March 26, 27, 28, 2011

Saturday 26~~~~~Today we drove over to the big Yuma flea market with our friends Cyndi and Howie. These markets are huge and have all kinds of everything to buy, we actually didn't buy anything today, we just walked around and looked. We stopped at a Pub that our friends like to eat lunch at, we had a cold beer and a sandwich that was delicious. We sat and visited and watched the end of a game on TV after we ate. We run a few more errands killing time before we headed over to the church for Saturday night Mass. After Mass, we went out for Chinese food and when we got home our friends came over to play cards with us. The guys beat us girls the first card game, and we beat them the second game. We are going to play again on Monday night to see who is the real champ. Sunday 27~~~~Kent worked on finishing up our taxes while I did the laundry, we have to go back to Mexico tomorrow for Kent to get his 3 crowns checked. We spent the evening watching television and doing nothing, driving over to Mexico so many times this week, was very tiring and standing in the long line to get back across the border is interesting, visiting with all the people from all over the U.S. but also tiring, long and hot. It is an experience I think every American should experience one time in their life time. You would appreciate your home, job and government a whole lot more. Monday 28~~~~ Kent and I made our final trip to Mexico this morning for Kent to get his new crowns adjusted a little as we are starting our journey home on Tuesday and we want his teeth to be perfect before we leave here. We stopped at our favorite taco place for one last meal of shrimp tacos and the liquor store for 2 more bottles of booze. We stopped at the casino just outside of Mexico on our way home, we were too tired to stop there our other trips after getting all our dental work done, we had a great time playing the slots here, we won $85, this will be fun to take to Laughlin to play the slots there on Tuesday. I am posting some pictures of the beautiful little children in Mexico. They are so happy and love to have their pictures taken, I let them look at the picture I take on my camera and they get all excited. This is what I do with my quarters I save, I give them the precious children of Mexico.

March 21, 23, 2011

Monday 21~~~~~Another trip to Mexico to have some adjustments done on my crowns I had done here 2 years ago. There are so many people from the states here buying their medicine by huge bags full, a years supply. There are so many dental offices and eye clinics here, I couldn't possibly count them all. The clinic that did my teeth has a beautiful Casa for their patients to stay while they are getting their teeth done. It has a restaurant to eat at (you pay for this) and they have a driver who drives you to the clinic and back for your appointments. It has a beautiful court yard where the people spend time visiting with the other people who are also getting dental work done. We never used it, as we have our cat Pepsi to come home to each night. For someone who is having a lot of crowns, implants or bridges done, it sure is nice to not have to stand in that long line to get across the border each day you are having your dental work done. They have pictures of it at the clinic and the people who stay there say it is so clean and beautiful. They also have 2 computers and 3 flat screen TV's to watch or use in the waiting room and their x-ray machines and equipment is the latest. We picked up our new glasses, Kent got a new pair of glasses with progressive lenses and also a pair of polorized sun glasses, I got a pair of progressive lenses with new frames and a neat pair of sunglasses. These 4 pair of glasses cost us $400, what a deal. I was so tired of cutting my hair and it was needing to be cut again, so I stopped at a small Beauty salon on the street and I got a hair cut. I talked to an interpreter and she told the lady what I wanted (I thought) I told her the same way I was wearing it, just a little shorter, but NOT TO SHORT!!!! The front and sides was cut good, but the back was way too short!!! I hope it is grown out before we get home. LOL I have to use a lot of gel and I stretch every hair to its fullest to make it look the way I like it. It was actually a better cut than the ones I have gotten in Yuma and California. I hope this quaint little town of Algodones stays the same and the drug cartells don't take it over. It is a fun experience to go there, Kent would drive over there everyday for lunch if I would let him. If you go to Yuma, go there and see for yourself.

March 16, 18, 2011

Wednesday 16~~~~As we left the campground on our way to Mexico for the day, we came across some ranchers herding a large herd of sheep across a busy intersection heading our way down the road. A few of the sheep fell into the canal filled with water that runs parallel with the road. They used a large hook and they hooked them by the back leg and pulled them out backwards. They had a young Hispanic boy leading 3 goats with a rope and each goat had a large bell hanging from its neck that rang as the goats ran and the sheep all followed the ringing bell. They also had 3 sheep dogs that did a terrific job of nipping at the stray sheep to bring them back to the herd. They must do this regular, as no one got impatient with the process, all the traffic just sat still while the sheep were herded past them. I crawled in the box of the truck and I took pictures of all the sheep coming towards me and as they went around both sides of the truck. It was so fun to see. I have seen many cattle drives as a child growing up on a beef ranch in South Dakota but never a sheep drive with three goats with a bell leading the drive. What a fun way to start our day on our way to Mexico. Kent loves to go there for lunch, the shrimp tacos are the best. We found a new eye clinic that had so many different glasses today and we decided to have our eyes examines and get new glasses while we are here and because it has been three years since we got our last pair we bought here. I love the little Mexican children who try to sell you tiny toys and gum. I usually give them quarters and have them keep the junk, the big smiles they give you makes you wish you could give them gold coins. I always ask the parents if I can take their picture, as I was taking some pictures on the streets, a Mexican man asked me if he could buy my camera for $100 as he was taking a trip in a couple of weeks and he wanted a camera so bad. Of course I told him I needed my camera when Kent spoke up and told him we had an old one at home and maybe he would like to buy it. He was delighted, as cameras and a lot of things like that are very expensive in Mexico, we told him we would be back on Friday. When we got back to Yuma, we went to a camera store here and they had a real good buy on a camera like mine with a case, tripod and all the accessories, so we bought it to take to him if he wanted to buy a new one. We also took the old one we had in case he didn't want to spent $130, the cost of the new camera. He was waiting for us on Friday the 18th, he had talked to his wife about the camera and she wanted a movie camera only. He was real excited about our old digital camera, so we sold it to him for $25 and we returned the other one to the store. He said the old camera was for him, we had the book, bag and everything for it, with the instructions in Spanish also. You can take videos with this camera also, so he was all excited and said he would try and buy her a movie camera later. It is amazing how the simplest things can bring so much joy to some people. We bought 2 more bottles of Tequila and Kahlua to bring across the border, We don't even drink and we have all this booze we bring home. LOL

March 12 and 13 , 2011

Saturday 12~~~~Kent is feeling OK today, but I woke up and threw up everything but my toenails, I must have caught his bug. At least mine was just a one time of vomiting,(enough to fill the toilet bowl) LOL. I have a tummy ache and no appetite. We had plans to drive to Elcentro, California with our friends John and Linda today to watch the Blue Angels do their maneuvers and air show they do every year. It is an all day affair and a lot of fun, I made Kent go without me, as there was no sense in him sitting here with me in bed all day. I got up at 1PM and ate some crackers and green tea and went back to bed, Kent called to check up on me and I was asleep. Kent got home about 10:30PM. He picked up chicken and french fries for us to eat, I passed on dinner, as I didn't think it would be the best food to eat on and empty stomach. They had a great time at the air show, other than the LONG walk into it. You bring your own lawn chairs and they have food vendors there and all kinds of planes and fun things to see. Kent doesn't like to take pictures, so he wouldn't take the good camera with the good lenses, he took the pocket one and the pictures are a little small. LOL Sunday 13~~~~ Still not feeling good at all, we didn't even go to Mass today and I didn't like missing the first Sunday of Lent. I stayed in my PJ's all day and we watched movies and I slept a lot. Still no appetite, but no vomiting, just the one time. The weather here is beautiful and here we are staying in the house. We did go over to the club house tonight for the ice cream social, I ate a small dish of ice cream, as we all know, Kent loves Ice cream!!!!!

March 5 through 10, 2011

Saturday 5~~~~We arrived in Yuma about 4 PM stopping at the casino where we will spend the night and head over to the fair grounds where the Gypsy Journal Rally is being held. The rally will last about 5 days and then we will go to the Escapes RV park where we will stay for 3 weeks. We ate dinner at the casino and we played the slots for a couple of hours and then we headed out to our trailer for the night; we got there and the security was having all the RVers move out, they usually let the overflow from the campground stay here, but tonight there was to be no Boon dockers for some reason. Kent called the Elks Club and we headed over there, it was just a short distance down the road from where we were. There were sure a lot of unhappy people including Mrs. Mosher!! LOL But for some reason they weren't letting anyone camp there tonight and we were just happy we knew of another place just down the road. Sunday 6~~~~ We arrived at the fair grounds at 11 AM and there were already a lot of RV's lined up. The have a large field where they line up all the Rv's, large and small in long rows where you sit and visit, take a nap or do what ever you want in your rig until they start assigning spaces. It really works well and we got a lovely space on concrete with no grass and dirt to track in and we were close to the buildings and classes. We met a neat couple with a trailer like ours in line and our friends John and Linda joined us in line also. Kent got out the lawn chairs and we sat and visited while we waited. Kent was not feeling very good, so we called it a day after we got set up, it was a nice day with a a nice breeze, so we enjoyed doing nothing. Monday 7~~~They serve coffee and donuts every morning in the vendor building, where they have a stage area and lots of chairs and tables and all the vendors have their booths here. It is basically the meeting area where we have some classes, draw prizes and have our pizza party. We always go for the donuts and coffee and meet new people and discuss the classes we want to attend and have attended.
Tuesday 8~~~~ Kent is still not feeling the greatest, but he is a little better. I gave Linda a hair cut today, she had it cut and she didn't live the way it looked, so I re-cut it for her and now she looks like Jamie Lee and it is so easy for her to take care of. I keep cutting on my hair every week and it is still too long, I need to try someone here, but they always butcher you, haven't found a good one yet. Now I know why my clients were so happy to see me when they came back from snow birding all winter. LOL We drove into Yuma today for a late lunch at a favorite restaurant of ours, the burritos are so large you have to split one and the chips and salsa are the best. (picture) Thursday 10~~~We stripped the sheets off the bed and Pepsi who loves to be snuggled up, crawled inside and wouldn't move, so we folded him up in the feather comforter. He stayed there for a couple of hours taking another of his many naps. (picture) The fair grounds are are close to the military air base and there are planes taking off and landing all day doing maneuvers, poor Pepsi just about goes crazy trying to figure out where to hide from the noise. I took a picture of one of them going over the trailer with our small pocket camera. They fly so close to the ground. Kent took a picture of a Swedish Weaving table runner we won at the drawing tonight, there was a class on making them. I am glad I won it because I didn't take that class and I liked the work.

March 4, 2011

Friday 4~~~~~Today is our last day in Apache Junction so we decided to go play miniature golf with Mel and Linda. Kent and I really like to play it, but they have never done it before and were a little hesitant about doing it. We knew they would enjoy it if they gave it a try and were we ever right, they had a ball and we finished all 18 holes and would have done more if we could have. We all got a couple of hole in one, which made it a lot more fun and more competitive. The weather was just beautiful and real sunny, actually a little too sunny. we enjoyed the shade in some spots. One thing about miniature golf is they usually have them built with large water works running through the course and with the breeze. it is very nice. Of course we had to go to McDonald's after wards for Kent to have his Frappe' and the rest of us had hot chocolate sundaes. We said our goodbyes when we dropped them off and we headed home to fix dinner and get ready to take off in the morning for Yuma. We are going to a campers rally that starts on Sunday.

March 3, 2011

Thursday 3~~~~~Today we drove to Phoenix with our friends John and Linda from Portland to ride the Segways!!!!!!!!! We made reservations to do this months ago when we were all back in Oregon, they had a special on the computer for $26 instead of the usual $75. We each rode one about a block and back about 4 years ago when they were selling them at one of those desert markets. We loved it and decided we all wanted one some day. They only cost about $6000 (Dream ON) Well today was the big day and we were sure excited. We stopped and ate a light lunch on the way and arrived there a little early. There were two young men who gave us a talk about what to do and not do. Then we all had to get on a Segway and hold it still balancing it, not rolling backwards or forwards, perfectly still.There are no brakes or gas pedal to operate it, just your body, you lean forward to go forward and you lean back to slow down or stop. Real simple, just relax and be alert for the people around you on the segways, bikes and walking. As soon as you passed your test, you could buzz around riding your segway until everyone was ready to follow the leader down the paths of this beautiful park in Phoenix. They use this park for these rides as it is large and not real crowded with people. There were 12 of us renting the segways, we went up hills, down hills, along the highway around the lake, we weaved in and out around the different things in the park, like the skiers do in down hill racing as we rode all over. The guide stopped and gave us a 10 minute rest to drink water and use the bathrooms, then back on the road again!! LOL I gave my camera to the instructor and he took pictures for me, I think he did a pretty good job . If you ever have a chance to ride one, do it, so it as it is soooooooooo much fun, we can't wait to do it again. It is fun for the young and old!!!!!!! I would like to have one to run around Salem with as high as gas is getting.

March 1 and 2, 2011

Tuesday 1~~~~It was a beautiful day today, Kent took the laundry and went to visit Mel while he washed the clothes, I stayed home and cleaned house. One of our neighbors stopped for a visit and told me there was dinner at the club house tonight, sloppy Joe's, potato salad, chips and brownies for $3. I had dinner all planned, so I called Kent to see if he wanted to go there instead and he said yes. Our neighbor played his guitar and we could sing along to his music. He played some old songs we all knew and it was very nice. Wednesday 2~~~~Today we drove to Scottsdale stopping at the Penske auto racing museum on the way. It is a beautiful designed building that is part of their Auto sales building where they sell Jags, BMW's, Mercedes, Bentley's and all the fancy cars. After we viewed all the old race cars, and watched the videos of old nascar races, we ate lunch in there lunch room there. (pictures) From there we drove into old town Scottsdale and to Costco before heading home.