December 2020 and we are "weary"!

December 1st and the Thanksgiving Cactus is showing off.

The cactus has been blooming since before Thanksgiving and it just keeps going. 

 

Chuck has been doing some more upgrades to the Leprechaun.  

Thank goodness the weather is fairly warm and he is able to work in the barn.  

The new inverter charger combo has been installed behind our fireplace and should give us ample power for our rig.  

So glad he was able to get this finished before the snow comes.

December 13th we have Snow!  
I wish I could say that I just love it, but I don't.  

Don't get me wrong, it is very pretty.  Its also nice to be in a nice warm home and not having any power issues.  The snow stayed around for a little longer than normal.  

Usually we have snow one day and then the following day it is gone.  

Christmas is here and the Pandemic has made it just a little different this year.  

Just like Thanksgiving we took precautions with Mother and Louie as we didn't want them to get sick.

Mask were worn to protect them and us.  

We watched our customary Christmas Eve Church Service but this time it was on the TV.

This was different, but it worked.

One thing I got from the sermon was the word "Weary".....

I think this word really does say it all.

I am truly "weary" from all the changes we have endured this year due to Covid-19.

We all have to adapt and go with it, but we also can be "weary".....and I think we are!

As always the kids were excited to start opening their presents. 

 

Cooper was shocked when she got a roll of toilet paper.  

Little did she know we had placed her yearly Pandora Christmas Charm in the middle of the hole.  

I caught her ripping out the tissue paper just in time to save the charm. LOL

Cash was so excited to have his wireless gaming ear phones with a built in microphone.  

He couldn't wait to play a game with some of his friends.  

We so enjoyed the time we got to spend with our little family. 

These times  are becoming so very important to all of us.  

Mother and Louie were worn out from their outing and the ride home was pretty quiet.  

I know I enjoyed the day, and they seemed to as well.

Christmas Day we spend packing McClassC up so we can head out on the 26th.

Diana and Chris are going to follow us to Arizona. 

One more sleep and we will be on the road.

I am so ready to get back to some warmer weather.  

Dec 26th

We are meeting Diana and Chris to start our journey west. 

We meet them as we get into I-40 west around 9:20 am. 

Looking forward to the trip. 

Weather is supposed to be good and we are looking forward to some sun! 

Dec 27th
Santa Rosa was very windy all night. 

We start out around 8:30 am and hit big wind as we travel 54. 

The worst of the winds were to the little town of Corona. 

So glad we have all the steering and other improvements on the rig. 

I don’t think this drive would have been very pretty without them.
We got out of the wind as I predicted. 

The drive thru Alamogordo and over the pass was good. 

We did make a stop just before the pass to eat some lunch. 

It was so nice to get out of the rig and feel the warm sunshine.

 Our drive thru Las Cruces was fine. 

We hit wind as we got outside of town on I-10. 

It was pretty heavy wind but we were driving straight into it.
We made a stop at Lordsburg to get some fireworks for our friend Tony. 

I had an address and we drive straight to it only to find it was closed. 

Their sign said to go two miles down the road. 

We did just that and I ran in to buy the fireworks that were requested. 

Diana went across the street to the Loves Truck stop and pick up some individual size Godfather pizzas. Looks like we are set for dinner. 

We get to Bowie, AZ about 4:30 and check in at Mountainview RV Park. 

This little hideaway is one of my favorites. 

No frills but such an easy stop for us. 

When we were checking in I purchased one of their famous Pecan Pies. 

Pizza and pie is in order tonight!  

I speak of this RV park being one of my favorites but if you can’t stand hearing the roaring of trains this will not be your place to stay. 

They literally sound like they are coming through your door. 

I guess I got used to the noise as I felt I slept very well!

Dec 28th
On the road at 8:30 and making our final drive to Yuma. 
The discussion of lunch has come up and we thought we might just eat something from our rigs.            Diana had said that if we didn’t stop somewhere to get food they would have to attempt to eat frozen salad’s and I sure didn’t think that sounded appetizing!!!

We stop for what we thought would be a quick lunch in Gila Bend. 

We knew there was a Subway with easy off and on access. 

As we get to what was once a Shell station we find it has been replaced with a brand new Flying J Truck Stop. 

The parking that was once across the street is now gone. 

The Flying J was a lot tighter and a lot less space to park. 

We occupy two of the three spaces that we marked and open and run into the Subway and place our order. 

As I was attempting to pay something happened. 

The card reader wasn’t reading any credit cards. 

After a supervisor and then finally the big boss shows up they still can’t seem to get the computer rebooted. 

The line behind us was growing like crazy. 

Finally the lady behind the register said something about cash and I told her that I could pay with cash. Diana did the same and we got out of the store. 

So much for easy!!!  

Have to say the subs were really good. 

I know Diana and Chris liked them better than their frozen salads that were in their camper!!! 

We get back on the highway and have a head wind all the way to Yuma.

It is so nice to see our place when we make our way through the neighborhood.  

Chuck has already determined how we will pull the two rigs into our lot and we begin doing that fairly quickly after we get the gate opened. 

Chris gets his RZR unloaded on the street and we begin getting our lot filled!  

The rigs are on the lot, the gate is closed and the dogs can roam freely.

So glad to be back!!!!!

Dec. 29th

I am not saying that we didn't maybe move our McClassC a few times but I think it is where Chuck wants it.  

If not, there is plenty of room to move it around.  

We have two rigs and two RZR's and a very large Dodge truck and our Jeep on the lot, and there is room to spare.  

Really this is no different than last year when we had both our rigs on it but I have to say I am so excited to have the Biggs here with us! 

The cool evening gave us an opportunity to build a fire.

We had firewood from last season so we used it and enjoyed a nice roaring fire. 

Dec 31st.

We are hosting a New Years Eve Party.

Our theme this year is a PJ Party.

We had plenty of food and drinks to go around.

We even played a drinking game.

Fireball was the drink of choice and it was a lot of fun.

We had a beautiful evening to enjoy the full moon and a wonderful fire with friends. 

Times like this really do warm your heart and soul.

I am closing this years blog with a well wish to everyone that has had dealings with Covid.

My hopes are that the coming year will bring some new hope for this dreaded virus and stop tue spread.

Mask up!  

Are We Done Yet!!!Oh Wait, Its Just November 2020

 Inquiring minds may be wondering about our generator issues with the rig last month. 

I am happy to report that when Chuck was able to check on the issue he found that a couple of arms had crossed and therefore it wasn't allowing the governor to operate correctly. Easy fix (if you know what you are looking for) as Chuck is pretty handy with all that stuff and spotted the issue.  So glad this was an easy repair and hopefully we don't have any other problems with the generator! I say this very loosely as a man told us when we bought our first trailer "the only thing that works on a RV is the owner"!!!!  I have to agree somedays.

New month and new things are happening at the casita.  The murphy bed cabinet just wasn't working for us, so I listed it and sold it in a day.  We ordered a new bed frame from Amazon. Got a mattress from a local company here in Yuma.  We officially have a real life queen size bed, and I think it is going to work out great for us.  

November 4th is here and I have had this date planned for quite some time.  I knew that Aldi's Advent Calendars coming out today, so Heidi, Doris and I make a trip to El Centro, California.  You see we don't have an Aldi's in Yuma...darn it!  Doris and Heidi had never been to an Aldi's Grocery so this was quite an experience for them.  

The drive to El Cento was only about an hour and twenty minutes.  It was so nice to be out and about!  Heidi spotted the Aldi's sign so we didn't even have to make a U-turn to get to it.

We got out of the car and got in line so we would be one of the first to get in on the much treasured Advent Calendars they offered in their latest flyer.  I think at this point Doris and Heidi think I have lost my mind.  The doors opened at 9am and the line of about 50 people rushed into the store.    It didn't take Doris & Heidi long to figure this shopping thing out and we all enjoyed picking out our calendars.  I think they were equally shocked at how many other "crazy" people were there to do the same thing.  One lady asked me about the frenzy and exactly what was the deal about the Advent calendar.  I explained as best I could and she decided she needed to buy a few as well.  We met up with the same lady on another isle and she asked if we had seen any of the coffee Advents.  I told her the last I looked they had all sold out.  

We finish our shopping and get in line to begin the checkout.  There was a line about as long to check out as there was when we came in.  As we stood looking at our finds, I explained to Doris that the Coffee Advent she was getting was K cups.  She didn't realize this when she picked it up, so she decided she would not take it since her coffee maker was not a pod type.  I suggested we find the lady that was wanting one and see if she still was interested in it.  Doris and I take off while Heidi mans our baskets.  The lady we were looking for was just almost up to check out.  She was so delighted when Doris asked if she would like to have her Coffee Advent.  We make our way back to our baskets and wait to check out.  The people in line were so very nice and friendly.  Our baskets kept us at a socially accepted 6' apart.  

Our girl trip even included a trip through the drive thru at a Starbucks.  Heidi treated us to a "Pink Drink" Doris had never had a pink drink so it was fun to see what she thought of it.  I have to say we were all smiles. It was so much fun sitting in a car chatting about everything and feeling we had no cares in the world.  Brought us back to a somewhat normal time of our lives.  Before we knew it we were back in our neighborhood and unloading our treasures.  I think this may need to be a regular yearly thing for us to do!  

I spoke about new things happening at the casita and I am totally excited about this next item.  We have contracted with a local company here in Yuma to build us a wall.....not just a wall, but a courtyard wall.  We are going to enclose the front part of the casita to give a little more privacy from the street.  When our double doors are open to the casita there is nothing to break the direct view into our place.  This "wall" will do the trick and add some great curb appeal to the front as well.  The first load of brick was delivered on November 7th and I can already tell this is going to be such a great thing for us.  

I had pinned quite a few ideas on Pinterest and my vision was a wooden gate on the front.  That idea changed rather quickly when our friends Bryan and Sandy were getting rid of a metal gate.  This gate just happens to match our drive gate and it didn't take us long to decide we needed the gate.  Bryan was so nice and even delivered it to us.  I think this wall thing is coming together!

November 8th we took Bryan and Sandy out for a little spin.  We rode out to the east of our place at the Foothills.  We rode our RZR and they had their Dune Buggy.  Bryan had just purchased his toy and wanted to see how it would handle on the rocky terrain around us.  Our plans were to tool around the area for a while and make our way over to Wheezies for a burger and beer.  We chose to sit outside and stay away from the inside crowd.  I can't say enough about this little day of fun.  We really enjoyed spending time with Bryan and Sandy....I see many more exploring trips with these two. 

 

November 9th  The wall is really starting to take shape.  The guys worked on it today and it is progressing very well.  We talked to Angel this afternoon and told him we wanted to have a couple of window openings on one side and he assured us that he would make it happen.  

November 10th  Looks like Bryan and Sandy wanted to go to Mexico so Chuck, Heidi and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to go see what we needed to purchase.  Chuck hadn't been over there this season and he figured he would keep Bryan company.  I have to say we covered quite an area in a very short time.  I was even able to find some eyeglasses and ordered them.  They will be ready the following day, so looks like another trip back to our favorite town.  We ate at Guadalajara.  Very impressed that they checked your temperature and made you wash your hands with hand sanitizer before entering the establishment.  All the waitstaff were wearing mask and seemed genuinely interested in keeping us healthy and safe.  The food was great and the company of our friends made for an absolutely great day.  

November 11th  Heidi and I run back over to Mexico to pick up my eyeglasses.  They were ready at noon and we didn't spend too much time shopping as we wanted to make sure we were back over in the USA by 2pm.  Have heard some stories of people not getting back over the border in time and had to spend the night in Algodones.  The 2pm closure doesn't mean if you are in line you are ok....it means if you haven't gone through Customs by 2pm, you are SOL.  I am happy to report we have made our way back in time every time!  

When we drive back to the Foothills and pull into our drive I am shocked to see the wall has made even more progress.  It has the beginning of two openings.  We are told that they will be back tomorrow and work on the archway.  

November 12th  The wall has officially gotten an archway.  The two openings have come to be as well.  They also began the stucco procedure.  They will put a first coat of a kind of cement to bond the material to the bricks.  It will sit and dry and then they stucco it.  After that they come back and splatter the wall with stucco and trowel it so it will match the stucco on our house and garage.  Since we have painted our stucco last year they will have to paint the wall once it is finished.  They are also going to distress the wall and leave some bricks exposed for a little more interesting look.  

Sooooo, the destressing is a little overwhelming.  We will have to have them stucco more of the areas as it is just too destressed for us.  It looks more like The Alamo.  LOL

November 16th  The workers have been busy working on some other jobs and today is the first day they have come back to un-destress our wall.  Chuck and I are both happy with how it now looks.  We are getting a bit concerned about the timeline on the wall.  Our plans to leave and head back to Oklahoma for the holiday's is coming up quickly.  

November 17th  Angel and his crew show up.  There are 4 guys working on the stucco and Angel is working to get the work finished so we can get the wall painted and our gate up.  Angel tells us that he has to leave to handle an emergency at another job and leaves his guys working.  The wall really does look nice with the stucco done.  

November18th  Jaime (the owner of Brick by Brick and father of Angel) comes by this morning.  He tells us that his son, Angel was in a motorcycle accident yesterday afternoon.  He was mediflighted to Phoenix and in good hands.  He was wearing his helmet, thank God, and other than a broken hip and a lot of road rash he is going to be ok.  His recovery time hasn't been determined yet, but I'm sure he's going to be off work for awhile.  With all this said, we assured Jaime that the work on our project could come to a halt without any problem from us.  We are leaving the next day anyway and really felt they were rushing to get it finished.  Our thoughts are on Angel making a complete recovery from his accident.  Our neighbors have come by and dropped off some "road" snacks for us.  Jay and Pat brought over a container of trail mix.  So very sweet of them.  Don and Cathy come by and Cathy has made some Peppermint Patties.  Everything looks yummy and I bet we eat it up quickly.  

November 19th  We are loaded and ready to make our way back to Oklahoma.  Bronco is ready to go and find some green grass.  Seems like we are always watching the weather on these trips as you never know what the weather is going to be like on I-40.  Sure don't want to run into a snow storm or anything.  By leaving today we are missing a front that was bringing a lot of wind.  If you have ever traveled I-40 you know the wind can be terrible and driving any high profile vehicle with a side wind just isn't a whole lot of fun. Chucks planning worked well cause we didn't really experience a whole lot of wind at all.  Payson, AZ we stopped and filled up.  There was a Sonic next door so I used my app and placed an order for our lunch.  I am a user of all the Apps that are available on my I-Phone.  Makes it a whole lot easier when you can't fit into their parking lots or just choose to walk and pick something up.  Bellies are full and it is time to continue our way up to I-40.  

I was truly amazed at all the traffic on I-40 once we reached it.  Our stop for the first leg of the drive is Gallop, NM.  We probably could have driven farther, but you know we are retired and we aren't on a real time line.  (other than weather)  It was kind of shocking to the nervous system to get out and feel the cold air.  I already miss the warm weather of Arizona! 

November 20th   Time to get on the road again and make some miles.  I said we were taking it a little slower going home and today we will stop in Amarillo and spend the night.  I even drove some of today so Chuck wouldn't be so tired when we stop.  He can be a passenger for awhile.  I really don't mind driving McClassC.  She drives really good and just like always you just have to pay attention to the other guy.  Drivers were really pretty nice today and have to say we didn't have any scary moments.  We got to Amarillo around 4pm and pulled into The Big Texan RV Park.  I went in and got us registered and before you know it we were pulling into our site.  We were told that The Big Texan would deliver food to our spot so we took them up on it and I placed orders for Chuck and I to have a steak.  The delivery was quick and easy.  Our food was so so.  It was just nice to sit and relax and watch some TV for awhile.  Again, the cold temperatures sure make me miss our little casita.  

November 21st  Woke up to 34 degree temps this morning.  Say it isn't so!  I took Bronco out for one last walk and had to take a picture of the 5th wheel that we parked next to last night.  It was a Road Warrior.  Thought that was interesting, cause in Arizona you really don't see a lot of the Heartland Road Warriors.  We were on the road by about 8:30am and still ahead of the severe weather event coming tomorrow to Oklahoma.  Uneventful trip! 

We were home a little after noon and was amazed at all the tree debris along the sides of our roads in our neighborhood.  I am so glad we had our trees cleaned up before we got home so we didn't have to deal with this mess.  Our trees really did take a bad hit with the storm but so did everyone else.  By the late afternoon we had the rig unloaded and ready to pull into the barn.  The 2-1/2 day trip was now over and we can get things done around the house.  

The peppermint patties that Don & Cathy gave us to eat along the way were now all gone.  I text Cathy to get her recipe as I think I want to make a batch.  I got the recipe and started making some.  I was using my hand mixer and after it basically burned up I decided that the batch had to be mixed by hand.  I later ask Cathy if she hand mixed hers and she said she did.  The recipe didn't say that.....Oh well, I guess it was time to get another mixer.  I made my patties a little smaller than Cathy's.  She said later she would make them smaller next time as well.  They were easy and I enjoyed making them, even if I did kill a mixer.  

November 26th  Thanksgiving Day!  Mother, Louie, Anthony, Heather, Cooper, Cash and Olive the Doodle will be coming over to celebrate Thanksgiving today.  I actually cooked the turkey the day before and we have really cut down on a lot of the foods we would normally have.  I had ordered everyone a Thanksgiving mask to wear.  Our concerns today were with Mother and Louie.  Sure didn't want to give them Covid if that was even possible.  We kept our distance and enjoyed spending some much needed family time together.  Heather was pleased to see that I even remembered to get the newspaper for her to look through.  We failed to get one last year and it about ruined our Thanksgiving (only kidding).  We took our usual Thanksgiving pictures and we took them with our mask on just so we would have something to laugh at when we look back at this crazy year.  I know for sure that I am thankful that we are all healthy and hope and pray we continue.    

The Advent Calendars were given out to everyone and I think they were excited for December 1st to roll around so they could start opening them.  Bronco and Olive even scored one.  

Since my birthday is the 29th, mothers is the 30th and Heathers is December 3rd I told them we might as well celebrate them today as well.  It was a very nice day and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone.  

My birthday present from Chuck was a new Surface Pro computer.  The battery on my old one was expanding and we weren't sure how much longer it would make it.  I am so excited to have a computer again.  I am always so nervous when we change out a computer as I am always afraid something will happen to the programs that are on the old one.  Not sure why it makes me so nervous but it always has.  Chuck handled all the transfers and I am so happy to say it was flawless.  I had all my passwords and everything.  Life is good for this "old" lady!  Just glad to make it another year!!!  

Since mothers birthday was the following day, we ordered Mexican food from Chelino's, picked it up, and took it over to them for lunch.  I think they really enjoyed the lunch.  I know I am so very lucky to still have my mom around at her young age of 92!  Between her and Louie they are the poster children for the 90's.  They have handled the Pandemic quite well.  They have even handled not having electricity for 4 days earlier during the October ice storm.  They are so blessed with good health and the ability to still live at their own home and enjoy their yard.  Mother stays busy in the Spring and Summer with her flowers.  Louie just sits and watches her stew over them.  What an awesome couple they both are.  Louie will be 95 in January....they are just amazing!!!  

I close this November post with a heart full of thankfulness and continue to count my blessings.  

 

October 2020

 I am so excited to actually be able to write that we are heading to our home in Arizona this month. 

We have been packing and getting ready for this mass evacuation that we are undertaking. I have spoke that our plans are to pull the Jeep behind the motor home and also our 14’ trailer will be behind the Jeep. Makes for a long long pull but we should be able to make it happen. 

October 4th we leave the house for the roughly 1200 mile trip. We are loaded and feel that everything should ride great. I guess time will tell. 

I’m a bit nervous (always am) but Chuck has lined out our gas stops and best places to pull off etc. Our first day we make it to Clines Corner in New Mexico. We are taking I-40 as far as Flagstaff before we start dropping down to Yuma. We actually spend the night in the parking lot of Clines Corner. Not knowing if we would have anyone bothering our stuff on the trailer was a little concerning but I’m happy to report it was all there the next morning. I am not happy to report that our on board generator is not working.  I am also reporting our inverter has decided to not work either  We basically have no source of ac power and will have to rely on dc power alone to run the rig.  This sucks but we make the best of it and decide to rest up and tomorrow will be better 

We are up and ready to make some miles and the one hour time difference makes us feel like we are really getting a head start on the day.  I was able to boil water and make French press coffee for Chuck. The overnight oats were perfect for starting our day. 

There seems to be a lot of travelers on the road today and even some are quite interesting!  You just never know what you might see along the way. 

Bronco got a good rest and was ready to make some miles too  She is such a good traveling companion We really enjoy her but could do with less hair shedding! 

The wild flowers along the roadside as we get closer to Flagstaff are beautiful. The yellow is such a pretty bright color to see against the sun scorched grasses that accompany them. Every once in awhile you see a purple wild flower. I just love seeing all the fall colors of the desert. 

 

We make our way to our exit and say goodbye to I-40 and get to experience Highway 17 for awhile. Chuck had our sights on a rest area that he thought would be a good stopping place for us but we opted to keep going and see about another one up the road as it was too early to shut down for the day. We reach the next area around 4pm. 

It’s hot and we are sitting outside the rig discussing our options. We can either sit where we're at with no air conditioning and smelling the trash from the overflowing trash bins or continue driving in the rig using the air conditioning from the rig. 

You guessed it we are moving on. It’s going to be an extremely long day but we decided to go ahead and make it to Yuma where we can plug in and relax the next morning. The generator and inverter issues are very concerning and frustrating and we can deal with them later.  We just need to get down the road. 

I’m happy to say that by 9PM we were almost to our casita.  My phone rings and it’s our friend Tony asking where we were at. I tell him we are only blocks from our place.  He says he is glad to hear it and we will talk tomorrow. By the time we turn down our street we see some bright lights behind us. It’s Tony and Heidi. They have come to help us get this long mess of stuff in our lot. It was nice to have some headlights to help us see where we were going. Wow. What a day. I know Chuck is totally worn out but we are both glad we went ahead and kept on driving. Our mule train has made it without any problems. We didn’t lose anything and we didn’t hit anything. All good except the issues with the rig. Tomorrow is another day and we will figure out what we need to do later. Time to rest!!!

Amazing what a good nights sleep can do. So wonderful to be “home”. Of course we have lots of things to do.  First and foremost we have to get the long long trailer of "stuff" unpacked.  

Its hot so we work a little at a time, but realize that we are both tired from our travels.  Maybe we need to rest a little more today! 

Little did I know that the "rest" was going to end at 3AM.  I wake up and realize Chuck isn't in bed.  I start looking for him and when I open the door to the casita I see a glow of light coming from the direction of the garage.  Yep, he is up and has already unloaded the trailer that we hauled all the stuff on.  Of course I was supposed to help him do that as it is heavy, but looks like my guy has other plans.  

I stand out there for a bit but I have to say I need my "beauty sleep" and I went back to bed.  I have never been a very early or middle of the night person, and this proves it!  

Up and ready to get the leaves cleaned out from the patio I soon realize that there is a whole lot more leaves and limbs than I want to tackle.  I contact our next door neighbor for José's phone number so we can get this mess cleaned up.  Luck would be on our side as José was down the street cleaning on Doris and Johns place.  He came down and gave us a price and said he would be be back in the next few days and get it cleaned up.  I get a call at 10:30am and José said he would be able to go ahead and clean our place in about 30 minutes.  I was so happy to see he was able to get to us quicker so we can get this done and get the patio set up.  

By noon José and his crew had been there, cleaned, cut the limbs on the trees, and already left.  Now we can get all the stuff out of the garage and continue unpacking. 

Since this is really our first year to come back after a very hot summer we have now learned to contact José a few weeks before we arrive and have this cleaning done so we don't have to worry with it!  Lesson learned!  

10-14-2020 

My sweet friend Heidi and I decide to go to Algodonas as she had been told that a lot of vendors are open and the town is complying with the Covid protocol and wearing mask and using sanitizer.  It was so much fun to step across the border into the sweet little town we love.  The vendors are glad to see the American money coming across the border. They were also very good at bargaining so Heidi and I bought quite a bit.  I bought a very heavy frog birdbath and they had a guy follow us to the border with it on a makeshift dolly.  My instructions were to take the dolly over the border, unload, and then bring it back into Mexico.  I was about worn our by the time we got the heavy dolly back to the vehicle, but I wasn't finished.  I now had to get the dolly back over to the guy that was waiting for it on the other side of the border.  Not wanting to have to go back through customs I asked a couple that was walking to go into Mexico if they would mind taking the dolly to the guy on the other side. They agreed to do it once I assured them I wasn't transporting drugs....LOL.  I was so appreciative to that couple...…and I think Heidi and I need to not buy so much next time....RIGHT!!!! Like that will happen  :) 

10-20-2020 

The border to Los Algodones were open from 6am to 2pm, and we had been told that you better be back over by 2pm or you will be spending the night over there.  It has been really hot (high 90's) and the getting out early and getting done wasn't a problem for us seasoned shoppers.  Since we now know who is open and have a list compiled Heidi and I hit the border running so to speak!  Yes we overbought once again and this time I am wagging home a bog ole cow or bull head.  As we walked down the streets of Algodones the vendors figured out really quickly to get out of our way as we had the "Bull by the horns" and we weren't taking prisoners!  Once we got to the border crossing I encountered a bit of a slow down as the border patrol that was checking me back into the USA wasn't sure if I was going to be able to bring my "cow head" back into the country. I stood there very patiently and finally he said I could go on through.  Wow, everything in my mind was whirling during that brief few minutes.  Like, why would they sell something that I wasn't able to bring back into the USA....LOL, but if you really think about it there is a lot of that stuff that really can't come back over...will have to pay attention to this next time.  Safe and secure back in the USA we go home with our latest treasures and a story to go along with them...…always an adventure for sure  :)

The first picture above is the (almost) before pic of the skull.  The one below is when I finished painting it.  My inspiration was one of the many Mexican blankets I have drug over from Algadones!  I was pleased with my finished work of art!   

10-22-2020

Chuck has put "Lil Bit" the RZR on the trailer so we can take it to the shop and have the suspension and shocks worked on.  The shop wasn't as busy as they usually are due to the cancellation of a lot of off road things going on in Glamis.  Seems to be the time to get some stuff done. They said she would be ready the following day but it wasn't.  It actually took them until the following week, but all is good as we weren't going to be going on any rides that quickly. Once we got it back we did take it out to see how the improvements were and we are happy to say that the ride is a lot better and a lot quieter.  Think this was a needed update for sure.  

10-25-2020

We haven't braved eating out in quite a while, but decided to go with Tony and Heidi to the Prison Brewery for lunch today.  It was so nice to be out and sitting at a table eating lunch. We chose to eat outside.  The inside was pretty busy with people and the outside just seemed better to us.  The food was great and the company of Heidi and Tony was even better.  Enjoyed our little escape from Covid reality!  

10-27-2020

As if we hadn't been to Algodones enough this month we decide to make one last trip over before the end of the month.  This time we had extra partners in crime.  MaryEllen and Doris accompany Heidi and I.  In true form we all brought back a load of stuff.  I have to say I didn't go as wild this time but MaryEllen and Doris took up the slack of my shortcomings.  We had a blast! 

Sadly back in Oklahoma we are having a really bad ice storm and so many people are without electricity.  Our house has none and will not have it for about 7 days.  Our trees look like a tornado has gone through them.  It reminds us of the ice storm in 2015.  Friends have gone by and sent us pictures of the house.  It all looks good from the outside.  The refrigerators are going to be the next concern as the outage is not going to be a small one.  

Mother and Louie had electricity a lot longer than I expected but it finally hit them and now they are in the dark like most everyone in the central and western Oklahoma areas.  They are reporting that this is one of the largest outages they have ever experienced.  

10-28-2020

I am working out in the cactus bed moving rocks and cleaning up and much to my surprise a small but eager snake popped out and scared me to death.  I jump up and head to find Chuck.  Back at the rock I use my hoe handle to lift it and sure enough the little guy is still under there.  He is all coiled up and trying to be hidden I think.  It was a small rattle snake....he only had maybe two buds on his tail.  They say the bite of a baby is a lot worse because they just inject the whole amount of venom unlike an adult that can control the amount.  I was not impressed by this little guy and I quickly called Tony to bring down his snake shot and kill this little guy.  I kept saying he was small, but by the time they got him out from under the rocks he was about 18 to 20" long.  Have to say it startled me and I have decided to not continue working in the rocks for the next few days.  You always hear there are usually more, and I don't want to find out!

 

The end of the month brings beautiful sunsets and a glorious full moon.  

We had a little get together on the patio with a few of our neighbors.  We stayed our distance and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and most of all being able to spend some quality time with our friends.

  

October closes with everyone healthy.  Still no electricity in Oklahoma...but everyone is fairing pretty well.  I worry about mother and Louie and I am doing as much as I possibly can.  This is when that 1200 miles away is really difficult.