On the way to Quartzite

Things always tend to happen when you are preparing to leave, it’s just a given so we’ve learned to roll with it.

At first I thought Left Brain was planning some sort of romantic setting for the evening, but it was not the case.  Actually he was insulted when he thought I called him a dimwit, although I’m not sure why.  I’ve certainly called him worse than that.

What I was trying to convey was why everything seemed so dimly lit.  This is where it pays to marry a “handy” man, even if his hearing isn’t so good in these Golden Years.  He quickly ascertained the problem being with our house batteries and by the time I returned from pickleball the next day he had gone out and purchased two brand new ones.  This was a very good thing since we’d be boondocking in the desert soon.  Disaster averted…for a while.

It was hard to test the lights before leaving due to the sunshine, but as far as I could tell they were working.  Shortly into our drive Left Brain noticed we had no turn signals, which meant no flashers for when we plod slowly up those mountain roads.  This is not good

We stopped to gas up and there was some extra room on the side so he fiddled with this and that and we even resorted to (gasp!) consulting the owner’s manuals.  It could be as simple as replacing a fuse.  With fingers crossed we found a Ford dealer in Palm Springs and were headed there when he made that fateful turn out of the gas station.

There was a crash and a bang…and worst of all…a shattering sound.  I was afraid to turn and look.  It seems the door latch for the storage area over the fridge did not hold and the metal bread and cake pans decided to make a break for it.  They dinged up the floor but were otherwise undamaged.

Unfortunately their correlle  pie plate friend didn’t do as well.  The pyrex pie plate handled the fall gracefully, but the correlle one shattered into a thousand tiny little fragments.
I cleaned that up while he kept on towards the Ford dealership, which would later find would not even take a look at anything electrical.  He referred us to Benlow RV in Indio, not exactly on our path, but we were willing to do what we had to do to drive safely.

Left Brain called them while I walked back about three blocks to a Mobile station to see if I could buy a 20 amp fuse.  When I returned I found out the place in Indio couldn’t do it as their electrical guy was on a project and could not be disturbed.  He referred us to a Mobile Lube Express place, who when called was out on calls and unable to help us either.

We decided to stop at a shopping mall that had a McDonalds nearby and he would take a look at the car while I went in to find something for lunch.  I returned to a very dejected Left Brain who announced that the car battery was dead and where are the jumper cables.  It took a while, digging through the mountain of items in the back of the car, but finally found them.  He maneuvered the RV around to provide the power for a jump.  It started.  Finally somethings going our way.  Even better, the fuse seemed to do the trick…at least for a while.  It appears we have some kind of short in the system that needs more work.

We arrived in Quartzite about 4:00 and were exhausted from what should have been an easy trek.  Here's our first view of the town when we arrived.

The sunset made up for all the difficulties of the earlier day and tomorrow will be another day.


Long Live the Queen of Woes

Finally....internet connections!

I apologize for the lack of posting due to insufficient internet.

That being said, I will apologize for the plethora of posts that will be coming fast and furious as I attempt to get caught up on our last days in Hemet and our short stay in Quartzite.

We have been fortunate to meet some lovely people in Hemet and even luckier to be situated right next door to them.

Of course, good friends mean eating out and talking...it's what we do.

Our first event was for JR's birthday and they invited us to join them at the Anchor Bar Club Restaurant.  I didn't have any expectations for this place based on the name of it and the fact it's also a sports bar, but I was pleasantly surprised at the contemporary modern decor.

Not to mention the food was fabulous and the waitress told us about the rainbow outside.  So, being the multi-tasker that I am I opted to combine the rainbow with the event.  JR's the one on the phone and Judy is across from him.The man in the front on the left is Ralph, a pickleball buddy.

We also managed to take our next door neighbors, Rob and Marty, to our favorite Italian restaurant so they could meet Maria and feast on the best Italian food anywhere.

They are brand new RV'ers and have put their house up for sale and bought this gorgeous 40' motorhome for their new home.  It will be fun to hear of there adventures while they make the transition from stationary home to one on wheels.

We are going to miss these people and hope that our paths cross again in the future.

Long Live the Queen of Friendship

More cat stuff

No, not another cat...just some more "things" I've had my eye on.

We admired the "purr"fect arch when seeing it on TV and when I stumbled across it at Bed Bath and Beyond I just had to pick it up for the kids.  We later donated it to Goodwill as apparently our cats were not as amused by it as the one on TV.  You have to be careful folks, the cats on TV are paid actors and you should NOT expect the same results at home.

My next item was a small camera.  I love the big camera, but it's awkward to drag along with me in social outings.  Yes, I realize the phone has a camera as well as video, but the quality isn't that great.

I opted for a Canon Powershot SX600 HS, which has 
HD video (something I've been wanting to play with more), a 
wireless connection to share photos right away, a large display screen and it comes in a pretty red color.  This fits nicely in my purse and is easier to take with for those quick shots.

The latest shipment just arrive - "the kitty city".
This is a six foot tower that connects to our tunnel system.  We have it set up in the house first to make sure they are getting the hang of it before trying it outside.

There was a little panic when Gracie got into the top level and couldn't quite figure out how to get back down.  But with my coaxing and a gentle push on her butt from Left Brain we got her to one level and then she figured out the rest on her own.  It may take Boy Wonder (George) longer to figure this out...if at all.  He's just not as adventurous as Gracie.

Long Live the Queen of Impulse Purchases

Playing with photos

I love messing around with my photos and using textures as an overlay to add interest to the image.

This combination especially pleased me as it used two photos taken the same day.  Here is the combination of the two:

It started with this shot of the girls on the beach.

Then I took this photo of a mural I spotted.

I altered it into this background texture by distorting the photo.

And then I placed the texture over the original photo to get the combination you see at the top of this blog.

Great fun.

Long Live the Manipulative Queen

San Diego Zoo

No visit to San Diego is complete without seeing the zoo, so off we went.

The zoo is famous for its koala bears, which are cute little things that resemble stuffed animals.  Most of the time they are asleep....like some cats I know. 

But we were lucky enough to see some awake during our visit.

We started the day by riding the aerial tramway as it was suggested to use this as an overview of the park.

The polar bear were great fun and you can see in this photo the size of them.  My son-in-law is about six feet tall, and the statue of the bear is lifesize.  Yikes.  Even scarier is the amount of food they take in each day....the polar bears, that is.

The kids were mugging in this display with the sea otters.

While we were observing the polar bears, one was frolicking in the pool and we watched him do several back flips in the water.  Unfortunately, this was not conducive to photography to capture the moment.

Does this bird resemble Rod Stewart to you, or is it just me?

And of course, there's always those young males that are fascinated with their anatomy.

Long Live the Queen of the Zoo