Solar at the College of the Desert

Just day to day activities and nothing really exciting happening here in the Coachella Valley.  WE attended American Thanksgiving at the main hall with 16 people at our table.  It was of course way too much food, and way too early in the day at 2:00 pm.  We will try for something different for Christmas dinner.

We hung out here for most of Black Friday, except a quick trip to the post office to mail a couple of parcels and we swung through Palm Springs and Tru Valu hardware, where there were no deals at all. In fact, way overpriced.

Today, after morning swimming, we enjoyed Pancake Breakfast in the main hall with friends, then off to the College of the Desert outdoor market.  Plenty of people there, and our quest was for shorts for Donald.  Quest successful.  There have been some big changes to this outdoor market since we first started coming to the valley.  It was quite small, and we used to park on the grass next to the parking lot where the market was.  Now, there are further parking lots being used, the Ceollege has been redesigned, and the market is twice as big.  The big change this year is that it is all under permanent hard cover, and this cover is all made of solar panels.  Huge and good to see.  We couldn't see where any battery banks would be, and there are big transformer type boxes in a number of areas, so perhaps they sell the excess back to the grid. I couldn't seem to be able to find any information about it.

Off to the neighbours for a burger tonight, and of course Heartbeat at 8:00 on Knowledge network.
Perhaps some skyping with the children.

StreetFest in PS

I was waiting till I got down to the valley for a haircut, and my friend, Karen, called our favorite hairdresser, Stephan, to set us up yesterday morning.  Three of us went, and even though he takes a long time, we had our cuts and then went off to see if there was any bargains at Steinmart.  There were not, and most of the clothes were winter related - big heavy sweaters, long pants.  When it's 90F outside, who wants to look at those clothes? 

Last evening was the StreetFest in Palm Springs, which happens every Thursday evening.  We joined some of our neighbours for a burger, and then walked the blocks, looking at all the wares and 'art' and seeing nothing much of interest.  Well, other than all the dogs in various get-ups!  It was quite busy as just as many people wandering as when the winter season is in full swing here.  We tend to park behind the Marilyn statue if we can as there is a large parking lot there and central to the hub of activity.  The statue is always busy, and a draw to those visiting Palm Springs.  People like to get their picture taken underneath her legs. Hairdresser Stephan informed me that there have been over 50 weddings recently and that Marilyn's legs are the place for your wedding photo!

A crunch at Costco

The morning was beautiful yesterday, so I completed some laps in the pool and then a very good water aerobic workout with the gals at 8:30.  We didn't have very much on the agenda, so some grocery shopping went to the top of the list.  The other day, we went to W*mart in Palm Springs, but we found it so very hectic and long lineups.  Well, there is more than one wally world here, so yesterday we tried the one in Palm Desert.  Much better.  Well, and while we were there Costco was calling us, and of course the cheap lunch there.  Great slice of pizza.  It is also a good way to talk to complete strangers, as tables have to be shared at lunch time. 

Back at the ranch, we relaxed as the day turned out hazy but hot ( 90 F ). Tomorrow is my first Wednesday quilting day and I am quite excited about that.  Donald and his buddies are off on a road trip to Camping World someplace west of here.  He tried crib night last evening at the main hall.  Said it was ok, but that all the many games took too long.  Of course, he was not the big winner, and lost his 50 cents, so that makes a guy pretty sad.

Oh yes.  When we were at Costco, we saw an accident.  The parking lot there has some "garden islands" with palm trees, some cactus like plants and sandy dirt.  Very nicely done.  Some fellow must have hit the gas instead of the brake pulling into his parking spot, and jumped the curb of this island and we think only the palm tree there stopped him altogether.  Oh my. We missed the initial hit, but watched him try to back out, with a car that had a low front bumper.  OUCH! Who knows how much damage he did.  Poor fellow.

hanging out at the park

The park staff managed to get most of the weeds and trimmed some of the oleander bushes around our site before we got here, as we had emailed ahead of time to give them a heads up on our arrival.  When the park is in full swing just after Christmas, it's hard to get on their list of sites to 'garden up' so to speak.  They left the oleander bushes at the back of the lot alone, which was great, so we could decide ourselves how much to lop off.  Donald trimmed about half their height off, to about 4.5 feet.  We just leave the trimmings in the wash for the landscape crew to pick up.   We choose to move our rv as close to the street front of the lot as possible giving us a large backyard. With the oleander hedge it should be great.

Yesterday we stuck around, doing a few chores and visiting.  Our next door neighbours from Edmonton showed up just before lunch, so now Donald got to be one of the supervisors to watch their production.  Hmmph. Not much to watch as it was one back up and done. Good for them! Of course, we were excited to see sweet Ellie Mae, their golden doodle, who spent a couple of hours with us while they did their set up thing.

Now, those of you who would rather read about guy things, well, skip this paragraph. I spent most of the afternoon organizing my little sewing area, in the corner of one of the slides.  Ok Paulette: as per request: things are hopping already in the clubhouse.  On Friday, seven of us ( Gwen, Anne, me, Deb, Karen, Doris, Norma ) went to all three shops in the valley.  We have a bag project that most of us are doing - gifts for the office staff for Christmas.  It is a pattern that Doris made! Joanne's had a sale on batting (40 off) and Olfa mats and cutters ( 40 off ) and then we had coupons ( yah!) for 25 percent of our entire order. Whoo hoo.  The back of Gwen's van was full of batting and pellon.

It is wonderful to be back to early morning swimming in the pool and even though I didn't have time on Friday with the shop hop to swim, the pool was closed for cleaning and I wouldn't have been able to anyway. Just like last season, I am the only person there doing lap swimming in the morning.

Today, of course, is NFL day, so guess what we're doing.  A swim in the morning ( come on, Karen and join me!) and then catch our wonderful boys. Go Seahawks.

Karen's one of a kind golf cart. Purpose: to carry sewing machine to the north hall. You thought golf?

Parked at our site in the Coachella Valley

After Lake Mead, we travelled down to Yuma, with a quick boondock stay in Quartzsite.  There were still problems with our inverter, and the solar dealer that installed our system, and worked on it every single year thereafter as the problems continued, was not able to help us as their technical staff were not in the southwest as yet.

Backup plan #2: do some research and find a reputable solar dealer in Yuma. Done. So, off we went for a week in Yuma to get our rig washed, waxed and the carpets cleaned.  Yuma is the best place and by far the cheapest.  Our appointment at Starlight Solar was for November 5th and with a brand new inverter being installed, we were good to go within a couple of hours.  WOW. We switched from Xantrex to Magnum and what a difference.  We may never have to hook up to shore power ever.Well, ok, if we run the big tv, the computer, the power bars and a couple of lights at night, then we turn the pedestal on.  I used my blow dryer the other day with the solar/inverter and it ran fantastic.

Our arrival at the Sands in Desert Hot Springs was fun, as always.  Since it was Wednesday and the quilting group was at the north hall, I went off to say hello and check in and see what projects were on the go.  Donald continued with backing up into the perfect position on our lot, and of course he had some neighbourly supervision.

This morning I was back to lap swimming at 7:30 for an hour, then 45 minutes of deep water aerobics. I have missed that, for sure!  Coffee with the neighbours ( yes, the supervisor) and then lunch and out for chores.  We had to go to Trader Joes for dog treats ( Trader Joes Organic Chicken and Brown rice snacks ) as all, and we mean ALL dogs go crazy for them.  We don't have a dog anymore, but we can spoil those around us. Donald's favorite place, Home Depot was our stop for two planters.  One mixed with petunias,snapdragons and assorted other plants and the other was a very large red geranium pot.  The mixed planter looks a little sad, but it will only take a couple of weeks to get it looking good again.  Thankyou Miraclegrow.

Tomorrow is a coachella valley quilt shop hop, and then I think Rocky's Pizza with pals for supper.
Good times, good friends, once again.