their children’s cereal and, now that they are the parents, a glass of green wine after work.

If you think this is over the top, our children always woke up to green milk on their cereal on St. Patrick’s Day!

You can count on this girl being dressed in green with her shamrock jewelry on and sending a toast to my dad with a glass of green wine for happy hour today!

Until next time …

Another Yuma Airshow Under Our Belts

Last weekend we attended the Yuma Airshow for our third time. We attended our first show in 2014 but in the following years it was held after we had headed home until 2019 when we were able to attend for our second time.

In past years the show ran Friday night and Saturday during the day. Admittance has always been free and you can bring your own chairs, but you can also buy grandstand and chalet tickets. In the past we have taken our own chairs, along with water and lunch, and sat along the fence to watch the show for free. This year we once again took our chairs and sat along the fence but coolers are no longer allowed and water bottles had to be empty and filled up once inside the grounds. Since it was warm out taking lunch without a cooler with ice was not an option, but I did take my water bottle only to find out the promised water filling stations inside the grounds were non existent 😦

USAF F-35A

But I’m getting ahead of myself … also changed this year was the requirement for Foreign Nationals to bring passports, in the past any photo ID was all that was required. This year you also needed to download a free parking permit and display it in your windshield … which we did and absolutely nobody looked at. We were quickly parked, unload our chairs, and headed to the table to check in where we reached our biggest hurdle! There were at least fifteen check-in stations for US Citizens but only two for Foreign Nationals and that line was long!

I think we were about half way in this picture

Once we finally got through the line we had to wait in another line for the two buses moving Foreign Nationals, while the buses moving US Citizens numbered eight or more. Oh and the thing to note here is it appeared there were way more Foreign Nationals attending than US Citizens so those check-in stations and buses sat idle for long periods of time. We finally got on the bus and were delivered to another check-in station where we lined up again for another passport/security check, again separate from US Citizens where dropped off, which is why we had different buses. By the time we arrived at the second check-in they had scrapped additional ID/Security checks for Canadians and were only checking those from other countries … which sped up the line for everyone because most of us were Canadians. An hour and a quarter after we arrived we were finally through the gates and onto the grounds.

USAF P-F51D Mustang

USAF F-35A & P-51D

Hubby’s cousins (also Canadian), who were meeting us there, said they arrived about half an hour after us and stood in the long line for a few minutes before the barriers where removed and everyone was allowed to use whatever gate/bus they wanted. I think they were totally overwhelmed by the number of Foreign Nationals that showed up. We are okay with the passport requirement and the need for heighten security since the air show is on the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station but better planning is definitely needed next year.

USAF F-35A

USAF F-35A

We were fortunate to get in just in time to watch the show and while it was an entertaining two and a half hours it was a disappointment from the previous two we had attended. In the past there have been many more military planes, Search & Rescue performances, and many private plane performance filling in four and a half hours.

USMC F-35b

USMC F-35b

This was the first show since 2019 so maybe they are slow ramping up again or maybe many of those other planes went to the airshow in El Centro which was held the same day. We will have to see what the schedule looks like next year to determine whether we will go again.

USMC MV-22B

Until next time …

A Trip To Palm Desert

A few weeks ago we headed to Palm Desert to visit hubby’s cousin’s for a night. We have made this trip many times so I tried to find a different route this time.

The route below is the route we usually take. We like to turn off at Holtville and take side roads up to the Brawley area because there are less traffic lights and less traffic but the speed limit is the same. Lately we have been going up the east side of the Salton Sea, mainly for a change from our usual route up the west side.

And this is the route we took this time.

This trip we took our usual turn at Holtville and through the town of Brawley, which in hindsight we would have been better to take the bypass but we were in no hurry, and if we did the bypass we would have missed the old Brawley Hotel which is built right out to the road!

This trip we went up the west side of the Salton Sea, and then turned off onto secondary roads through Valerie, Indio, and La Quinta.

Of course taking secondary roads means sometimes getting behind farm equipment.

It did takes us a little longer but it was a nice drive with less traffic and streets lined with date palms.

We had to make a stop at Costco for a friend so we decided to stop at the Costco in La Quinta rather than Palm Desert because the one in Palm Desert is always extremely busy (it’s the only one in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area). La Quinta has beautiful streets lined with flowers.

It was nice to take a different route for a change and even nicer to spend the evening with relatives at their beautiful home in sunny, windless, Palm Desert 😀 However, like everywhere else, the wind was moving in on Tuesday and we were happy to make it back home before it got to heavy. The picture below doesn’t do the wind justice but it was extremely windy and extremely dusty last week!

The weather looks like we might be getting into our normal hot March weather … it is suppose to hit 29C/84F next Monday … I know that is a week away but I can hope!

Until next time …

Top Ten Pictures of 2022

Here are our choices for the top pictures of 2022.

We would love your votes, on the poll at the end of the blog, to help us choose the best picture of 2022.

And just in case you haven’t voted for previous years and would like to, here are the links.

Top Ten Pictures of 2021

Top Ten Pictures of 2020

Top Ten Pictures of 2019

Top Ten Pictures of 2018

Top Ten Pictures of 2017

Top Ten Pictures of 2016

Top Ten Pictures Of 2015

Top Ten Pictures Of 2014

Top Ten Pictures Of 2013

Now off to 2022 If you want more information on a picture click on the highlighted sentence below the picture and it will take you to the original blog.

1. Sabino Canyon in Tucson, Arizona. Picture taken 28 March 2022

2. Sunset at Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, Arizona. Picture taken 30 March 2022.

3. View from Evely Forestry Site, Westside Road, Kelowna, B.C. Picture taken 1 May 2022.

4. Okanagan Lake. Picture taken 1 May 2022.

5. I love this picture taken at Ancient Hill Winery, Kelowna, B.C. Picture taken 14 July 2022.

6. Once again the sunrises at Bear Creek Provincial Park didn’t disappoint. Picture taken 15 August 2022.

7. Multnohmah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Picture taken 22 October 2022..

8. It was hard to pick just two pictures from Multnohmah Falls. Picture taken 22 October 2022.

9. We had a year of waterfalls and really enjoyed our time at Shoshone Falls, Idaho.  Picture taken 24 October 2022.

10. We were enthralled with this Lenticular Cloud hanging above our route near Area 51 … kinda spooky! Picture taken 25 October 2022.

We appreciate all your votes as it help us narrow down which pictures we will eventually mount and hang in our new home … one day in the future when we decide to settle down 🙂

Until next time

 

Just Chillin

I really have nothing interesting to write about, the weather has warmed up a little … just a little 😦 The wind gave us a break for a few periods during the last week, but not many 😦 I don’t think it rained at all last week … which is a strange statement coming from Yuma where it almost never rains during the winter … but this winter we have had more than usual.

And that pretty much sums up the past week. Other than dinner at a friends place, with a fun group of people we were meeting for the first time, we have spent most of the last week inside watching TV, reading, playing games and just hiding out from the wind. We did sit outside for a brief happy hour with friends one day and of course attended the egg game last night, oh and we also met up with hubby’s cousin’s from Saskatchewan for lunch last Wednesday. Okay I will stop complaining I guess we did do lot’s of fun things during the last week 😀

I should stop complaining, I could be at home in the snow 🙂 Although this is a picture from 2020, I don’t think they have any snow at home right now.

Things are looking up weather wise, as I write this blog it looks like it will be a nice warm, windless, day and we are having happy hour at our place today. I’m really hoping this is the turn in the weather I have been longing for because I’m done hiding inside out of the wind!

Until next time …

Border Wall Gaps

When we are home in the summer I still read the local news from Yuma and followed with interest the stories about filling the gaps in the border wall with shipping containers. We often ride our bikes along the border wall between Yuma and Algodones and have seen the big gaps many times. This is what we would see on our bike rides last year.

When we came back this winter we took a ride along the wall and saw all the gaps had been filled with shipping containers. Now I fully admit I don’t know a lot about the pros and cons of these containers but I thought they looked like they were doing the job of closing the gaps. For some reason I didn’t take any pictures but hubby’s sister took this one when we showed them the wall in November 2022.

It was shortly after the above picture was taken that I began to read that the containers where coming down, so last Sunday we took a ride to check it out. We started off on pavement and then hit a section of rough gravel road.

Before long you can start to see the first gap in the wall.

That gap really isn’t as bad as it looks because the Colorado River runs through the far section of fence between Arizona and Mexico and from what I read it is dangerous to cross there.

The front gap with the wooden bridge crossing is all in Arizona and allows farmers access to their fields. The second gap further along the fence is where the river runs through.

We continued on and that is when you can begin to see a much bigger gap at the Morales dam and it appears to be very easy to cross here and sure enough the containers are definitely gone.

It depends on what you read and who you talk to as to why they were removed but what everyone seems to agree on is the amount of money that was spent to both put them up and take them down … 95 million to put them up, 76 million to take them down!

Those figures seemed unbelievable to me based on what I was seeing, but what I didn’t realize until I was writing this blog is that these containers also ran for miles through a grassland valley in eastern Arizona’s Cochise County. I found the picture below on the internet and understand a little better why it cost so much … there were a lot of containers!

While we were riding and stopping to look we caught the interest of Border Patrol. There was an officer on the other side of the water canal at our first stop, he was driving past the gap in the wall and when we stopped our bikes he backed up to watch us. We continued on and before long he had made a loop and come up on the road behind us. He caught up with us when we stopped at the big gap but once he had slowed down and taken a look at us he carried on … I guess he realized we were just looky loo’s 😀

But to be on the safe side we decided to get back on our bikes and head home … and this time we rode on the lower road along the water canals which was much smoother.

Until next time …

Meet Buffy

Hi I’m Buffy, a miniature buffalo and my parents (Mr. Maxx’s sister and brother-in-law) adopted me when they made a trip to Los Algodones Mexico last November while visiting my aunt and uncle at their winter home.

The other day aunty and uncle were outside doing chores and not really watching me closely so I went for a little walk to check out some flowers.  It wasn’t long before aunty saw me and took my picture.

My parents had to leave me with aunty and uncle when they flew home because, even as a baby, I was to heavy for their suitcase … but I was okay with that because I didn’t want to go back to the cold damp lower mainland area of British Columbia when I could stay in the sunny south! Anyway after taking my picture aunty told me I had to go back to my usual resting place as they live in the non-pet section of the park and I need to lay low so they don’t get kicked out.

I know I look sad going back but I’m really not 🙂

This is my usual resting place and I really like it here.

Aunty wasn’t happy with this picture but I had had enough pictures and wouldn’t pose for anymore.

It’s close to the table so I get to visit with people when they come for happy hours and aunty and uncle spend a lot of time out here with me in the afternoons playing Mexican Train when they aren’t visiting.

Also they often take me on outings … like the time in November when they went to Oceanside, CA for a week.

Oh boy that was a big jump to get into the backseat but I managed … with some help from uncle.

It was the longest drive I have ever been on but uncle says they have been on much longer drives and that this was an easy one. I was so excited to sit in the middle of the backseat and watch the scenery. When we arrived at Oceanside I even got to stay inside Maxx with aunty and uncle because aunty was afraid someone would steal me if they left me outside at night … she says I am to cute for people to resist 🙂

But during the day I was able to roam around outside as long as I stayed in their sight.

I was even able to go on a short walk with them one day!

But the best day of all was US Thanksgiving when we all went over to mom and uncle’s first cousin once removed (aunty had to explain that term to me, it’s a mouthful!) site to hang out and eat Thanksgiving dinner. I had so much fun, but it was hard not to eat the Tri-tip that was roasting on the fire.

I kept an eye on the fire as they prepped it for the Tri-tip.

It just smelt so good and I got close to getting a bite when nobody was watching.

Of course aunty had to take a picture before uncle pulled me away and told me it was to hot and dangerous for me to climb on the fire 😦 Aunty said I could sit on a chair with them around the fire but that was as close as I could get.

I just couldn’t help myself and when they weren’t looking I made another attempt but they caught me again.

Then they all decided that I should come and sit at the table with them while they played some games and that wasn’t bad cause I was able to try something when they got caught up in the game 😀

I was also allowed to sit on the table while they ate Thanksgiving dinner.

And aunty even let me have a little of her wine … I don’t think she knew I snuck the beer earlier!

I had a fun time in Oceanside with everyone but by the end of the day I was tired and ready to go home and sleep.

I also had fun at Christmas and when aunty and uncle flew home to visit my cousins I was left to keep an watchful eye on the Christmas decorations. Don’t tell aunty and uncle … or the neighbours who were looking out for Maxx and I … but I did sneak around at night and visit with the decorations.

Now the decorations are all put away but I still snoop around a little at night when nobody is watching but I always make sure I am home before anyone catches me 😀

Today is my mom’s birthday so I asked aunty to help me write this blog so I could show mom and dad what I have been up to and let them know I am having a lot of fun.

Happy birthday mom, I miss you and dad and will be home soon … and aunty says she will try and share more of my adventures in the future.

Until next time …