Friday, March 30, 2007


On their last day in Yuma, Elaine, Joy (and Phil too-he gets to take the pictures) say goodbye to Jonelle and Shannon.


Phil and Joy in the Arizona sunshine at Elaines, to say good bye to Shannon and Jonelle.


My aunt Elaine with her daughters in front of her new kitchen curtains. Shannon and Jonelle did some painting for their mom and hung new curtains in the bright new kitchen.

Monday, March 26, 2007

11:40 a.m. Monday, March 26, 2007


My Aunt Elaine treated all of us to dinner at the wonderful Cracker Barrel Restaurant here in Yuma last night. Then we met back at her house for a great gab fest and "no sugar added" ice cream for dessert. Phil was there too but someone had to take the picture ;-)
L to R: my cousin Nada, Joy, Elaine, Jonelle and Shannon.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

1:20 p.m. Sunday March 25, 2007

A comment from my niece in Fremont, California:

Hi Aunt Joy,
The tree looks like a Bottlebrush. My mother-in-law has one in her front yard, so apparently it grows up here in cooler climates as well.
Love, Julie


Lunch break at the food court in the middle of our shopping day at the Arizona Market. Only one or two weeks left and most of the vendors fold their tents (literally) and fade away into the desert.

L to R: My cousins, Jonelle (from Denver), her sister, Shannon (from Seattle), me and my Aunt Elaine, mother of these great gals!

We had a great time!



Beautiful blooming tree in Yuma. Does anyone know the name of this tree?


The blooms, up close and personal.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

8:33 a.m. Sunday March 18, 2007

We are back in town (Yuma). Snowbirds are leaving by the dozens every day and we moved back to Desert Holiday RV Park across the street from Aunt Elaine’s housing complex, “Saguaro Estates” on Friday. It is so-o-o-o much cleaner in this park than where we were. Granted, everything is paved or blacktopped or graveled here but in our last park, it was fine sandy dirt. No pavement except for our little patio pad. Every step filled my sandals with dirt and I was constantly knocking it out my shoes, just getting in and out of The Lone Ranger. It may be a bit warmer in town but after the temperature reaches 95 degrees and up, a few degrees one way or the other means little. Relief from this heat is promised by the weatherman for this coming week. That will be nice.

We passed this horse ranch on the way to our last park whenever we went to town. These little miniature horses were enchanting. They have twenty or more of them! They also have donkeys and many beautiful regular sized horses as well.



Absolutely adorable!


Rolling on the ground getting a good scratch (just like the big horses!).

She is heading back to the herd in the background.


This little cutie looks very pregnant.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

12:22 pm Tuesday March 13, 2007

Not much that is exciting happening in our contented little world in Yuma. It is getting hotter every day—over 90 degrees every day this week. They tell us this is unusual this early in the year so we are hoping it backs off into the 80s soon. Now that would be perfect!

We all know what a “Honey do” list is. Even though Phil and I do not own a stick-built house anymore, we have not escaped the inevitable “to do’s”. There continues to be a running list for both of us posted in our Penny’s kitchen. However, here in Yuma, there are two wonderful women we love very much and both of them live alone. Phil has volunteered to take on any “Honey dos” they might have and has been making great progress and they are very happy ladies.

Last spring Phil worked with our cousin Nada laying beautiful ceramic floor tile in her house. They completed the living room, dining room, entry (all one big great room), kitchen and pantry that Nada had started herself but hard as she tried, just had not managed to get finished. When that was done, they moved the bulk of the furniture out of the large master bedroom, bath and walk-in closet (Nada is sleeping in the living room now) and started the preparations to continue the job in there.

That is when we headed north for the summer in Washington. Nada took advantage of the pause in the work to fatten up the kitty as she is trying to pay cash as she goes along.

When we returned in the fall of 2006, Phil went back to work and installed a new garbage disposal in Nada’s kitchen sink, painted and installed the rest of the molding that was still missing and hauled off a truckload of donations. to the Salvation Army. Nada has started laying the tile in the bedroom and Phil recently replaced her 16 year old dishwasher (that had given up the ghost) with a bright shiny new one. He also cut, painted and attached one inch vinyl lattice screen on her back yard gate to improve privacy in her side yard. She recently bought all new light fixtures and Phil will begin changing those out for her this coming weekend.

Aunt Elaine’s list is a lot shorter than Nada’s but Phil has taken down her old window treatments and curtain rods for her and she is trying out the clean look of vinyl blinds in her living room for now. Just yesterday he replaced the light fixture in her storage closet. He also installed a fire extinguisher in her bedroom and made sure her smoke alarm is working. He still has two projects to be done for her: #1 is to make sure the iron security guard is removable from the inside on her bedroom window so she could escape if there was a fire and #2 is pruning the dead wood off her citrus trees. Her two daughters, (my cousins) are coming for a week later in the month and we are looking forward to spending some fun time with them.

Friday, March 09, 2007

12:15 p.m. Friday, March 9, 2007

If you have checked out my comment section lately, you know a reader named Larry relayed a suggestion that rather than marking off items from my “Life List of Things To Do” fearing I would run out of things and then life would be over -- I should create a list of experiences I have had. That is a good suggestion but clearly, Larry has never seen my list!

If we had 100 years to travel around the United States in our wonderful Penny the Pace, we would still never run out of things to see and do. Fellow Rvers understand this completely but those of you who might take only one or two vacations a year have to be very choosey about what to see and where to go because of time restraints. We rarely travel more than 200 miles in one trip when we roll down the road and then we park for a minimum of a week, and in some cases a month or more at a time. After we are set up, we get in The Lone Ranger and travel out from our “home base” in a 100 mile (plus or minus a few) circle. In this way, we can visit special places, and do our sightseeing in a very leisurely fashion. In our opinion, it is the ONLY way to see this beautiful country.

Of course, sometimes we just hang out in our comfortable motorhome and rest. Every so often, we spend some time catching up on housekeeping and other chores but our favorite activity is visiting with friends and family. Below are a couple pictures of our friends, Joan and Charlie who have a home base in Shelton but travel all winter looking for sunshine. We met for a late lunch/early dinner at the Golden Corral Buffet (yummy!) then went to their motorhome to play with Joan’s computer and help her with questions she had about some maneuvers. Phil helped her while I watched … HA!
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Happy Birthday week to my youngest, Bobbie in Shelton. Her birthday was Tuesday and she has a whirlwind of lunches and visiting with friends planned. Oh yes, Happy Belated birthday to Virgil ... we love you too!


Phil explains a move on her computer to Joan.


Charlie and Joan

Monday, March 05, 2007

12:17 pm Monday, March 5, 2007

I can mark off another item from my “life list of things to do.” Yesterday, we attended the “Strong Hearts Native Society 27th Annual Pow Wow. My aunt Elaine drove her big Lincoln sedan so we could all go in the same car and Phil, Nada and I piled in for the short ride to the Quechan Reservation by Winterhaven, California. We were only able to stay a few hours and it was the last day of the Pow Wow but as our first adventure (only Nada has been many times before) it was quite an experience. The costumes (oops!)—the “regalia” were spectacular; every age was represented and everybody danced. They even invited the spectators into the arena. We declined … but enjoyed watching everyone else dance to the beat of the drumming and singing. I added a silver turtle pendant and a silver turtle ring to my collection; the vendors were authentic, plentiful and very artistic. Not a “made in Taiwan” among the bunch.