Busy last week in Quartzsite, Feb 1 to Feb 6

Saturday, February 1st

Today was mostly a relaxing day. Dave and Leslie stopped by for a visit as we had yet to catch up with them after they arrived yesterday afternoon. A nice short visit before meeting up with everyone for Happy Hour and a Beer Tasting Event at the communal campfire later this afternoon.

Somehow I must have twisted my knee while sleeping last night because as the day progressed it became worse and worse and when it was time to go to the Happy Hour, I could barely walk. Yikes ... this has happened a few times over the past 5 years to my right knee. I had arthroscopic surgery on it about 25 years ago where they stapled my meniscus back together ... I suspect it is weakening. Usually this lasts for a few days before going back to normal again. I just can't twist my knee as I have minimal lateral support which causes this swelling in behind my knee. Ice, rest and anti inflammatories for 2 days. lol

There were 24 of us for the beer tasting, the biggest group for Happy Hour yet.

Here are Steve's pics. It was a very nice warm afternoon. Everyone brought tasty appetizers and Dianne made a great pot of chili.



Steve using Buster as a wind break again.

The "Dead Soldiers"

I stayed until about 5:30 and then had Ray drive me home ... leg too sore. Ray stayed for the rest of the evening and enjoyed the campfire. He did not get back until after 9 pm. Another great day in the desert with friends.

Sunday, Feb 2nd Groundhog Day

On the Superbowl, Bill Murray did an advertisement for Jeep with the Groundhog day theme from his old movie. Pretty hilarious.

Well the results are in:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Happy Groundhog Day!

At approximately 7:30 this morning, Staten Island Chuck emerged from his home at the Staten Island Zoo to let everybody know we'll have an early spring.

Tradition says that if the groundhog doesn’t see its shadow, spring is right around the corner.

But what about Chuck’s rivals? Did they call for an early spring or six additional weeks of winter weather?

This year, which isn’t always the case, Chuck’s rival, Punxsutawney Phil, agreed with him. For the second year in a row, the two groundhogs were in sync.

However, not all groundhogs agreed with Chuck and Phil.

Shubenacadie Sam

Shubenacadie Sam looked around after emerging from his burrow at the wildlife park in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, on Sunday.

Sam’s handlers said he saw his shadow and predicts six more weeks of winter. He had the same prediction last year.

Punxsatawney Phil: Early Spring
Staten Island Chuck: Early Spring
Shubenacadie Sam: 6 more weeks of winter
Wiarton Willie: Early Spring
Fred la Marmotte: Early Spring

So we shall see who's right. lol

Tonight we hosted the Superbowl Game with Dave and Cheryl, Dave and Leslie and us. A lot of good laughs, drinks and good food. Made Ray's day. He loves having a group to watch the big games.

Dave R with their dog Margaret on the stool, Deb, Cheryl, Leslie and Dave M

A great spread of food. Thanks for all the contributions. I made a few "keto choices" for Leslie.

The girls mostly talked until the commercials ... the guys mostly watched the game. We set up inside as we could not see the TV with the sun on the outside and the wind came up really strong in the afternoon. Even though it was warm outside with the windows open we stayed cool enough thankfully. 

Les and Dave left before the end of the game ... Dave's Chiefs were losing and Les's back was bothering her and she was a "squirming worm" like Ray does when he has sat too long. Hopefully they were able to pick up the last half hour via over the air TV.  The Kansas City Chiefs are the Superbowl Champions. It was a pretty close game. Some funny commercials but nothing too spectacular this year. Unfortunately for Dave, he had not set up his channels over the air so waited for that to set up and then found out they don't get FOX so he did not get to see the end of the game in spite of trying to find it on his phone. He contemplated coming back here but by the time he tried everything out himself ... the game was over.

Into bed by 9:30 pm after running the generator for 20 minutes. The wind howled all night but especially at 4 am. Sounded like a freight train was coming through the rig.

Monday, Feb 3rd

Woke up to lighter winds but very dusty. You cannot even see the mountains in the distance. The solar panels were not charging like they should with the weak sunshine. It will be a quiet day today I think.

The Goodyear Blimp flew over us really close this time. You could even hear it's motors.

I spent the day tidying and watching TV. Ray worked on the walking stick he is giving Cheryl. He is in a bit of a panic as we leave on Friday so worked on the inlays inside the coach as it was too windy outside.

Our neighbour who is in Mexico sent another picture from the flooding at the front of their house taken by Kris, their son-in-law. Wow .... you'd have to swim to their dock!

Here's this morning's view of our backyard. You can see the rock toppers on the wall again. The junk seems to have taken out my concrete dragon and I also don't see my Japanese Pagoda??? I emailed Pat that I could see that her dock was still there on the far right and that Mike's yard next door is showing some green grass again. The province is offering Disaster Relief for the Cowichan Valley as this event is not common and has not been this bad for 60 years. Lots of people were flooded, thankfully not us.

There is more snow in the forecast for the next couple of days and then back to some rain. Hopefully this is just a minor event this time.

Tuesday, Feb 4th

A very windy and cold night. Woke up to temps 15 degrees colder than yesterday at 33F. Took a quick look at Lake Cowichan towns webcam and yes it is snowing, but the lake is down a bunch more at Saywell Park.

Today Dianne and I are going to Parker for Pedicures and getting my hair cut. Shopping is also on our agenda. My last "girls day" before leaving Quartzsite. We were on the road by 9am for our 10am haircut appointments in Parker.

Great haircuts, after owner was 15 minutes late. Next up was Walmart which was a zoo and of course they did not have Freya's meds ready again. Don't know what's up with this Walmart ... I phoned to renew her prescription in a week ago, called on Monday (yesterday) ... they hadn't ordered it and only had 2 of the 4 boxes needed so I said to pack them up and I would pick that up tomorrow and get the other two in Indio, CA I go up to the Pharmacy counter after waiting 10 minutes in the lineup and of course the order was not filled and I had to sit another 15 minutes staring at them so they would do it now! Then I did my shopping and ended up in the slowest lane again. In fact, the lady was so slow to begin with and then had to do a price check for the people ahead of me. I ended up loading up all my stuff and taking it over to a new lane that had just opened. When I was finished the other people were still waiting for the price check! Another delay .... so we had no more time to shop before our 12 noon pedicure appointment.

Pedicures were done very well but also took extra time. Instead of an hour it turned out to be an hour and a half.

After finishing up our shopping at Safeway, it was time to go for lunch. We thought we would go for Chinese Food but the restaurant is closed apparently on Tuesdays! So we thought we would go to the Casino again as it was close by. Went inside and their main power is out due to the wind, so the restaurant is closed and the backup generator can only handle the slot machines! Yikes! So our third choice was to go back to the Crossroads Restaurant. Dianne and I were seated by 1:50 pm and did not get our food for quite some time so it was not until 3 pm before we were headed home. Definitely a long day again. It was definitely a "hurry up and wait" kind of day. lol

Ray spent the day working on Cheryl's walking stick and visiting Steve and Dave and Leslie while we were gone.

Once I was back and groceries put away, the rest of the day was spent inside as it was cold and windy outside. I brought Safeway's fried chicken home for Ray's dinner so an easy dinner for me.

Wednesday, Feb 5th

Woke up to another very cool and breezy morning at 33F. A beautiful sunrise this morning.

Today is the start of packing up before we leave on Friday. It will be a two day job since we have been here for 6 weeks and things are kind of spread out around our site, solar lights, shade shelter, bird feeders etc.

Got an email from our neighbour regarding his basement. On Sunday  the lake had receded out of their basement and they were able to pull up the carpet and underlay and took off the baseboards. The hope is once everything is dry that there will be no damage and they can just reinstall everything. Fingers crossed for them. It did not snow too much yesterday at the lake fortunately.

We spent the morning spent putting away all of our outside solar lights, sun shelter and extra tables etc. After that around 11 am we were off downtown for some last minute shopping and then decided to go to Silly Al's one last time for pizza and beer. Yumm.

Dinner tonight was at Dave and Cheryl's. Ray gave her the stick he had been working on for her. She was thrilled. We had a great lasagna dinner and had lots of laughs. Came home about 8:30 pm to a hungry dog. Freya did not take very long to gobble up her dinner and after playing with her for a bit, it was into bed. Another great day here in Q.

Ray did not take his camera to Dave's but here is how glorious the sunset was tonight thanks to Dave taking a picture.

Here is a picture Dave took of Cheryl using her new stick Ray made for her.

Thursday, Feb 6th

Our last day after 6 weeks here in Quartzsite. Woke to another sunny day and a little warmer at 35F. The wind finally quit and it's supposed to get up to 67F this afternoon. Today we will finish packing up, with Ray putting down the solar panels ready for travel tomorrow. I will be cleaning inside and preparing for travel. After 6 weeks we have spread out a little inside. lol

Later this afternoon our gang is coming over for a Happy Hour to say goodbye. Dianne and Steve, Dave and Leslie and Dave and Cheryl. Happy Trails until we see you all again. Ray and I have been very lucky getting invited to many group Happy Hours and meeting more of Steve and Dianne's desert family this year. It has been a blast.

By 4:30 pm everyone was here bringing snacks in hand. Thanks Dianne and Leslie. It was such a nice afternoon with minimal wind finally so we were able to sit outside until 6:15 pm before we all said goodbye. It has been a great six weeks hanging out in Quartzsite.

Thanks for the picture Dianne.

Steve, Deb, Cheryl Dave Ray Dave and Leslie. Freya of course in the middle wanting her stick thrown. lol

Here's Ray's picture of the HH

Here is a last look at a sunset that Dianne took last night ... I stole it from facebook. Thanks Dianne. Goodbye Quartzsite Arizona.

Goodnight.