wildlights of the desert

Gorgeous weather, wonderful day! I spent the morning sewing and quilting, with Donald running around at Home Depot and looking for the cheapest diesel.  In the afternoon, we stopped by Ken and Karen's RV, picked them up and off to the Living Desert to see the WildNights Lights exhibit that is put on every December for a number of nights.  It is over this weekend, so we didn't want to miss it, as we did last year with myself enjoying a bought of the flu.

The one acre model train display is a hit, and you can easily spend over an hour just looking at all the details and the multiple trains running. Then you can come back again, and see all the details you missed - like this little bit of humour!

When we were there last year, the enclosure for a Jaguar exhibit was under construction, and we were very pleased to catch a look at this awesome cat, and hear him cough! LOUD! Donald and I thought he was trying to bring up a hairball - we know that sound, even it is so much quieter with our little cat.
I like the walk in aviary, where there are benches and if you sit quietly, the birds are all around you, like this beauty above.  We left the park about 5 and tootled off for some mexican food for dinner, then headed back to enjoy the light show. AWESOME~~~~~~~  What a truly wonderful place for a family to go during the holidays. About half the park was in lights, including blue floodlights illuminating the big rock mountain where the Bighorn Sheep hang out.  The way the blue lights were done, with blue/white ones on the trees nearby, it looked like snow covered rocks and hoar frosted trees. Cool!

In the amphitheatre was a "Grinch" show, with hedgehogs, baby tortoises, and of course, Max the dog. A live band played in another area, with about 10 of these firepits to warm up with cocoa, marshmallows, hotdogs, macaroni and cheese... all great things to enjoy as a family.  Ken really enjoyed the song " Blue eyed Tiger" the band played, hmm?

Light and Music tunnel

Holiday times are food times....

A belated Merry holidays to everyone.  The day before Christmas, we were delighted to join Ken and Karen and visit a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant that they had previously been to.  Let me tell you, it was the best place ever!  Very small, tucked away behind a mall with a french name.  We ordered 4 Money Bags to start with ( mmm ) then each of us ordered a dish, which we all shared. Hot and sour soup, in an authentic server... a red curry..a salad noodle dish with BBQ pork..and pad thai. Everyone was too full for dessert, but Donald thought he would order Vietnamese coffee, which he did, and then the owner showed him how to prepare it at the table. I forgot to take pictures, but we all had a sip, and we will all be forever ruined to have iced coffee/latte/whatever anywhere else. None compare to this coffee, it was awesome.

Christmas day I did laundry early in the morning ( yes, I was the only one there and yoo hoo - lots of machines to use! ) then we were invited to join friends Allen and Linda, daughter A and her friend D for an actual sit at the table meal in their 5th wheel.  I cooked the turkey breast, gravy, made a salad, mashed and sweet potatoes. Linda provided early afternoon appetizers and the rest. Fun. We ended with a good game of Trivial Pursuit.

We have to say thanks again to Allen and Lolita for the gift of tamales.  They recommended a nearby grocery store in Cathedral City that has 'pretty good' tamales.  We went there today, and it was a huge great store where I picked up some cactus leaves, tomatillo sauce, cheese and chicken tamales and jicama.  Next time I hope to remember to take my wee Latino cookbook, or at least a proper list.

And no, the tamales do not compare to Lolita's. We have been spoiled now with tamales and iced coffee. 

Ok, enough with the food talk. Quilting tomorrow, and maybe Donald will have to rescue Rick from the shopping ladies.

Rubys and Rabbits

Catching up and enjoying bright sunshine is wonderful, as we joined Rick, Paulette, John and Judy at Ruby's in downtown Palm Springs for a lovely brunch.  Their breakfast menu is better than the lunch and dinner, or is it we would rather do a breakfast menu than the other? In any case, it was loads of fun - except that every 10 minutes or so there is a little bell sound that comes out of the outdoor speakers.  Yes, we were sitting outside on the patio.  What follows is a terrible bird screeching sound at around volume 8 out of 10.  This apparently is supposed to frighten off the local pigeons and other species.  So, we stop talking when that goes on!  Paulette noticed that there were about 6 pigeons right underneath the speakers chowing down on the leftovers in a bus persons tray on a cart, so I guess the warning screeches may not work all that well.  Rick came down with the flu right afterwards ( he could feel it coming on before brunch ), and we all noticed he didn't eat the beans of his breakfast burrito combo.  Who knows = that may have been the cure for his flu! Sorry, Rick, we hope you feel better soon!

It seems everywhere we visit, especially family, there are lots of rabbits about.  South Edmonton has huge hares/jackalopes. Our boys seem to think that they were experiments from the local University of Alberta.  Victoria had a big to-do recently with the environmentalists over what to do with their overly abundant population.  No rabbits in the big white north - coyotes would take care of them.  This year at the Sands, they are everywhere.  We never saw one last year.  At night we are very careful driving into the RV Park, lest we run one over as they enjoy the green grass on the palm lined boulevard through the park.  These ones are a fifth of the size of the Edmonton creatures, so pretty darn cute.

Sitting by the satellite dish tripod

Today's plan is to join friends Ken and Karen, also from the Shuswap, for a quick run into Joanne's, then we hope to do a Thai restaurant lunch, then back to the pool/hot tubs with plastic wine glasses and refreshments.  mmm mmm.

The sun is coming up and the weather is finally warming up a bit more here .... but I can't sing 'it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas', however the Park does look festive at night with the lights, ours included!

just doing, ..doing what? I dunno....

Finally a posting, and you would think we were busy, but not really!  First of all a big THANK YOU to Allen and Lolita for dropping off some real tamales, yes, real homemade by Lolita - mmmm...... A lovely gift from fellow bloggers.

The days seem to go by here at the Sands,and we have been joined by some great friends from the great white north, Allen and Linda, who are staying for 3 months.  Yesterday, we enjoyed a day together at the COD ( College of the Desert ) Street Fair, and then lunch at Ruby's and a walk about downtown Palm Springs.

Allen and Linda bundled up - they must think it's winter here!

No matter where we seem to be, there are visits to Home Depot - hmm - how are we at a home building store when we are not at home? Donald is being very creative and building me a wooden box to hold my sewing machine - this is then put on a pull cart so I can pull it easily to quilting on Wednesdays! It is a Janome 6600, and very heavy.

Do you think the aisles are wide enough to just pull in the rig and set up?

Ah yes, the other place we went was to Shields Date Farm in Indio.  I thought perhaps there would be tours in the date fields, but alas, there was a poorly done video in a run down room, an extremely touristy tacky gift shop and dates for sale that were twice as much and staler than the farmers who sell at the COD Street Fair. We did learn from the video that it takes the trees almost 15 - 20 years to produce after being planted.  That may be longer than a vineyard - have to ask Allen and Linda, who after their tour at the Robert Mondavi vineyards in the Napa valley are now our 'go-to' for wine questions.  BTW, they said that was a great tour!

Even though we thought that it might be cold walking around downtown Palm Springs at night, we went to last Thursday's Street Fest and really enjoyed ourselves.  It was quite warm and the street looks so festive at night. So, we'll have to decide if we want to do that again this Thursday, or go to the dance at the RV Park.

Young son: DRIVE SAFE. You know I'm talking to you. Yes, that's a mother's job to tell you that.

out to the local pizza joint...

Another dull weather day, so Kim headed off early in the morning with Karen and Paulette to Joanne's, the 99 cent store and Kohl's.  She wasn't the buyer again! Do you think she has had enough of shopping?

We had a request from Allen and Lolita for the Slow Cooker recipe: Slow Cooker Lemon and Olive Chicken
2 carrots, 2 ribs celery, 1 bulb fennel, 1 onion - all chopped, thrown in the pot
16 large stuffed green olives ( I used the large feta stuffed olives I bought at the Olive Pit in Corning!)
4 -5 cloves garlic, chopped,crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Oregano, some salt and pepper
12 boneless chicken thighs
3/4 c. sodium-reduced chicken broth, 3/4 c. water
Throw all this in the slow cooker, chicken on top. Cook as best directed with your slow cooker.
Just before serving, take 1 c. of the liquid out, whisk with 1/4 c. flour, add back to pot with 2 TB lemon juice, 1/2 c. chopped parsley and the grated zest of a lemon.

 You can serve it also with a mix of chopped parsley and lemon zest sprinkled on top of your guests' helping.  Serve over rice.  MMMM!

Donald said no thanks to leftovers for supper, so we went out for supper to a local Pizza joint with Ken and Karen. Fun!

Arrivals at the Sands

After the 5th wheel landing jacks were finished and repaired yesterday, the weather sure looked glum, so we took a chance that the laundry room would not be over run with other people thinking the same thing - and lo and behold it wasn't!  So, five loads later and we're good to go for another couple of weeks.  At some point it will be hard to go back to doing one load at a time when we come off the road, as it sure is nice to throw in 5 loads at once and be done in just over an hour.

In the meantime, it started to pour rain and that is when Al and Linda showed up with their Titanium, new to them this year. They started down from northern B.C. early in November and had great weather till they hit the Sands! As we shared our dinner menu of Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken with olives, they told us of their past week or so in the Napa Valley, touring the country, wineries and lunch at the CIA.
We will have to save our pennies...dollars.... gold coins so that we can do that someday as well.

Congrats to the Seahawks of course. Took you a while to get going, boys!

La Quinta Farmers Market

There is some upcoming unpleasant weather, so we headed off Sunday morning to the La Quinta Farmers Market, in " Old Town".  It isn't very old, just made to look old.  A very enjoyable market with about 25 booths and a nice coffee shop. Yep, that is all we bought - a cup of coffee.

 On the way back, we took Highway 111 all the way to Palm Springs, and I suggested we stop for lunch at Shermans' Deli.  We had heard some great reports on this place from Rick and Paulette and a number of the quilting ladies.  Sure enough, all reports were correct and we enjoyed great corned beef sandwiches.  We also liked the fact that there are water bowls for dogs and baskets of dog biscuits for those patrons bringing along their furry pals.

Donald looked everywhere on the satellite TV guide for the Seahawks playing time on Sunday and guess what? They play Monday Night football tonight - whoo hoo! Go Hawks!

Guess what else happened this morning? The landing jacks were fixed!  Big WHOO HOO!!!! Thanks ever so much to Mario Sanchez of Palm Drive RV Service.  Great guy, great service.

So, we are re-levelled and finally able to feel settled here.  In the crockpot: Slow Cooker Lemon and Olive Chicken. Hope it is good, as it is supper for ourselves and Allen and Linda, who are due to arrive today ( I hope - or else I made this big pot for 2 only ! )

Temecula was busy

The sunny warmer weather is back upon us, and we love it.  Yesterday, Kim went off with the quilting ladies of the park to Temecula, a very quaint old type town southwest of here.  There is a large quilt shop there and they visited a couple of others, using up the whole day as they didn't get home till dark.  There were bargains to be had, but she came home with very little.  Seven ladies in a van talking quilting. All day. A person would go crazy.

Paulette, butting in line ahead of her friends!

" Sorry ladies - what was I thinking? I must be wool crazy!"

She did manage to pick up a brochure of Temecula, and that will be added to the list of places to perhaps visit when the gang gets here in January.

We have heard from our friend, Bob, whom we spent time with last winter boon docking around Arizona. He stopped at Lake Mead and we forgot to ask how high the lake level came up this summer.  While we we there last spring, it was in the newspaper that the lake levels were going to rise as high as 22 more feet, and large equipment was cleaning the beaches in preparation for this.

Saturday on Temecula main street

One of the advantages of being in a more populated area like Palm Springs is that a major airport is close by in case you need to go off quickly in  family emergencies.  Boon docking in the desert or travelling into Mexico, does not necessarily lend itself to this.  So, for the present time, even though we would like to be in the desert, we are happy to be here.  It also means friends and family can easily get here, as well, and we're looking forward to Al and Linda arriving on Monday - hey guys - supper will be ready!

Plans for today? Maybe visit La Quinta old town. Before the winds kick up.

Cold desert nights

Yes, you are seeing icicles on the Oleander bushes!  This was about 8 a.m. this morning, the result of the sprinkler system watering in the night.  Yep, the furnace was on in the 5th wheel.

Last December we had a couple of cold nights, waking up to frost on the roofs of the park models, so we think this is not unusual for December.

Quilting day for Kim - pictures of that at Paulette's blog. Donald decided to invite Rick along for his to do list of the day - getting the wheels of the truck re-torqued after their rotation, looking for the Wednesday Farmers Market in Palm Desert, and then going out for lunch in Palm Springs.  He should  have had the camera with him as they went hunting for one more place to go.  Rick has sworn by this product, called The Solution , for waterless washing of RV rigs.  He found that it also does an excellent job on computer screens, windows and eyeglasses as well!  Rick had received email from fellow blogger Betty, that this product was in fact manufactured a few miles from here, so off they went!  After finding a non-descript building in an industrial area, sure enough that was the place.  They got the tour, and Don purchased a gallon and a squirt bottle to apply it.  The fellow even threw in the special rag to use.  Well, you better read Rick's blog, as he of course had a camera with him.  I think it was an enjoyable day for both of them and the dogs.

Happy Hour beckoned us at 4:00, so off we went, but not before Donald opened a box that the UPS man dropped off during the day.  He had ordered a new ladder from Camping World, one that is tall, yet folds up to the size of a 2x4.  Just in time to be cleaning with his new squirt bottle and Solution!

Late at night, a big 5th wheel, a Big Country, pulled in across the street from us.  It is so hard to park in the dark, as none of the sites here are large pull throughs.  It looks like they just parked temporarily, and then will set up in the daylight.

Festival fun, dinner fun

Missed a couple of days in posting  - hmmm. No excuse. Sorry about that.  Sunday we were off to the Tamale Festival in Indio, and we had a great time.  The wind had died down, so it was much more pleasant and an early arrival time enabled us to park very close to one of the gateways into the festival.  It also allowed to walk around without the big crowds and have a good look at the booths.  The final decision as to where to try a Tamale was at the Apostolic Church group booth.  It looked very clean, well run and was a fund raiser for their church. Of course, a big attraction was the huge trophy displayed, letting us know that they won first place for beef tamales. VERY good tamales!  With so many tamale boots ( over 120?) this is probably a big honour.   We noticed in Rick's blog, that Grandma Lupe's booth had huge lineups - well, we walked by and sure enough the lineups were incredibly long, already at the early hour.  No trophies to display.  So, Donald walked up to someone in line and asked why they were lining up for this particular booth. " We heard it was pretty good, and saw the lineups, so it must be good. ", then one of the fellows said" And as soon as the people in front of us jump off the cliff, we'll be right behind them!"  That got a few laughs. No, we didn't stand in line. 

Jeep had a large display, with vehicles that you can test drive over an off-wheel course they built, and a large Salsa Dance-Off Stage that that were sponsoring.

This couple may be the winners!

Yesterday, Monday, the wind came up again so we went for a few staples at Vons ( Safeway ) a few blocks over, then to the post office for stamps and to mail parcels.  Great staff at the post office, I always enjoy going there.

Before lunch we went for a walk to check out the park model that Don's family has rented for the month of January, and on our way back we met Rick and invited them over for dinner.  As this post is getting long enough, check out their blog for the carrying - on's! Thanks to Paulette for bringing dessert that was (almost) on the WW plan!

Landing gear saga: email from Jayco today, sort of a brush-off and they just said get it welded ( yeah, duh!)So, Donald promptly called them and they are now looking at it again. He also gave a call to Mario of Palm Drive RV to update him on the email and call.

I have a class this afternoon at the clubhouse about T shirts, and Donald is hanging onto the  US tracphone waiting for calls.

Mariachi Band Stage

Oh yes, there was a booth at the festival by Healthy California, and they were giving away free cookbooks.  So, I accepted " Healthy Latino Recipes, Made with Love".  There are recipes inside using Tomatillos and Cactus leaves.... I think we need to try these!  There is a Carneceria(?) close by where I can purchase all sorts of things.  I will take my cookbook with me.

Landing gear problem diagnosed

We didn't expect the mobile RV technicians back today, but sure enough, they came shortly after lunchtime, even though they are very busy.  They cut a couple of bolts, took a bolt out of the drive shaft, and the leg dropped out the bottom.  It was very tough to get at.  Whenever these things happen to you, the is some second-guessing going on - what did we miss setting up the rig? what errors did we do? In fact I felt it was all my fault because I had the Park maintenance gravel and fix the lot and this happened just afterward.  So, turns out we did everything correctly.  Look at the picture - both sides of the plate is to be welded on the leg.  The one side is welded properly, and the right side weld did not penetrate, and therefore is inappropriate.  The one side broke, trying to hold or do the job all by itself.

We were very lucky that it didn't happen in the night, or at some other time.  We were lucky that we were right there to get boards underneath, that there was not huge damage when it dropped ( however, there may be some when they have to put a new one in ) and we were able to back the truck ever so carefully and hookup again, to take the weight and stop it from leaning one way and twisting the rig.

An email with pictures has been sent to Jayco's service department and we shall see on Monday what they say back.

What else happened today? The Howler continues but we see it is everywhere in the southwest. A shopping trip in the morning for a birthday present, college football in the afternoon, we watched the roadrunners run around the rig, and I have just about finished machine quilting a Christmas quilt. Pulled BBQ beef in the crockpot. Mmmm. Tomorrow: Tamale Festival?

Get out! We're going sideways!!!!!!

The plan for the day was to do some laundry and run over to Kohl's for a bit.  Well, you know the saying about planning...... An early morning visit from the Office Administrator here and the Head Grounds Person led to a complete landscaping of our site.  There was broken glass all mixed in with old lava type rock, a hole in the back of the lot, and Oleanders that were 12 feet tall.  So, we had to pull the 5th out of there, move it to the site next door and it took them the better part of the day to trim the hedges, pull out the dead ones, and move in a huge amount of gravel, spread all over.  It looks lovely.

I headed off with Paulette to Yucca Valley to a couple of quilt stores, and Donald stayed back to do up some laundry ( WHAT a sweetheart ).  By the time we got back around 2 pm, the 5th had been moved back in place to the lot, and Don had put down the landing gear, the back jacks, pulled the truck away, levelled it all up and put out the flowers and patio mats. Oh, he also had the water and sewer hooked up.  So, time to push the button and move out the slides.

TROUBLE!!!!!!!!  The rig made a crunching sound, and started to move/topple over to the door side. OMG.  ADRENALIN RUSH!  Don knew it wasn't good.  The front jack on the passenger side had started to collapse. ( Yes, it was done right in set up ). He is a smart guy: he gradually loaded boards to take the weight, managed to hook up the truck again ( whew, thank...) to take more weight off and correct the lean. He also got the jack out of the truck and used it as well under that edge.  I started making phone calls to the mobile RV guys listed on the RV Park map advertisements.  The second call resulted in a couple of guys coming within 10 minutes!!! Thank you Palm Drive RV and Auto Center.   The fellow said he came quickly, as he could hear it in our voices that things were not good!

So, first they had a quick looky-see, then got another bigger 4 Ton bottle jack and put it under, and moved the boards Don had piled under to a better position.  We could now unhook the truck and be safe.

The guys then started a longer look at what's up.  We have to make a phone call to Jayco on Monday, then obviously the work has to start.  Something in the landing gear broke ( the stop?) and whether is is due to inappropriate initial welds, or fatigue, is still unknown at this time.  The 5th is a 2010 5th.  In other words, pretty new.

Of course, the RV tech took some more pictures, and since it was the end of the day on Friday, he didn't want to start ripping things apart, which we agreed.   More on the story as we go..... good thing we are here for some time, 'cause we ain't able to go anywhere!!!!

the bolt thing should be where the rust mark is

 I met Paulette walking the mutts when I took the garbage to the bin, she had to come have a look, and sure enough Rick was over pretty fast after that!  You know, I kind of let it be known in this blog about their Ryley mutt stealing a steak, so if he wants to write about this, go for it!!!!! 

We better end the day watching An Idiot Abroad for a few laughs. 

Sir, STEP AWAY from THAT Truck.

Wednesday's is quilting day for Kim, and Don made it over to the GM dealer in Palm Springs for his appointment to have the oil changed on the truck and the tires rotated.  He had our mechanic son change the fuel filter in Victoria prior to our leaving.  As he had time to wait for the work to be done, he starting looking around the lot at vehicles - oh no! He found a 2007 1/2, 38K miles, leather interior, full load, sunroof, dvd, chipped, lift kit, new tires and wheels, back up sensors, duramax, crewcab and pretty much anything you can get as an option on it.  I think he was drooling. Of course, the shark salesperson pounced and offered all kinds of help to sell to a Canadian.  No doubt our son will read this, and be emailing about 'how much?'. No, we do not need a new truck.

Couldn't seem to rotate the pic, sorry!

Cute zebras on the rice bowl

 I was busy in the north clubhouse finishing some Christmas wall hangings and visiting and learning with the ladies.  We all must have been ready to quit early this week, as we have the building till 4 pm, and we were all leaving by 3:10.  So, since we had time to organize ourselves, I asked Donald if he wanted to go to Happy Hour at the main clubhouse for 4 pm.  Yep!  Last year we went a couple of times and there wasn't many participants, but this year - whoa! Lots of people, lots of great snacks and conversation.  Our dinner meat was still frozen, so we opted to try out the local Thai restaurant for dinner afterward.  It was o.k., but we have had Thai food a number of times, and I quite often will cook KungPao, and we both felt this place had dialled down the food to meet western tastes, as it was not spicy or hot and not near the freshness of the vegetables.  There is another Thai place in Palm Springs that we might try.

The HOWLER started just after got back to the rig, and we picked up a few things, and continued to get up out of bed and pick up more as the wind got stronger.  We are still rocking and rolling as I type at 11:00 am.  I thought we might go to W*mart to print off pictures from the camera to send to the GG's in Ontario, but the sand has kicked up and we cannot see Mt. Jacinto, so likely the roads will be blowing sand.  Better that than snow. Hmmm sand/snow. Both 4 letter words.  You choose your favorite.