Happy Easter

 

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

May the joy of the season fill your heart.

AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!

Happy Easter!

 

 

This week has just flown by once again.  Tuesday we went to Hemet, which is about 30 miles away.  Chuck and John played golf, and Betty invited 2 friends over so we could play bridge.  It was a great time, and then we tried out a Mexican restaurant that had been recommended.  Funny, seems the closer you are to Mexico, the harder it is to find good Mexican food.

We have also been building a corner cabinet for the gazebo.  One that will be fully enclosed as we would like to have a TV out there, especially come summer.  It will be much nicer than trying to cool down the inside, at least that is the idea.  There is a huge wood working shop here with just about every tool you could possibly want.  Course they were all mostly unfamiliar to Chuck, so he would take the wood with all the cuts marked, and sure enough, there was some one who  couldn’t stop themselves from helping.  Could be they didn’t want blood all over their tools. What ever works!  Now I’m working on sewing side panels, seems one thing just leads to another, be glad when this is all done.  We thought we were done, but could not find a cabinet that would work that we could buy.

People are slowly starting to leave the park, although think there are quite a few that stay the year.  I’m kind of anxious to see what the weather is like come summer.  Know that if it is bad we can always head for the coast, which is usually cool.

Got my hair cut this morning and it is very short, think Chuck has more than I do at the moment.  It will grow I know.  Well, I am so proud of my self that I actually managed to do a blog of sorts like I said I would do.  Got seven days to work on the next one.  LOL  Till then, happy travels!

 

UP TO MY NECK IN ALLIGATORS

Here at Jojoba Hills they are redoing and enlarging one of the ponds.  The gators were in dire need of a fresh coat of paint, so I spent some time helping out there.  That and trying to learn the process of loading the slide program to the parks computer system without messing the whole thing up has become a challenge.  But think that I am slowly winning, the only way that I seem to be able to learn anything new is to do it over and over again.  Which works on my own, but when I’m trying it on the parks……..well, whole new story.  But getting better, Lynda left me step by step instructions, and as long as nothing goes wrong, all is okay. But yesterday I put up a slide for the Wheels ride, and used a motorcycle picture, the guy in charge called and said they were a bike group and he wanted a bike.  No problem!  Took the slide, highlighted the motorcycle, hit delete……and there went the whole program, every slide.  Thankfully it was all backed up on a thumb drive, and I could recover all 35 other slides, but my blood pressure was HIGH!

I finally got pictures of the patio area and my decorations from Yuma.  Even bought a couple of baskets of cacti and pots of bougainvillea, always thought those are so pretty.  Hope I don’t kill them off, unlike my mother I have a brown thumb, where as she was known to make a broom handle flower.  Will hook a drip system up to them when we are gone, that is why they are in pots, so I can move them around. 

The time sure has flown since we have gotten here, hard to believe that we have been here for 5 months.  Although we have taken a few short trips, we didn’t stay much more than a week each time.  Wonder how the summer will go as we are just planning to travel up the coast, near Pismo, Morro Bay area, a few times, an maybe do a week or so on the coast near San Diego.  We are getting together next week with some friends that we knew when Chuck was still in the service…..40 some years ago.  We ran into them in the commissary a month ago, and did not recognize each other, but the guys kept eyeing each other, and finally spoke, and it all came back. So they are going golfing and Betty has two more ladies coming in, and we are having a afternoon of bridge.  The bridge here is picking up, just about every afternoon we have at least one table, sometimes we are up to four tables.  But officially we only play once a week at night.

I promised myself that I would try and do better with the blog, and once a week is my goal.  Even if I just stick my head in and say Hi Everyone,  all is fine. 

 

Green Beer For All

All week we have been hearing that we have the “storm of the season” coming in any time.  Today is the first day that the sun is not shining, and we did have several hard gusts of wind, and a few sprinkles.  Guess we will just have to wait a little longer.

Matilda, has some new friends, although I can’t say that I approve of her hanging around with a bunch of naked “boids”.  There is this hill here that seems to attract flamingos and it is sort of a game with the walkers to rearrange them.  So I snuck her in, dressed for the occasion, and when I came by the next day, there they all were, gathered around her.  Doesn’t take much to amuse us!

We have gotten all our patio projects completed, but pictures have not been taken, so that is yet to come.  I’ve taken on a project for the park of posting information on our in-park channel.  There are other people that help and they say in the summer things really slow down. Think that it will be fun, I like fooling with the computer, now if I can conquer loading it into the master program, well life will be good. 

Days here just seem to blend together, there are cards of some sort every night, bridge game going most afternoons, large variety of classes.  I’ll be glad when I can utilize the pool.  Doctor is getting ready to finally release me, and I am so glad. Getting old is not for sissies. Oh, and then there are the happy hours. Yesterday we went to the ranch house for happy hour with the S.M.A.R.T. (special military and retired travelers) group that are having a mini rally here.  They had also prepared a huge pot of hobo stew, with bread and salad, and then finished off with brownies and ice cream. 

The scenery is starting to get so pretty.  The ground cover that is utilized in a lot of landscaping is coming into bloom and it is just brilliant.  Took the road through the wine country on our way to town the other day and was totally awed.  There are about 10 wineries in the area, looking forward to have our daughter and SIL for a visit.  They love doing that, and being as Chuck doesn’t drink we will have a designated driver. Planning on taking a drive through the area soon, with the camera, there were some beautiful views.

Right now we are getting just a little more than a sprinkle, so maybe the storm is here.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all.

To Yuma, Arizona & Back Again

Took us a week, but we made it to Yuma and back all safe and sound.  Our main purpose was to visit with Mac & Netters, and Donnie & Karen, as they were sitting out the winter there.  We parked the rig at their friends, well maybe should say we shoe-horned it in.  And getting it out almost had to grease the sides, but all went well.  The second day there we got news that a good friend, Kevin Sullivan,  had died suddenly.  We had spend a good part of the last two summers traveling off and on with him and Arlene, we will certainly miss him, he was a great guy.  So glad that we were will other people who knew him, it helps to share the grief, and we did.

Of course when you are that close to Mexico it calls for a trip across the border.  We went to Algodonas and must say it so much nicer than Progresso.  Like night and day,  picked up some meds, mainly for our kids.  When their co-pay is 10 times what you can buy a months supply for, seems like something is not right.  We had a nice lunch, only one margarita, and then the fun of getting back in the good U.S.A.  There is a good hour wait in line, and it was a good day, some are much longer they say, so that part is not better than Progresso.  There were benches where you could sit and wait for your people that were standing in line, which is what I did,  and then shopping comes to you.  Couldn’t resist, I did buy a few things, heck, didn’t have to carry them far.  We had planned to go again, but the wind was blowing something terrible that day, so decided to hit a indoor flea market.  There are several rather nicer markets in the area, and I was looking for some outdoor metal décor for our lot here.  Think I got it taken care of.  Also had dinner one night at DaBoyz, what great Italian food.  Mac and Chuck went golfing one day, but they came back feeling kind of somber.  Seems they both couldn’t over come the memories of the last time they had played together and Kevin had filled out the group. 

The last night we all got together at Donnie & Karen's, where we ate too much, but that didn’t stop any of us from having dessert.  We followed that with a few games of ‘chase the ace’.  Karen won the first, then Karen an Mac tied, so double pot…..whoohoo…Chuck won that, then it was Netters turn to take the pot.  We had a great time visiting it was so nice to see everyone.  Might be awhile before our paths cross, as everyone is heading east and we are planning on staying on the west coast.  And with prices like this, there maybe a slow down for most.

Felt good to be back “home”.  Seems when we have been sitting awhile, when we first start to travel, I always have the what did we forget to check, what will go wrong feeling.  The did I leave the iron on feeling?

Well, Chuck is out with the guys on their weekly golf outing.  We are going with a group to play bridge on Thursday, which means Chuck has to give up his outing with the Romeo’s (really old men eating out) for breakfast. And the big project of getting the steps set up, should fill out the rest of the week.  Trying to figure out a way to make them easy to move when we want to take the rig out cause they are very heavy and impossible for just the two of us to manage.  We’ll figure something out I’m sure. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busier than a one armed paper hanger, and accomplishing about as much.  But it has been fun most of the time.  We have been to dinners, lunch's, and if breakfast wasn’t usually in the morning we would have done those too.  The other night some friends took us to one of their favorite Mexican restaurants, we had tried a few that were not very good, but this one was amazing.  The only bad thing, I was having some blood work done the next day, and there was to be no liquor for 24 hours before. 

We finally got our frig fixed.  Have been running it on gas since September. There are several mobile repair services that are in the park, but business was so good that they were booked for a couple of months.  And ours was not an emergency as we still had refrigeration. We have a extended warranty, 200 dollar deductible, and the bill was just under that, guess I shouldn’t complain. 

Those of you who have not been to Jojoba Hills, it is located in very hilly, rocky country, that has  few residents.  On the way to town, 3 miles from our entrance, is a small gas station/bar/restaurant.  Ever since ( first of November) we have been here, diesel was priced at 4.30.  Even when in town where it went down to 3.98, for a very short time, it stayed the same till the other day.  Monday it rose to 4.68 and the very next day it was at 4.80.  In Temecula it is around 4.25 to 4.35.  Now I know why unemployment is going down, everyone had to hire 1 person whose job, and only job, it is to change the prices….hourly.  California is so much more expensive, but I love the weather, love being 40 miles from the beach, no humidity, and on and on.  Thankfully Jojoba has managed to ensure that the monthly maintenance is very affordable. 

We have finally firmed up plans to make a run to Yuma, for a week or so, leaving Monday.  Thought we could get away sooner, but there is a street party Sunday and we decided that we wanted to attend.  We have just about got our outside area all done, even to the point of having furniture. 

Just wanted to get a post on the blog, as I’m sure that it will be a while before I get another chance.  And to let everyone know “We are still here”.

Life is Good

MY TRAVELS
I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots.
Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with
someone.
I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to
be driven there.  I have made several trips there, thanks to my
friends, family and work.  I live close so it's a short drive.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not
too much on physical activity anymore.
I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to
visit there too often.
I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.
Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.
One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the
adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all
the stimuli I can get!
And, sometimes I think I am in Vincible but life shows me I am not.
People keep telling me I'm in Denial but I'm positive I've never been
there before!
I have been in Deepsh*t many times; the older I get, the easier it is
to get there.  I actually kind of enjoy it there.
So far, I haven't been in Continent; but my travel agent says I'll be
going soon.
Wishing you all safe travels

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2012

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING

IN 2012 when...
1. You accidentally
enter your PIN on the microwave.
2. You haven't
played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers

to reach your family of three.
4. You e-mail the person who

works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch

with friends and family is that they
don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your

cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you

carry in the groceries...
7. Every commercial on television

has a web site at the bottom of the screen

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone,

which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it
10. You get up in the morning and go on line

before getting your coffee
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12 You're reading this and

nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly

to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy
to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list .
~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
NOW you are LAUGHING at yourself!

"Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused!" (Unknown Author)
------------
--------- --------- ---------
Go on, forward this
to your friends. You know you want to! Oh and go lick your elbow!

Beautiful Days, Cool Nights

That sums up our weather for the past week, with the exception of wind one day.  It has been just lovely, and we are taking full advantage of it.  Relaxing and doing bits and pieces on the patio area.  Planted two trees, tore out all the fuzzy bushes, and will be putting down an extension to the patio area.  Won’t be long before we have it all done, and then we can relax full time.  No, then I get to buy some furniture for that area. 

Some friends of ours came for a visit last week, and that meant we, what else, we went out to eat.  And only to the best places!  This place is out near Jojoba, and even though the they manage to disguise the fact that it is a very good restaurant, they do a great business.  Thanks, Rollie & Janet for being good sports, it was fun.

Matter of fact we made reservations for Valentines dinner.  Been busy here, as they are putting on a play tomorrow night, the musical, Gypsy.  Think that it will be a fun night, they certainly have worked hard, and everyone assured us that it will be great. 

We are enjoying our time here, and meeting new people every day it seems.  With my memory sure glad that everyone is encouraged to wear name tags.  Not only am I not good with names,  having a hard time with faces.  Whoooow is me.

Till next time, time flies when you are having fun.

Life is Good

Day By Day

This week has gone by so fast, guess it was cause we did nothing much, but we did a lot of it.  Took in the movie Warhorse, which was actually what you would expect, but didn’t stop me from blubbering like an idiot.  Yesterday we did brunch at one of the near by casinos.  The only thing that we managed to fill were our tummies.  But it was an awesome brunch.  Didn’t eat again till lunch today.  There are about five casinos near here, but we have only been to two so far.  Have not been a winner at either one, but not a big loser either.  I like to play blackjack, but the tables are ten dollar minimum and I just can’t handle that.  That gets to be real money way too fast for me. 

Chuck has an appointment with the VA for hearing tests Wednesday in the morning, and I have one for the afternoon for a problem that can’t seem to get rid of.  Oh, the woes of getting old!  I’m also going to start a gourd decorating course.  There is a gourd festival in Casa Grande, the first part of February that I would love to go to, but depends on my problem.  Also a quick week trip to Yuma, but no definite plans yet. 

Life is Good

January Fading

Last night was down right cold, but this morning the sun was shining and once the furnace heated the RV up the world looked pretty rosy.  We have enjoyed the sunshine here, even though it has not been as warm as the valley in Texas.  We have virtually had no wind, and there is seldom a day without wind there.  Seems no place is perfect, weather wise, and the good part is we can always move on down the road.  Our travels this year will most likely keep us close to Jojoba Hills.  We are thinking to taking short jaunts, up the coast, (it is cool during the summer) Grand Canyon, Zion NP, there are a lot of places that we would like to spend more time at.  At least that is a sort of, maybe, might be, could be plan, if….. Yeah, let’s write that in Jell-O and nail it to a tree plan.

Our new site, this one will be the one we will make some improvements to and call home for awhile.  About ready to lay the rest of the pavers and get the gazebo recovered.  I ordered 2, 20 yard bolts of fabric for side curtains, think that should be a fairly easy project.  Will use grommets for easy hanging.  Was able to order a replacement top, and Amazon did it’s speedy delivery.  It is so easy to find whatever you want with the internet, think back when all we had was the Sears catalog.
We have been staying busy, playing cards, peg and jokers, and what ever else is taking place.  Chuck has been getting in a few rounds of golf each week, and of course we have all those doctor visits that seem to go on forever.  And the tests, vampires would require less blood.  Sure glad that we are feeling good and don’t have any real problems to speak of.

Have a glass of Wine.

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine..and those who don't and are always seen with a bottle of water in their hand.
As Ben Franklin said:
In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.

Good By “Two Bits”

I have been putting off writing this blog, hoping that if it wasn’t put on paper, she would reappear.  Some how she got out with out of our rig, without us seeing her, and by the time we realized that she was not here, we could not locate her any where.  She has popped out a few times when we were going out, and we did not realize it, but she always hung around, as she did not like being out once she was there.  So it is a big mystery as to what happened.  Her collar had her name and our phone number, plus she was chipped, but we are very close to a wilderness area, and she might have gone in search of grass.  She really like to munch on it, plus there are lots of quail an bunny rabbits running around and she could have followed them.

Good-by 2-Bits, you were the best little traveler, we will miss you.

Everything Coming Up Roses

 Whoo, getting this blog up  has turned into a real job.  My keyboard will not work on my computer, and that is where my pictures are, so have posted the blog with pictures and am now editing it on Chucks.  Hey where there is a will there's a way.  We thoroughly enjoyed the whole tour, excellent tour company.  Adventure Caravans.  And the weather did it's part too.  

Posted some more on Picasa,

https://picasaweb.google.com/114969455386581338428/ROSEPARADE2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKPR3N2Gy8m4DQ&feat=directlink 

Well, this is not working so good.

 Close-up of the bird.

 Following Roy Rogers float came 100 palominos, all carrying the American flag. 

Very impresssive.

Last Trip of the Year

We are with Adventure Caravans for the Rose Parade.  They have had us going  non-stop for 3 days, and we decided to sit today out and let our back sides catch up to us.  The first afternoon was settling in, reception party, with instructions that we would board the bus round 9.  Then it was off to the Equestfest.  Consisted of the mounted unites that will be in the parade. Impressive.

     

Then it was back on the bus for a ride of 90 miles to the Palm Spring Follies.  Now this is a show of people who are at the very least 55 years of age, and they were fantastic.  The showgirls age started at 63 up to 82.  Totally amazing. They had great full body suits including arms and boobs, but you could hardly tell.  Costumes rivaled any thing in Vegas.  After almost 3 hour show we were back on “thee bus” arriving back at the park around midnight, only to be told that we were to be seated once again at 7:15……AM.  We were off to one of the float barns where there were 10 floats being worked on in this area.  Each flower here is in it’s own vial, flowers, flowers every where.

Flowers galore and then some.  The largest float to every be in the parade is being built here, and it  was indescribable. CRS won’t let me remember the sponsor, but vaguely recall something about a dog food company. 

From there we were off to the Huntington Library, which is more like a large museum, surrounded with different flower gardens, many of them were not blooming, and the high winds that came through the area, a few weeks ago, took a toll on several areas.  The desert cacti area was superb though.

Aloe in bloom, had never realized there were as many varieties of cactus as there were here.          

Every plant here is a cactus, would love to see this when it was in bloom, must really be something.

Could have spent the day here.

Time to get back on thee bus, and we were on our way to the Band fest.  The bands that are participating in the parade put on shows for a few days.  And for all my Wisconsin friends and family, They were the best of the day.  They did a Pokka and really got into it.  The crowd was stomping and clapping like mad.  Great Show, great job!                                                              

        

Once again back on….you know what, and headed home. 

Had an hour before we were treated to a catered dinner, and finished the ole year off, with a champagne toast, with poppers popping, horns a tooting, and wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Tomorrow we will be off for the parade, leaving here at 5:30, but we are well rested.  Did not mind missing today, it was a tour consisting of Rodeo Drive, Mann’s Chinese theatre, Farmer Market and a few other stops, but we have see it all on different tours, know we both enjoyed the rest a lot more. 

Life is Good

Christmas Week

Hope this finds every one full of Christmas cheer, and that it was a wonderful day.  We had a quiet, easy day, and in the afternoon went to the  club house for a dinner with 70 of our closest friends.  Once again, potluck, and done in tables of 12.  I like it that way, each table has a more personal setting.  It was a beautiful day, finally the weather is warming up so it feels like southern California.

Last week our son and family were coming down for Chucks birthday and we decided that the birthday boy should spend it at Disneyland.

We met up there and spent a few nights in a hotel so we could take our time.

Glad we did, we are too old for the crowds, lines and more crowds.  The fireworks were awesome, the decorations, unbelievable.  Loved the parades, it truly is a wonderful place.

The second day the kids left to be at the park at 8, and we took our time and think that both of us enjoyed it much more.  They got a lot of rides out of the way before the crowding began.  Getting home was horrible though, we had a traffic jam for 30 miles, then when we were only 10 miles from the park there was an accident and the road was closed.  We went back to Wal-Mart and sat in the parking lot, calling the sheriffs office checking to see if the road was open only to be told no, no, no.  Finally after 2 hours Chuck decided we would drive up there and check and if it wasn’t open get a motel.  No road blockage, no police, nada.  Our son had dismantled a gazebo in his back yard, and brought it up to us.  It will work really good here, just needs a new cover. He had a union meeting that night, but wouldn’t leave till it was all put together.  Thank you Glen.

Ran into town today to Costco to try and get some of their Christmas lights that are so pretty, but pricey.  They had it all shipped out, no sale there, and there was outdoor furniture ect. in its place, what a quick change. 

Chuck is off to the golf course tomorrow, he has been only playing once a week, but the weather has not been all that great.  Wednesday we are leaving to meet up with our tour group for the Rose Parade.  Looking forward to that, but also to settling down for awhile once we get back. 

I also became a great aunt on the 25th, now I not only have a grandson with that birthday but a great nephew.  Also some special friends, Bob & Molly, welcomed their bundle of joy the 24th.  We are all so blessed.

Life is Good

Short Moves Hurt

I had no sooner posted the last blog, than a lot opened up that we felt we would be happier in.  It had some lattice fencing and huge additional patio addition.  So the move was on,  didn’t know that we had so much “stuff” in the storage shed already.  But got it all moved and this morning hooked up Damnearahouse, and off it went.  I was going to take the golf cart over, when I seen that the steps were still down.  I’m waving like a wild women, but Chuck doesn’t see me, so I start running down the street to the cart, mind you with clogs on, going down hill, when I do a face plant literally.  My sun glasses tore up the bridge of my nose, the pavement took care of the rest of it, and my lips are a whole lot bigger than Angelina's.  How I managed not to break my teeth is a miracle. Didn’t even break a nail. But there will be no Christmas pictures this year! 

So after that we are going to Disneyland!  Our son and family are coming down and we are meeting them in Anaheim tomorrow.  We’ll just spend a couple of nights in a hotel, and do a couple of days at the park.  Then they will come back to the park for a few days. The only time we were there our son was about 7, and he is almost 50 now, so it has been awhile.  The military had a great deal on tickets for retirees so glad we could take advantage of it.  

Have  enjoyed having the clown car, took it to town the other day and it was so great to be able to park, AND know where the back end is, cause it doesn’t have any.  lol

Well, I have had two large mugs of hot apple cider, spiked with left over Makers Mark, and I’m feeling good. Make that feeling very, very good.   End of my tale of woe, life is good.

New Wheels

We have batting around the idea of getting a small car for around here, being as we will be spending a fair amount of time in this area.  Driving the truck or rather parking it is defiantly not one of my favorite things to do. Even Chuck would prefer something else.   But not a new one, not for us, not now, so yes, that is what we got.  A 2012 Honda Fit.  Surprisingly it has a lot of room inside, and very easy to get in and out of.  And parking it should be easy!  Boy, does it look small in the picture, yet it’s not.

Our son and family are coming down next week for a few days.  Want to help celebrate Chucks 75th birthday.  Sure will be good to see them, especially our grandson.  He is already in junior high, just growing up so fast.  He was the only grandchild that we got to be around on a regular basis, so he holds a special place in our hearts.  The other two grandsons lived across the country and would visit for a month in the summer, and after having two little guys for that length of time, waving good-by was with mixed emotions. But they are in there 30’s now, where did the time go?

The park has gotten busy, and we have too. The weather has been good to not so good.  Not as warm as Texas, but also not any where the amount of wind.  We are debating on whether the lot we are on is the one we want, or trade to another.  We can do that, but only when one opens up.  Like the size of ours (although they are all large) and the fact that it faces a hill on the back side.  Even though that means we have no view, we have absolute privacy.  Before we do some rock work, and put in a sitting/dining area, want to be sure this is where we will stay.  Decisions, decisions.

Christmas decorations are up, no tree, the cat would probably get the better of that. I’ve tried to pick up a ornament that reminds me of some thing special or some place new.  Have quite a few now, yet they only take up 3 photo boxes, so the storage is not a problem.  And it is nice to remember why each one was bought.

Today I made Makers Mark bourbon balls.  Think most of those will be going to the club house.  They should get a few pace makers working over time, but they sure are good.  Most of my shopping has been on line, they even wrap it, and just have it sent where ever it needs to go.  And then money and gift cards take care of the rest.  Awwww life is good………

Craft Fair

Today was the craft fair for the park.  Some very talented people live here.  Bought a few things, but they are gifts, so will let it go at that.  They also had a soup luncheon which was very good.  Five different kinds of soup, all you can eat.  unfortunately I could only sample two and they were both delicious.  There were also sampler plates of cookies and candies, and one of those came home with us. Would have like to gotten a few more and froze them as our son and family are going to visit for a few days before Christmas.  But we had made a trip to Costco and the freezer is at full capacity.

We have been looking to buy a small suv, preferably a CR-V,  the least favorite thing to shop for next to  a swimming suit, in my humble opinion.  Something will turn up, just going to look and the hassle is not my thing.

Played hand & foot last night, they play with real cards here….lol……and lots of rules, but it is fun.  Only play 4 hands and that is the game, so it doesn’t go on too long.  Tomorrow working in the mail room, putting up mail, Chuck will be on the golf course.  Slowly we are finding our niche.

Two Bits and her new toy.

It Can’t Be December!

We have been making some progress in getting settled in, although it seems to be going slowly.  I read on someone's blog how when you are going to be some place for a week, how you prioritize  the plans you have for that area, and everything gets taken care, places get seen,all in the time frame.  But when you are going to be there for a extended period, things just get put on the back burner.  And that is so true for us.  We have done no area exploring, although we have been to Temecula a number of times, and we are starting to knew our way around there.  Nice town, lots of shopping and very pretty.  About the only negative we have of Jojoba is that we are 15 miles from town, so our eating out has been cut down dramatically, which is a good thing in a way.  I’m having to learn to cook all over. 

Yesterday for Thanksgiving we had a small potluck .  They did the 12 person tables, which works out great, and we had a good time.  Slowly we are getting into the swing of things, everyone is very friendly.  Chuck is happy to be making weekly golf outings, plus there are more card games going than we are able to participate in on a regular basis.  It is a sad day when Chuck has to make a choice of what he can play…lol

Well darn it, left the puter for a minute and it turned into a week.  If anyone thinks that we may be flying by due to the huge wind storm in L.A., we actually had no wind here to speak of.  Just as surprised as everyone else when we seen the news the next day.  Am so not missing the Texas wind.  We decided to take a run to Camp Pendleton, which is only about 25 miles away, but that is the back side.  Callie (gps) had us going on a few back road that might of one time led to the base, but not any more, so many gates are closed due to 9/11.  So we made a few turn arounds but eventually reached a gate we could get into.  But the base is huge, the good thing the golf course is on the back side, the bad news, the commissary, on the front side 18 miles away.  By the time we finally got there, shopped, we did not have time to run by and take as peak of the ocean.  Chuck is not fond of driving in the dark and as it was he did have to the last few miles. It will pay for us to do a major shopping there ever so often though.  California is pricey when it comes to anything to do with living here. 

Yesterday I went up and helped decorate the club house, which I had a great time doing, I’ve missed doing up the house for Christmas.  In the RV, I just run my loop of greenery and hang my ornaments that I’ve acquired from each state we have been in and that has been it.  Although this year we got some of the new lights from Costco that  are so pretty for outside.  Had to put the awning out to have some place to hang them.  We haven’t decided if this is the lot that we intend to keep, so we are holding off doing anything.  As for getting out door furniture, that is hard to come by in December, even out here. 

Am going to post this NOW, as it may be next year if I go away again.  What a great way to live, busy, busy, busy.

Settling In

We have spent this past week getting used to our new surroundings. Unloading “Damnearahouse” was surprising, there is no longer any doubt of why we could never find anything.  There was a lot of sometimes two and three of the same item, but we  could not lay our hands on any of it.  Having that shed will make it a lot easier, hope that when we will need something it will not be in the shed.  Think we have come to a much better understanding of what we really do need to be out on the road.

Our site, 410 Hummingbird Lane

Landscaping at the entrance

Huge pool and spas

Surrounding area

  Jojoba was literally craved out of the hillsides, with mostly sweat and back breaking work.  I’ve taken an  scanned it to share the history.   Amazing!

Life is Good

Land of Fruits, Nuts and 4.30 Diesel

Having spent the night in Camp Verde, Arizona at a pricey park, 39 dollars, with the Good Sam discount, we were off to an early start. Mostly to get back to the audio book we were finishing up, John Gresham's, Litigators.  Easy drive over to Dewey, and then Callie (gps) took us up this hill right through  a up scale neighborhood, but did take us out to 89, so all was fine. That is till we found us on this mountain trail, but we were committed so on we pressed.  Thirty some miles later we we coming down into the town of Congress.  Know that the Escapees have a park in the area, but we were white knuckled out and went on down the road, not that we would have stopped that soon after all.  From there it was a okay ride, some wind, bad for a few miles, smoky for a while, due to a controlled burn.  Only the government would do a controlled burn in a 30 mile plus wind storm.  Finally we were within 45 miles of  Jojoba, and we were feeling giddy,

we had made it………well not so fast, that mountain in the distance, we were going over it!  Course we did not realize that till once again we were past the point of no turn around.  The only thing I can compare this part of the trip to was driving up Pike’s Peak. 

See that tiny little line in the picture, that is the road, I was taking these pictures without looking, just holding the camera out the window snapping away.  Could not bring myself to look, and heights do not bother me that much.  But this was high!

Chuck has to be the bravest driver ever, or else he was so scared he could not utter a word.  The truck pulled us up and over without even working up a sweat, and the jake break took us down like we were a feather.  Have a feeling if it knew where we were it would have threw up in it’s exhaust pipe. I can guarantee you there will be a new route next time. 

Now to the best part, we are all set up on our huge site.  Wow, we have space to park 3-4 vehicles.  And a nice large storage shed, so will be able to leave some of the stuff we use in the winter months here.  That will be so nice.  The weather when we got here was great as was yesterday, but today rain off and on.  Yesterday we ran into Temecula and found a family doctor and got appointments scheduled.  Then ordered a golf cart, which we will need in these hills.  Don’t have pictures of the area yet, but soon.  Think we will be happy to spend the winter here, and in years to come, lots to do, great shopping in Temecula, casino about 8 miles, plus San Diego and L.A.  Not that we will be running to the big cities, but they are there, along with all they have to offer.  And I’ll be able to get my ocean fix as it is about 40 miles away.  All that for the price of 230 monthly, which includes cable, water, garbage.  The only extra we have is electric, don’t think we could beat that.  Of course there is the 4.30 diesel!

Life is Good