Today we moved from Yuma to Indio, California, near Palm Springs. Gracie is entered at the Palm Springs Kennel Club dog show this weekend and then we'll stay around the area for a couple more weeks.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Cocopah Golf Cart Christmas Parade
Tonight was the annual Golf Cart Christmas Parade here at the Cocopah RV resort. Many of the residents who own golf carts do them up with lights and decorations and they all parade up and down the streets of the RV park.
Tom and I sat out front of our RV with a glass of wine and Christmas songs playing on our iPod speakers and cheered them on. It was all very fun and festive.
Tom and I sat out front of our RV with a glass of wine and Christmas songs playing on our iPod speakers and cheered them on. It was all very fun and festive.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tamale Festival
Last Saturday was the annual Tamale Festival in Yuma. There were over 30 vendors with various kinds of tamales. We were able to buy a string of tickets which could then be traded for one tamale each from any vendor we chose.
We sampled all sorts of tamales. Everything from the traditional pork to beef, chicken, cheese, bean and any combination thereof. But the really different ones were the dessert tamales with pineapple, raisins, cinnamon, etc. The most unique was a chocolate tamale.
There was also a stage with various musical acts performing throughout the day. Our favorite was the Mariachi Band.
We had a great time.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Yuma, Arizona
After the dog show, we settled ourselves into the Cocopah Golf and RV Resort here in Yuma. We'll be here for the month of December. Tom immediately decorated the palm tree behind our RV with Christmas lights. This park has a regular 18 hole golf course as well as a driving range, so Tom is happy.
I have a friend who spent some time in Yuma last winter and made the trip to Mexico to have some dental work done. She told me her dentist had state of the art equipment and low prices. So when part of one of my fillings fell out a couple days after we got here, I decided to call her dentist to get it fixed. They got me in the next day.
We drove to the border and parked the car on the U.S. side, then walked across the border into Los Algodones, Mexico. The dentist's office was only a couple blocks away. Everyone in the office spoke english which made it easy on us. Turns out the reason my filling fell out is that my tooth was cracked all the way through. Which meant simply replacing the filling was not going to work. The entire tooth actually had to come out and I was fitted with a temporary bridge - two crowns attached to "real" teeth with a fake tooth in the middle.
Today I went back to have the permanent bridge installed. All went well.
While we were there, we decided Tom should also have his teeth checked since it had been awhile since he'd had a checkup. Poor guy had six cavities!
The good thing about it all is the cost was probably about half what it would have been at a U.S. dentist and insurance should cover the majority of it.
After the dental work was complete this afternoon, we wandered around town a bit and bought a beautiful ceramic bowl and a colorful planter in the shape of a frog. We have named him Francisco.
I have a friend who spent some time in Yuma last winter and made the trip to Mexico to have some dental work done. She told me her dentist had state of the art equipment and low prices. So when part of one of my fillings fell out a couple days after we got here, I decided to call her dentist to get it fixed. They got me in the next day.
We drove to the border and parked the car on the U.S. side, then walked across the border into Los Algodones, Mexico. The dentist's office was only a couple blocks away. Everyone in the office spoke english which made it easy on us. Turns out the reason my filling fell out is that my tooth was cracked all the way through. Which meant simply replacing the filling was not going to work. The entire tooth actually had to come out and I was fitted with a temporary bridge - two crowns attached to "real" teeth with a fake tooth in the middle.
Today I went back to have the permanent bridge installed. All went well.
While we were there, we decided Tom should also have his teeth checked since it had been awhile since he'd had a checkup. Poor guy had six cavities!
The good thing about it all is the cost was probably about half what it would have been at a U.S. dentist and insurance should cover the majority of it.
After the dental work was complete this afternoon, we wandered around town a bit and bought a beautiful ceramic bowl and a colorful planter in the shape of a frog. We have named him Francisco.
Thanksgiving weekend show in Yuma
Gracie was entered in four days of dog shows starting the day after Thanksgiving. So Thanksgiving day found us on the road to Yuma, Arizona. We put a turkey breast in the crock pot, using a recipe that would make the turkey, gravy and stuffing all together, and had that cooking as we traveled down the road.
Once we got to the Yuma Fairgrounds where the show was being held and got ourselves set up for the weekend, the turkey feast was ready to go.
As for the show, we had a great time. Our friends Tish and Orville were there and we had fun getting to know some other Norwich exhibitors better.
We showed Gracie the first day and she was second in her class. The next day, she took first in her class and then went Winner's "female dog" which means she got points towards her championship. It takes 15 points to become a champion and the number of points a dog earns at each show is determined by the number of dogs competing in that breed. Among the 15 points, you have to earn two "major wins" of 3 - 5 points (5 being the max available at any show no matter how many dogs are entered). So once you get to 9 points without any majors, the dog is said to be "singled out" meaning it needs majors now to finish its championship. 1 or 2 point wins won't help. After Saturday's win, Gracie is now singled out. Now we need to find shows with a big enough entry for major wins. So we didn't show Sunday or Monday. If she had won the points, it wouldn't help her and it would take points away from another dog who could use them. Plus, if truth be told, we had early morning ring times on Sunday and Monday and I'm not a fan of early.
Our next show will be Palm Springs in early January and we're hoping for a big entry there.
Once we got to the Yuma Fairgrounds where the show was being held and got ourselves set up for the weekend, the turkey feast was ready to go.
As for the show, we had a great time. Our friends Tish and Orville were there and we had fun getting to know some other Norwich exhibitors better.
We showed Gracie the first day and she was second in her class. The next day, she took first in her class and then went Winner's "female dog" which means she got points towards her championship. It takes 15 points to become a champion and the number of points a dog earns at each show is determined by the number of dogs competing in that breed. Among the 15 points, you have to earn two "major wins" of 3 - 5 points (5 being the max available at any show no matter how many dogs are entered). So once you get to 9 points without any majors, the dog is said to be "singled out" meaning it needs majors now to finish its championship. 1 or 2 point wins won't help. After Saturday's win, Gracie is now singled out. Now we need to find shows with a big enough entry for major wins. So we didn't show Sunday or Monday. If she had won the points, it wouldn't help her and it would take points away from another dog who could use them. Plus, if truth be told, we had early morning ring times on Sunday and Monday and I'm not a fan of early.
Our next show will be Palm Springs in early January and we're hoping for a big entry there.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Casa Grande Ruins
A couple of weeks ago we visited more ancient ruins, this time in Casa Grande, Arizona. This was a ground dwelling village built by the Hohokam people hundreds of years ago. They used "caliche" which they found just a few feet below the surface and is much like cement. When mixed with water, it formed a mud that dried extremely hard and almost an entire house has survived the elements over time. Several other partial walls of
houses and other structures remain from the original village. The roof over the "big house" was built in the '30s to help preserve the ruins.
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