February 25 - March 10
Hope you weren't worried – we're alive and well. I've just fallen behind on updating. The past two weeks have flown by. While the weather has not been full-on sunshine and heat, it's been much better than what we've dealt with up to this point. We get a couple of sunny days, and then it's cloudy and cool-ish (although usually nice and warm by the late afternoon). So let's see, what's special over the past couple of weeks.
Tuesday, Feb 26th some of the guys headed back to Al & Kerry's place to pick more oranges. I was still doing battle with my cold and begged off, although it was pretty much a picking-from-the-ladder day, so I wouldn't have been any help. Another pickup load.
Hope you weren't worried – we're alive and well. I've just fallen behind on updating. The past two weeks have flown by. While the weather has not been full-on sunshine and heat, it's been much better than what we've dealt with up to this point. We get a couple of sunny days, and then it's cloudy and cool-ish (although usually nice and warm by the late afternoon). So let's see, what's special over the past couple of weeks.
Tuesday, Feb 26th some of the guys headed back to Al & Kerry's place to pick more oranges. I was still doing battle with my cold and begged off, although it was pretty much a picking-from-the-ladder day, so I wouldn't have been any help. Another pickup load.
Wednesday, Feb 27th my cousin Deborah and her husband David stopped in Mesa overnight on their way to Tucson and points beyond. They came and had dinner with us. Since they didn't need to be in Tucson until the next evening, the guys decided to go for a hike Thursday morning, and I offered to take Deborah (who is an avid quilter) to a few fabric stores. Big mistake on my part. I wasn't even finished my two-year-old project at that point and found material that, while not yet purchased, will no doubt be in the rig on the way home. And I have the exact project already figured out for some of it. We had a great visit and look forward to seeing them again soon, hopefully.
Oil painting classes finished up this week, and my project is still a work-in-progress that I'll have to finish at home. It needs some fine tuning and a bit more detail in places. Really enjoyed working with this medium, although it is a slower process than acrylics as you wait so much longer for the paint to dry before going on to the next stage.
Sunday, March 3rd new renters moved in to Jack & Shelley's park model across and down a couple (next door to our old RV site from 2016 & 2017) - Rich and Karen from north of Reno. Invited them to come and have vodka and OJ from the juice we had just freshly squeezed, and we seemed to hit it off right away.
Monday, March 4th was pizza night at Pizza Mike's, in honour of our dear friend Marieanne who has come back to the park for the month of March. Tim and Marieanne became friends with the 4th Street crew 3 years ago when we all arrived on 4th, although they only stayed for a month. They returned in 2017 for 3 months and the friendships grew stronger. Unfortunately, shortly after returning home that year, Tim had a heart attack and did not survive. We had visited with Marieanne last summer after Graham's wedding, but it was great to have her back in the park and catching up with all of us. She brought some family along and it was so much fun to meet all of them. We took a special liking to her niece, Elise and Elise's partner, Tenille, just here for the week.
Wednesday, March 6th another bad service experience for lunch at the Cactus Grill, on the resort patio. Another long wait to get service, and as the wait stretches out after the order is taken, we're thinking the server forgot to put our order in. We waited and waited and finally (after saying twice before he was going to check) he went to check – it had now been over 25 minutes since the order had been taken. He comes back and says they're backed up in the kitchen, and it'll be another 10 minutes or so, but we see that people that came in after us have their food. Robin told him to cancel the order and give us back the Cactus Bucks we had used to pay for our meal (GC's given to us due to the poor service the last time we went there for lunch). And I told the server that they would comp the beverages we had (just coke and lemonade). He apologizes, gives us back the Cactus Bucks and goes back to cancel the order. He comes back a couple of minutes later to say the burgers are just about ready and they will be on the house if we still want them. Naturally, we accepted.
Later that day we said goodbye😥to Doug and Anne at happy hour with the usual crew. Oh my, the laughs we had today were something else. We always have a good time with all these people, but today was exceptional. Must have been all the sunshine and Vitamin D we got today. 🤣😂
Thursday, March 7th I finally finished the quilted throw. Glad to have that behind me so I can move on to other projects without feeling guilty. On Monday night at Mike's we were discussing restaurants in the area and we mentioned Woo Chi and the crab legs on their buffet. Well, Tenille just had to go, so we set up a date for the whole family to go tonight, and had a great time. Tenille sure enjoyed the crab. I'm not sure there was anything else on her plate.
Friday, March 8th we met up with Jack & Shelley for lunch. They are heading home earlier than planned as Jack is having serious asthma issues down here, and his normal medication just isn't doing the job. They own a condo elsewhere in Mesa, where they usually stay, and the park model here that they renovated and rent out. They have decided they can't come back here because of Jack's asthma issues, so are now trying to sell both places. Hopefully we can get up to Penticton periodically to visit them.
There is a Harbor Freight in the same plaza where the restaurant is, and they were having a parking lot sale, so of course we had to check it out. Came away with a TV wall mount regularly $200, for $40. We've been thinking we want to put the TV at home back on the wall, and this mount allows you to tip the screen forward a bit, which is what we would need, so it quickly found its way into the cart.
Saturday, March 9th we headed to downtown Mesa for the Downtown Mesa BrewFest. Took Rich & Karen along, and met up with Jim & Colleen and Phil & Paula. Lots of beers to choose from (about 70 vendors), but they didn't do it using small sample sizes for a small fee, like we usually see. Instead you got a regular size cup and paid $5 per ticket to fill it up at the chosen vendor's tent. So Robin and Rich decided that since they both like the same kinds of beer, they would split each cup. I did get to use one ticket when I found a cider vendor, and I think Karen found a stout she liked. They had lots of food trucks as well, so had a tasty lunch. We were in and out inside a couple of hours partly because Rich & Karen had other plans for late afternoon, but felt more than satisfied.
Monday, March 4th was pizza night at Pizza Mike's, in honour of our dear friend Marieanne who has come back to the park for the month of March. Tim and Marieanne became friends with the 4th Street crew 3 years ago when we all arrived on 4th, although they only stayed for a month. They returned in 2017 for 3 months and the friendships grew stronger. Unfortunately, shortly after returning home that year, Tim had a heart attack and did not survive. We had visited with Marieanne last summer after Graham's wedding, but it was great to have her back in the park and catching up with all of us. She brought some family along and it was so much fun to meet all of them. We took a special liking to her niece, Elise and Elise's partner, Tenille, just here for the week.
Wednesday, March 6th another bad service experience for lunch at the Cactus Grill, on the resort patio. Another long wait to get service, and as the wait stretches out after the order is taken, we're thinking the server forgot to put our order in. We waited and waited and finally (after saying twice before he was going to check) he went to check – it had now been over 25 minutes since the order had been taken. He comes back and says they're backed up in the kitchen, and it'll be another 10 minutes or so, but we see that people that came in after us have their food. Robin told him to cancel the order and give us back the Cactus Bucks we had used to pay for our meal (GC's given to us due to the poor service the last time we went there for lunch). And I told the server that they would comp the beverages we had (just coke and lemonade). He apologizes, gives us back the Cactus Bucks and goes back to cancel the order. He comes back a couple of minutes later to say the burgers are just about ready and they will be on the house if we still want them. Naturally, we accepted.
Later that day we said goodbye😥to Doug and Anne at happy hour with the usual crew. Oh my, the laughs we had today were something else. We always have a good time with all these people, but today was exceptional. Must have been all the sunshine and Vitamin D we got today. 🤣😂
Thursday, March 7th I finally finished the quilted throw. Glad to have that behind me so I can move on to other projects without feeling guilty. On Monday night at Mike's we were discussing restaurants in the area and we mentioned Woo Chi and the crab legs on their buffet. Well, Tenille just had to go, so we set up a date for the whole family to go tonight, and had a great time. Tenille sure enjoyed the crab. I'm not sure there was anything else on her plate.
Friday, March 8th we met up with Jack & Shelley for lunch. They are heading home earlier than planned as Jack is having serious asthma issues down here, and his normal medication just isn't doing the job. They own a condo elsewhere in Mesa, where they usually stay, and the park model here that they renovated and rent out. They have decided they can't come back here because of Jack's asthma issues, so are now trying to sell both places. Hopefully we can get up to Penticton periodically to visit them.
There is a Harbor Freight in the same plaza where the restaurant is, and they were having a parking lot sale, so of course we had to check it out. Came away with a TV wall mount regularly $200, for $40. We've been thinking we want to put the TV at home back on the wall, and this mount allows you to tip the screen forward a bit, which is what we would need, so it quickly found its way into the cart.
Saturday, March 9th we headed to downtown Mesa for the Downtown Mesa BrewFest. Took Rich & Karen along, and met up with Jim & Colleen and Phil & Paula. Lots of beers to choose from (about 70 vendors), but they didn't do it using small sample sizes for a small fee, like we usually see. Instead you got a regular size cup and paid $5 per ticket to fill it up at the chosen vendor's tent. So Robin and Rich decided that since they both like the same kinds of beer, they would split each cup. I did get to use one ticket when I found a cider vendor, and I think Karen found a stout she liked. They had lots of food trucks as well, so had a tasty lunch. We were in and out inside a couple of hours partly because Rich & Karen had other plans for late afternoon, but felt more than satisfied.
Sunday, March 10th was a quiet day. We had a lazy morning, and sat out enjoying the sunshine for most of the day. I did a bit of shopping (one of the fabric stores had an incredible sale on quilt batting), and finished a riveting story I was reading. In another 9 sleeps our kids will be here for a week, and then 6 sleeps after they leave we start the trek home. Sometimes it seems like we just got here, and by the lack of colour in my skin it would seem so, but our time is just about up. That's OK, because I know within the next 2-3 weeks it will start to get hotter than we like or can handle.
Until next time, dear readers.
Until next time, dear readers.