Happy New Year

2022 is quickly drawing to a close - in fact there are just a few hours left.  As we say good-bye, we can reflect on the past year and for us, we say "gosh, where did that year go"?

We spent Christmas at our friend's place in Yuma.  As usual Santa was pretty darn good again which really is no surprise considering that we worked extra hard last year at being good!  We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with six of us.

Often, folks that have excess fruits, they set them out for anyone who would like some.  Lemons are usually quite popular but this year, we found some oranges.  It is really hard to not take the whole works for juicing but we shared and just helped ourselves to a few.

It was moving week again but first we need to fill up with fuel. Down here, Fry's Grocery Stores give points to use for fuel - 1 point per dollar and 100 points give you a 10 cent discount on fuel (maximum of 35 gallons).  On occasion, they offer 4X the points so with Christmas we were able to accumulate enough  points for a 70 cent discount.  We used up our 35 gallons for our discount and decided to top up the tank.  We were a bit surprised that our credit card was charged $.31 - we only needed .066 gallons.

Then it was time to hit the road.  There is a great deal of farming en route - mainly vegetable crops.

But there are also some hay crops.

Some of the road looked like it had recently been resurfaced,  And it definitely had just been re-striped - the operator did have some difficulty in keeping the lines straight!

We arrived at one of our favourite spots - Borrego Springs. Since it is New Years weekend, there are quite a number of people around as the area is a favourite  off-road vehicles especially over the holidays.  Since there are quite a few around, there is always some unusual units. 

And some unusual methods of transportation.

Last year when we were here, there were a number of orange groves that had been removed.  This year they have been replaced with new trees.  They protect the new trees with what looks like palm fronds.

There has been a fair bit of rain in the area the past while and now the flowers are starting to bloom.

I hope everyone has a terrific 2023 with great health, happiness and peace.  

T'is the Night Before Christmas

 Here it is Christmas Eve as we await for the arrival of the Big guy in the Red Suit.  This week was mostly spent doing what most people are doing the week before Christmas - get ready for Christmas Day.  We did have time to go for the odd walk and as usual, we come across some interesting sights.  There were a couple of rather unique/different Christmas decorations,

including an unusual place to display a Christmas tree.  But, while I think it is unusual, it worked.

Every one of us have likely come across a tricky parking situation at one time or another.  I can not imagine parking this trailer.  It is very tricky getting it parked in just the right spot.

Gary and Marleen hosted Christmas Eve so much of the week was spent preparing for the little get-together.  The plan started with a plan of creating charcuterie boards and ended up with some Christmas themed food displays.  We had a great time with shopping, planning, and building.

We also made a few decorations.

There were fourteen of us at the little gathering and as usual, the fellows sat in one area while the ladies sat in another.  Some folks even wore some Christmas refinery. 

And as conversations go, the subject changes constantly and sometimes gets a little silly.  One thing we did find out was the length of everyone's ears.  I won't go into any details as to how this all came about but it certainly gave us gals a lot of laughs!

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and is planned on being rather low key.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and the unpleasant weather that is affecting so many will not dampen your Christmas spirit.  Have a great day and a great week!!

The Next Stop

Last weekend it was on to a new address, and we are now at our friend's (Gary and Marleen) lot in Fortuna Foothills (eastern side of Yuma) where we will be moochdocking until after Christmas.  Some of you may be wondering whatever is moochdocking.  Well, according to Google "it is also known as driveway surfing; moochdocking is a lot like couch surfing in your RV. Basically, you park on someone’s driveway or land, and you camp there".  I love the term but I especially love the opportunity to be able to have a great visit.

First thing that we had to do was grocery shopping as our cupboards certainly resembled Mother Hubbard's cupboards.  Yuma has always been pretty reasonable regarding the price of groceries.  Well, those days are over.  The regular price of large eggs is $5.79 ($8.05 Cdn) although I did get some on sale for $3.29 ($4.57 Cdn).  Poultry is still very reasonable in comparison to home prices but many things are quite pricey - even fruits and vegetables that are grown in the USA and/or locally.

Every day seems to fly by with preparations and planning for Christmas.    Marleen and I have planning - thank goodness for Pinterest.  We have been so busy that even our daily walks have had to take a back seat - I expect the goodies from Christmas will give us some extra incentive!  We did take in a couple of walks and we came across an interesting cactus.  I believe it is an Organ Pipe Cactus but it seems to have become rather hairy - perhaps that was in anticipation of colder weather. 

Speaking of colder weather, the nights have been quite chilly.  There have been several mornings where there was frost on the pumpkin (so to speak).  The roof of the Jeep did have frost on it several times.

The highlight of the week was the celebration of Gerry's 80th birthday.  It was pretty low key but we did have pizza and cake and he received a couple of gag gifts so had a few laughs. 

Since he has become a member of the octogenarian club, afternoon routines are not very demanding!!

It was also time for myself to get a new look so off to the beauty salon I went.  I was in bad need of a haircut - I will see how I like it in a day or so.

As this week draws to a close, the days have been cool and the nights have been cold.  There is a promise of warmer weather around the corner so hopefully that will be the case.

Thanks for stopping by, thanks for your comments and I hope you will be back next week.  Until then, have a great week and stay healthy.

Good-bye Why!!

This was our last week at Why and we sadly had to say good-bye.  We did start the week on a high note with a Christmas concert in Ajo (a community of about 2,600 people).  It started with an orchestra of 12 players with a real variety of instruments and ended with a choir. 

The music was great  with the very talented performers. 

 We also had almost two inches of rain.  Water was running in some of the washes but we didn't see any of it because by morning, they were pretty well dried.  These rains are appreciated by everyone as they have been suffering from drought.  The water pulled these melons (or coyote gourds) and spread them along the wash. 

With all the rain, there was a lot of humidity in the air which resulted in quite a heavy fog every morning for several mornings.

This week was our friend, Chris' birthday.  After an enjoyable supper, we even had room for cheesecake, aka birthday cake.

I did put out our game camera a couple of nights.  One night the coyotes must have been busy as they didn't stop by but they did come around another night.  It seems that they tend to explore fire pits.

As we would sit out in the afternoon, there was a flock of quail that would come pecking around looking for some food.

On our last night we sat around and enjoyed one last fire,

then we went out for a lovely Mexican  supper.  The entrance of the entrance has an interested mosaic on the floor.

We were still able to go out for our daily walks in spite of all the rain.  Because of type of soil, it dries up very quickly so we were still able to do some exploring.  This is quite a fire pit.

There was quite a bit of cloud following the rain but it really made for some amazing sunsets.

Next week, we will have a different address, and of course some different activities.  I hope you have a great week and will stop by again next week.

Why - why not??

 This week it was time to change addresses so we decided to go to Why - a small community, forty miles north of the Mexican Border, and west of Tucson.  Here we planned on meeting our friends, Chris and Rick.

Before we left, we had to have a "last supper" with Dawn and Kirby.  The menu was bush pies which is always an enjoyable treat.

The road gives a great view of Picacho Peak which in days gone by, it served as a landmark for travellers due to it's unique shape. 

And of course the landscape varies from short shrubs to stands of cactus, most notably the Saguaro cactus.

Once settled I always like to put out a game camera as most nights you can hear the coyotes howl so we know they are in the area.  I did get some photos and fortunately they were from two different nights otherwise, some coyote may have had bunny stew.

We try to go for a daily walk and you never know what you might find.  One day we came across this monument which was a tribute to someone or something - perhaps a pet.  There was not inscription but it certainly is unique. 

Then another day, we found a spot where someone had obviously spent a fair amount of time decorating their little area.  The big old tree had ornaments of all sizes, and kinds, and colours. 

Here too was a tribute which was in honour of a pet. 

Even the cactus give some interesting shapes.

From our site, there is a range of mountains to the west of us which have quite the shape.  

Wagon train

Sleeping Princess

There is a community centre which seems to have daily activities.  One night this week it was a jam session - or perhaps better known as amateur night.  Since it is early in the season, the attendance is low and the performers were few.  It was a fun way to spend the evening and one must give these folks credit for doing this.

This morning there was a bazaar with quite a variety of items - new, used, junk, crafts - you name it.

Today was cloudy, overcast, some rain so it was a great day to go into town to pick up a few groceries.  As we wandered down the street, we went into a couple of art galleries.  Some displays were beautiful and some were interesting.  Here was one displaying some Indian Breast Plates which were designed to stop arrows during a time of war - price tag - $1,000.00.

And of course, it's always a good idea to go for lunch and after lunch, dessert.  Today we had churros with some dipping chocolate - yummy!!

Another week has come to a close.  I was thrilled to have a couple of comments the past couple of weeks as it is always great to hear from you.  I hope everyone has a great week and hopefully you will pop by again.