Rain and more rain.

 Too bad we don't have a rain gauge. Heavy rain and hard thunder started Tuesday night with a bang that resonated off of the mountains and shook our home. Poor Lola was so frightened. It's been over a year since we have had rain and longer since we heard thunder. So our little girl was terrified by unknown sounds. The rain continued through the day, and into Wednesday. The afternoon was off and on but when it rained it came down hard. Well for here the rain came down hard. Its rare we get measurable rain, but it sure would be nice to know how much rain we get when it does rain. In MN, the amounts were part of the news, but here the measure of rain is so low they don't even bother with anything more than it rained or we were in a flash flood watch.

We had some very nice 80º weather for a few days, but along with the rain came the cooler temps again. And today it's quite damp out there. But the sun is shining brightly. Later I check and see how wet the porch and rug are out there.

The next door neighbors sold their place!! Next year the bitch won't be near us. But we also don't know who or what will be moving into their place. I hope it's a very nice couple with no dogs. Lola is very quiet and we don't like to listen to other dogs bark and bark. Most here have a need to get their bark removed or the owners to get a clue. Don't get me wrong, I like dogs, I just like them better if they have been well trained and don't bark at every little movement.

Relief

 Yesterday was a day of stress relief. Knowing that we now have a president and vice president with brains, compassion and a love for our country. The scum of the human race is out of office and we can now begin to heal.

End of the week

 You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life. Some days are better than others. It seems that we will have a good day and then a couple not so good days follow. Mark is still recovering from his bypass surgery and not liking the fact that it is a recovery that takes longer than just a few months. We all wish that we could bounce back from things like we did when we were in our twenties. Now wouldn't that be nice. Some days my arms are not so bad and then bamn, I get hit with a day or two that make washing my face a painful task. If every day was good we wouldn't appreciate them. So a bad day reminds of that it could be worse and to appreciate the good days when we have them.

We have had some chilly days and cold nights here in the desert southwest. But yesterday and the next 4 days are to be in the upper 70's. Along with the nice temps, the wind reared its ugly head making a motorcycle ride not doable. Fighting the wind and the heavy traffic takes all the fun out of the ride. I've not ridden my bike in months and can no longer do so, but Mark is anxious to get back on his.

Yesterday Mark had an ultrasound done on his left leg. It has been giving him pain and swelling for sometime now. So he was put on water pills but can not be on them indefinitely because it will damage the kidneys. The tech found a muscle that has fluid in or around it otherwise things looked ok. Next week he goes to the cardiologist for the results and to address his breathing problems.  Mark is sure he has fluid around his lung again that will need to be removed. Our guess is that a stent will need to be put in on the vein in his leg. The doc mentioned it once before.

One day early this week we remembered a couple stores that we have not been into since our first time here in Yuma. So we thought we would check them out. Luckily they were not busy and we got to go inside and do some shopping. It felt so good to choose our items ourselves and to walk around a store. These stores are more of a family type owned store so it was great to patronize their business instead of the big box stores. And we scored on some really good prices too. We will continue to give them our business. They also do an amazing job of social distancing as did  the shoppers. The outing really lifted our spirits.

Despicable

 It has taken quite a few days for me to calm down after the despicable behavior of trump. In clear conscience I can not call him president or mister. He is vermin, scum and a disgrace to the whole country. Because of his last unconscionable act it is proven once again that he has no love for this country or anyone other than himself.   He has created more violence and discord in this country and should not get by without paying dearly for his part. The domestic terrorists that he single handedly brought together to hurt and destroy should all be brought up on charges that send them ALL to federal prison for life. And trump can go with them since he started this whole mess 4 years ago.   I knew what he was like before the election and what it would be like if he won the election in 2016 and the trouble that he could create. Since then I have gotten a license to carry and have had my gun beside me without fail. Never in my life have I felt so unsafe in my own country. The stupid scum that support trump are as much a danger to this country as trump. And that is extremely frightening.😱 

Too close to home

 For the last couple weeks we have noticed NO activity at our neighbors to the south of us. And they are very social so when they aren't coming and going you think something is wrong. Hearing her yell across the street to another neighbor that her husband is very very sick makes us concerned. And someone had been dropping off food at the curb too. Now he appears to not be at home after their van being gone for a long period of time one day. Today we got a notice in our mailbox that another resident has the trump virus. Hmmm, could it be our neighbor, one who never wore a mask or social distanced? It wouldn't surprise us. This is really close to home now. The park can't give out any names so we can just speculate and stay even more diligent with our safety health routine. I don't think we can get anymore strict than we have been. It's not that we are nosey but it's hard not to know coming and goings when the park models are so close. And the driveway is right outside our living room window. The walls of these places are thin too yet.

Mark had an appointment at the walk in clinic today to renew a prescription. The nurse mentioned that December was the highest (in Yuma) in virus cases so far. That is because of the Thanksgiving gatherings and not done according to safety guidelines. Next will be caused by those that couldn't stay home at Christmas. The staff are all so tired; God bless our health care workers. Why can't people care about others and just stay home? Missing one or two holidays won't kill them, but the virus could or at least make them and others very sick. So tired of all this selfishness and lack of concern for others.

New Year same routine

 Good morning from the laundry room on this chilly New Year's Day. Yep it's laundry day again and later on today I will be making my grandmother's molasses cookie recipe. We are totally out of cookies and in our house that is as bad as being out of milk.

New Year's Eve came and went just like any other day of the week we were both in bed way before midnight and sound asleep by then as well. No special foods on New Year's Day here just another day of the week. I'm not real sure what supper will be but since it's a chilly day it could very well be soup. Thankfully I usually have some kind of soup in the freezer for quick meals on days that my arms get a work out.

With more snowbirds here now so I'm surprised I got both front load washers and I was the only one in the laundry room this morning. There were plenty of clothes lines for me to use too. A win-win for me this morning. Not so much of a win win for Mark this morning. He had a sneezing frenzy that took its toll on his chest, so now he is hurting. He will spend the rest of the day laying low. Which, since the trump virus, we are getting quite good at doing.

It was a chilly 42º this morning and only getting to 64º today, if we are lucky. The tonight it is to dip down to 38º. The heat pumps are not made to work that hard so I'll get the house really toasty with the propane heater tonight before bed. That should help keep the heat pump from having to work too hard for so long. Then I will start up the propane heater as soon as I get up in the morning. Which is what I do most winter mornings. We also have a little electric fireplace in the AZ room that has worked great for taking the chill out of that room.

Mark refills the little green canisters from our large tanks. It takes a special valve to do this. So that saves quite a bit of money too. He uses a kitchen scale to weigh each little canister to one pound. We have 8 canisters that Mark fills as we need them. Years back we didn't realize that it could get so cold in the desert. But it's still way warmer than the winters where we lived most of our lives. Making our Mr. Heater Big Buddy a great heat source and money saver. It was a last minute purchase when we left Minnesota and a good one at that.