Short but sweet

Mike arrived around 5:30 last night. We hung out, had salads for dinner, and hung out some more. This morning we went out to breakfast and now he has headed to Phoenix. He had a business meeting in Colton CA yesterday and drove thru Quartzsite from the airport to CA, and again on the way back. I'm happy that we got to visit as I hadn't made any plans to go to Phoenix this year since I didn't know what my work schedule was going to be, plus the expense of a hotel room was prohibitive this year. I could do a day trip, but it is a two plus hour drive and when I drive that far, I like to stay a while.

Here are some fun photos from breakfast this morning. Playing with our phones.

The only thing on my agenda for today is to try and catch up on some sleep. I have today off and open the store tomorrow. Then I am off until Wednesday afternoon. A mini vacation. Plus the post office and I want to wait until this afternoon for that so I can get whatever might come in today's mail in addition to whatever is already there.

Dinner and lights

I have missed breakfast out with the neighbors the last three Sunday's. I was sick, then Glen and Diane went to Mexico and this last Sunday they were still in Phoenix waiting for their daughter to arrive. She was having trouble getting here due to the horrible weather and they had to wait four days for her to finally arrive. Anyway, I didn't feel like dealing with food and cooking yesterday so I asked Keith if he wanted to go get something to eat. I am also trying to make more of an effort do do something fun each week other than sleeping and working. 

We went to the new restaurant, La Casa Gold, and weren’t impressed. We both had the taco salad, Keith’s was chicken and mine was ground beef. They were very stingy with the sour cream and salsa, should have been at least double what they gave us and they put the meat on the bottom! I have never had one with meat on the bottom before. Took a while before we actually got to it. The ambiance is ok, lots of wood, the tables were beautiful polished wood, didn’t notice the chairs. Still smells a little musty because the building had been closed up a couple of years. And the service was just OK. Nothing really bad to write about it, but nothing really nice either. 

This was at the restaurant. Very pretty.

After dinner we took a ride over to Olinger Ave to see the light display I had been reading about. It was pretty impressive. You get to walk around this guy’s yard and see everything. We ran into Connie and Bob my neighbors when I was out in the desert. I see them at least once a year. We drove around a little more and looked at more lights.  I did not take pictures, there was just way too much to look at. All in all, it was a fun evening and it was nice to get out. I’m glad I made the effort even tho I didn’t really feel like going by the time dinner time came around.

On the negative side, when I went to bed I kept hearing this ticking noise. I have a water drip under the building somewhere and it is dripping on the heating ductwork and is being amplified. I really don’t need a water leak or a loud drip. I had heard it once before a year or so ago and it went away. I’m hoping it will this time too. Could be the result of the cold weather, something loosening up enough to drip, or condensation or something. I’ll deal with it next week if it is still dripping. I did manage to go to sleep in spite of that. Maybe Mark can fix it for me. I keep expecting the water heater to die. It is quite old and with the water here the life on those things is shortened considerably. So far so good tho.

Today I have to make a dumpster run and I tracked my innersoles for my work shoes, they won’t be at the post office until tomorrow, so I will probably wait until tomorrow to go there. 

When we got back last night UPS had been here and I still have the two boxes to open. One is the recoil pad for my shotgun and the other is the two floor lamps. I’ll get those assembled and in place this morning so I can get rid of the cardboard when I go to the dumpsters. I need to move the golf cart to the other side of the trailer so Mike will have a place to park when he is here. I’ll do that if I use the golf cart for the dumpster run.

Haven’t checked on the garden this morning. It wasn’t quite as cold last night. It had the added light and was quite bright.

    

Garden update

It has been cold here the last few days. Freezing cold...literally. I got some string lights in the garden enclosure and things were good yesterday morning, but this morning I discovered the zucchini lost a few leaves to the cold, but not the whole plant. So I added a 60 watt incandescent light to that corner since the string lights didn’t reach over there. Everything else looks good tho. Gonna be lighting up the neighborhood...

My amaryllis are getting closer to blooming and the xmas cactus are starting and all three should be blooming by Sunday.

I’m not doing a whole lot today. It is my only day off until Friday and I am going to enjoy as much of it as I can. It is still cold here.The sun is up, but isn’t giving off a lot of warmth and it is breezy so it is cold. My fingers are complaining. I still spend as much time outside as I can even when it is cold like this. I need the sunlight. I haven’t used the heater part of the fireplace yet, but those days aren’t far off. Supposed to warm up a little for a few days then get cold again. It is only in the low 50’s again today. Winter! Ugh! I know, I shouldn’t be complaining, I could be in the upper half of the states. Seems like everyone is getting hammered with winter this year.

My new floor lamps are supposed to arrive today. I also ordered a recoil pad for the 20 gauge. They shipped UPS so I don’t have to go to the post office. Yay. You should see the bruise I have on my shoulder from firing the shotgun only three times. The pad should help. I don’t remember having this problem with the full sized one I had before. Hope we go target shooting again soon. I enjoy that. I also enjoy showing up the “boys”.  Jake would be proud. 😊😊😊😊😊

I did not buy the christmas pillows I mentioned the other day. I didn’t bring any money or a credit card to work with me. They are still there tho….I might get them tomorrow if they haven’t sold. I really don’t need them, but they are snowflakes and can be used after the holidays too. The back side is solid red, so that would work any time.

I’m hoping that I am not so beat Thursday that I can’t enjoy what few hours Mike and I will have. Hoping we go out to eat, and then we might fire up the stove on the patio. That would be nice. I haven’t used it since last winter. Too much trouble for just myself…Although I should make more of an effort to do stuff like that. I have the little one for the trailer that my neighbors gave me last year. I could use too that one too.

Mark is supposed to work on the trailer next week. Get that back wall built and the door in. Going to ask him to help with the vent cover on the roof. Might as well since he will be here. Getting the wall and door in just might motivate me enough to finish up the trailer. Then I could take it out for a weekend or an overnight. That is it’s whole purpose. I have had it a year already and haven’t even used it.

Thinking of taking a ride around the park some night with the golf cart to see the Christmas lights. I guess there are a couple of places in town that are pretty impressive that I should check out too. It just isn’t the same by myself. Maybe I can talk Mike into doing that with me.

A fun Monday for a change

I'm thinking maybe the amaryllis will be blooming before Christmas. The paperwhites have finally started growing as well. They are happier in front of the sliding door than they were on the kitchen table. Just a little bit more light.

Got the new mattress finally and got the bed set up. I have been sleeping in there for at least part of the night since I got it all arranged. I did loose a few extra inches in the room because the mattress is wider than I had anticipated, but it is all good. I still gained a lot of useable space by downsizing the bed. 

One of the nights I couldn't sleep I once again pondered and formulated a plan to install a shelf in the garden enclosure. I stopped at Herb's on Saturday after work and bought the materials and Sunday morning I installed it. It isn't quite like I had planned, but is good for now. It gets the pots out of the way and I have a place for the garden implements now.

I ended up putting up two 2x4's on the outside and hung the shelf brackets on the inside through the chicken wire and plastic. There really wasn't anything to attach to on the inside, and this worked out quite well. 

Yesterday turned out to be pretty much a fun day. I went to coffee, and then went to Sal’s. Got a few xmas linens and a really nice outdoor light fixture for $5. Not sure where I will put it but would be a good replacement for the jury rigged light I did a while ago, and I will probably also paint it black before I put it up.

I also got a pretty woven jacket, but I ruined it when I washed it. Oh well. I think I can make a nice pillow cover out of it. Not a total loss. The linens were just some pretty napkins and a red and green plaid dish towel. 

I was restless and cranky yesterday. As you know, I do nothing but work and sleep. So I asked everyone on facebook what they were doing and if anyone was doing anything fun. I was thinking along the lines of shopping or going out to eat. But I got invited to go target shooting again, so I went. This time I took both rifles, the 20g shotgun and Jake’s bolt action .22. I had never fired either of them. The 20g I bought the same time I bought the little ruger. I traded in my mossberg for the single shot crack and load, but had never had the opportunity to try it out. I need a recoil pad for it tho. It has quite a kick and my shoulder is pretty sore. I only fired it a few times because of that. The .22 on the other hand is my new favorite gun. I hit my target (12 oz soda can) every single time. I did with the 20g too. I wasn’t as accurate with my .22 ruger pistol, but was still pretty good. I need more practice with that one. I also got to fire an AR15 assault rifle. That was a really nice gun, not a lot of recoil and very accurate. Once again, I did better than the “boys”. I had no idea that I was a decent shooter. Might invite a couple more girls the next time. Both Kay and Charlene want to go when we go again.

My arsenal… The one on the right is the bolt action .22, the left is the new 20g, and the lower left is my ruger .22. I’m thinking of getting a derringer. I have always wanted one and now that I have someone I can go shoot with, it wouldn’t be a total waste of money. 

Charlene texted and invited me to her camp on BLM for dinner. I contributed a fresh garden salad with mixed greens, peppers and radishes. We had sauteed veggies, corn muffins, polenta and acorn squash with apple pie for desert. It was kind of a rush getting the salad together and getting out there and Charlene had to meet me at the gate so I could follow her to her camp. Met another camper, Sylvianne, and we had dinner and conversation. I didn’t stay late as I was quite tired by then. The salad was my first share from the garden. 

Sylvianne and the campsite….and dinner.

So all in all, it was a fun day. I had forgotten how much I liked target shooting. I get a great sense of satisfaction when we go. And I got to blow away some cans. Plus I met another new person, had a good meal and good conversation. That is always fun.

Today I have to do everything I blew off yesterday. I need to do my xmas stuff and also get the new tarp on the garden as it is going to cool off again this week. Plus more sleep. I only got about three hours last night in addition to the hour or so when I fell asleep reading. No TV last night. I had started a book that I wanted to finish, but didn’t quite make it before I fell asleep. I finished it this morning. But it was really nice to actually get out and do something for a change. I wish I had more time to do stuff like that. Sigh….

Another birthday passes

Today I turned 57. It was a quiet day at home. Again. This year I was sick and had to pass up breakfast and coffee this morning. I didn't want to give my cold to anyone else. I'm still feeling pretty crappy.

I got a phone call this morning from Susan, and many online wishes, but I really miss being someone's special person. Sigh....

I got a surprise gift certificate from Sandra and a hand stitched birthday card from Lois.

I'm grateful for the people that sent me wishes and the card and gift, but my birthdays always seem to disappoint. Maybe I wish for too much. 

End of whine....