The Last Week

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

Today has been a quiet day of rest. The RV resort we’ve checked into is at least 30 miles from anything. It sits alone out here in the desert. We decided not to take the car out today and have a restful 24 hours. This will be the last day where we will have little to do. There is a tennis court here so Bill and I got our rackets and Bumbee balls out and gave it a try. We didn’t do very well. We said it was because it’s a bit windy today but, in reality, we are missing the other four players we were used to having on each side of the court. Next to the court is a lake where we saw the most beautiful family of black swans with red beaks. The gray swan is a two month old baby. Neither one of us had ever seen black swans before. They have a fairly large lake all to themselves. There are six pools here that are heated by the Hot Springs so we gave that a try after lunch. It was like getting into a hot bath tub. The problem is, it’s warm outside and it’s warm in the water so we didn’t want to stay in very long. We came back refreshed though. The afternoon was leisurely. Bill took a fairly long nap and Daisy and I sat on the couch, her sleeping and me reading. Bill plans on barbecuing tonight and then we’ll watch American Idol. Tomorrow the action begins as we take our first tour of the tennis grounds.

Sunday, March 3rd, 3013

Today is my oldest grandson’s (Robbie) birthday. He is 29. How did I get so old so fast? This is our last day in Yuma and we’ve made the most of it. We went to church this morning, played our Bumbee Ball at 11:00 and then put Daisy in the stroller and went to the Arizona Marketplace (swap meet). That was our third trip to the marketplace. We just strolled through and shared a Philadelphia Cheese steak and fries for lunch. I asked Bill if he was ready to leave Yuma and he said, “Yes, I was ready after the first week”. Speaking for myself, I thought the month here was lovely. I can stay put much easier than Bill can. I did something last night that scared me to death. I always put out the pills that Bill, Daisy and I need to take in the evening. Daisy takes her seizure medicine at 8:30. It’s a small white pill that looks very much like the Zanax that I take. Yes, I gave her my Zanax. I realized my error as soon as it happened. I am happy to say that it didn’t seem to cause her much of a problem. She slept really well but this morning when we were getting ready to leave she began to panic. Her anxiety level was very high. She’s okay now but that’s why she went to the marketplace with us. Scary! I can see how easy it would be to overdose. I try to think very clearly when I put these pills out but I obviously lost my concentration for just long enough to have done that. Daisy has enough problems without my doing that! Speaking of Daisy, it has been seven days since her last seizure. The medicine seems to be working. PTL. Our next stop will be at Indian Wells, California where we will go to the professional tennis match this coming Thursday. I’m looking forward to that. Bill has been trying to get me to a tennis match for a long time. I’m really very happy just watching it on television but it will be fun to do this one time.

Monday - Thursday 25th thru 28th, Yuma

Our days in Yuma are winding down. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here for a month. We seem to be busy all day, every day but we’re not ever rushed. We’ve spent a lot of time just staying in the park. The one thing we’ve repeated several times is the Tuesday afternoon Gospel/Country concert. I doubt we’d go to another one if we were to stay longer as we’re hearing much the same thing every week. We’ve certainly enjoyed it though. This area has a little feel of Nashville. There’s quite a bit of Southern Gospel preaching and concerts. Yesterday we saw a group in our park called Canada’s Double Portion. They were wonderful. It’s a musical family. There’s mom and dad and ten children. All but one child sings and/or plays an instrument. The couple has been married 27 years and they have 5 boys and 5 girls, aged 1 through 22. It’s a beautiful family and a very talented one too. They travel around in a 41 foot specially made RV. I wonder what that RV looks like inside? It has to have many bunk beds. I can’t imagine the chaos it must be for them at times. Bumbee Ball (tennis/volleyball) has been our favorite thing to do. We play four times a week. It’s amazing how tired you can get when there are four or five to each side of the tennis court. We played this morning and I’m pretty much done in for the rest of the day. There are so many events going on all the time here. You can pick and choose. There’s something for everyone. There are approximately 1,000 people here and everyone we’ve met is friendly. There have been a few frustrating things associated with this park though and that would be the Internet, cell reception and the lack of good water. What a shame as I would love to return here but I don’t think we will. No Internet makes Bill crazy. Daisy seems to be a little better. She hasn’t had a seizure in 5 days now and she’s handling her medication better. She is sleeping better at night too. What a relief it has been for me not to see her seize.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, February 22nd, 23rd and 24th Yuma

Friday we went to the Arizona Marketplace which could only be described as a large swap meet with what appeared to be permanent vendors, unlike a craft fair. It was enclosed in large, permanent structures. What fun that was. Bill convinced me to use the wheelchair and I’m so glad he did as I would never have made it through without it. There were a lot of RV vendors but we didn’t buy anything RV related. We’ve been wanting to put an awning over the window on the left side of our RV living room but Bill hasn’t found a price that he’s willing to pay yet. It’s looking like $400 is the going rate and that’s for a 6 foot window. Bill bought a piece of aluminum sunscreen for $7.50 which is not pristine but functional. We hope to get an awning this summer at one of the rallys we’re attending. There is a wonderful couple next door to us, Bill and Naomi from Colorado. Bill looks so much like my father. He even has the same build. Bill is trying to help Lesley (the woman who came up with the idea of Bumbee Ball) to develop a website, however, she is not quite ready to take her idea public. She’s a lovely lady whose husband just had a mild stroke last week and now he is suffering from the flu. Bill printed lots of information which he will leave for her. Our park is located near the Marine Corp Air Station and, as you can imagine, there is a lot of military air traffic overhead. It’s almost like watching an air show. Unfortunately, there will be an air show at the MCAS on March 8th when we will be in California. That will be the real deal. The Marine chaplain talked about it in church this morning and I could just see Bill’s letdown that it wasn’t held while we were here. We had planned on playing Bumbee Ball at 11:00 this morning but it is so windy that was cancelled. There is something going on all the time around here. You could be as active as you want to be. The flu is going through the park now so we’re keeping our distance from large groups. Other than going to church, we stayed in today and while Bill watched the Daytona 500, I read. We’re getting ready to watch the Oscars now.

Tuesday and Wednesday, February 19th and 20th, 2013 Yuma

Tuesday morning Bill went to his wood carving class while I went to a craft fair held at the park. Bill’s decided that wood carving is a very tedious task and this place doesn’t use power tools, however, there is interesting conversation among the other wood carvers, mostly Canadian. This will not be a future hobby for him. When he returned to the motor home, we went back to the craft fair and I saw things that I hadn’t seen before. Bill purchased a lovely hand painted tray depicting a desert scene with a Saguaro cactus which he immediately hung on the wall. It makes me happy when he finds something for himself. In the afternoon it was my intent to stay in the motor home, read and let my sun poisoning heal while Bill played volleyball/tennis, however, Daisy began to scare me. Her symptoms seemed so much worse. I called a local vet and was able to take her in as an emergency. I retrieved Bill from the tennis court and off we went. The next two hours were spent at the veterinarian’s office. It was dinner time when we left so we stopped at In and Out for a hamburger and French fries which I shared with Daisy. The doctor put Daisy on an antibiotic. We will do some pretty intense follow-up procedures with Daisy’s veterinarian when we return home. Wednesday morning we left early for Los Algodones, Mexico to avoid the 2 hours departure time we had to endure on Monday. We were successful. There was only one car ahead of us when we left. We didn’t want to take the time to have another meal there because we wanted to get back across the border before the crowds accumulated. We made up for that by finding a wonderful bakery. Yum! We brought some good stuff back with us. I had ordered a pair of prescription sun glasses and they were ready to be picked up. While we were there we enjoyed a parade down the main street. All the children were extremely proud and dressed in beautiful uniforms. We noticed that all the vendors stopped working and watched as the parade passed. It was Flag Day. Bill was intrigued by an artist who painted desert scenes on trays and bowls and various other items. He found a scene that he liked but it was on a horizontal tray. He wanted the same scene on a vertical tray. To his amazement, the artist said he could do that for him in twenty minutes. Bill ordered it and stood there and watched him create the most stunning tray. His paint brush consisted mostly of a cardboard that he ripped from a Cinnamon Crunch box. He was a true artist. Unfortunately, Bill now has two trays that he loves. As soon as we returned from Mexico he took the tray down he loved so much yesterday and replaced it with the one he bought today. It is so rare for him to find a trinket or souvenir for himself. I love that he now has two.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday – February 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, 2013 Yuma The days are passing so quickly. Before we know it, we will be leaving Yuma. We keep ourselves busy every day. Friday started out rather badly as Daisy had two seizures during the night. Saturday morning we got up very tired. Witnessing all this is very difficult. We don’t seem to be able to help her very much. We went to a show at The Palms RV Resort on Saturday evening to see a married couple “Bernie and Red”. They are singers and comedians. It was really fun. Most of the comedy act revolved around motor home owners. It was very funny. Sunday morning Daisy had another seizure at 2 AM. We went to church at 9 AM and sat next to the people that are living next door to us. We went to lunch with them and another couple that day and then took them with us to the Country/Gospel/Valentine show at the church where we’ve been going every Tuesday. I think they enjoyed the show. I know we did. Bill has intermittently been working on fixing the propane furnace, and fixed it is. He is remarkable! Several men came over while he was working on it and told him they’d be afraid to attempt to fix it themselves. Both of them had replaced their heaters. On Monday we went to Los Algodones, Mexico. We had both breakfast and lunch there. Yum! While in Mexico, we ordered a pair of prescription sun glasses for me. We’ll pick them up on Wednesday. We had a fun time but we waited in line to exit Mexico for two hours! While waiting in line we bought coconut xxx which was a coconut cut in half with the meat removed and sectioned with the juice in a plastic bag with a straw. Monday was a holiday which we had forgotten about. Before leaving the motor home that morning we put Daisy in a diaper as she has been urinating in the motor home quite a bit. This has never happened before. My poor little Daisy. She has so many problems. Unfortunately, all the diaper did was to cause her not to go at all. We were gone for seven hours which is way too long for her anymore. I am anxious to get home and get her to the vet. Both Bill and I have come to the conclusion that there is something severely wrong with her sinuses. She has such hard time breathing and we’re thinking that may even be the reason for the seizures. She could have a growth in her sinus. We’re guessing, of course.