Quiet Week in the Desert

What a difference a week can make! This is going to sound weak to many but it went from highs in the mid 70’s with lows in the 50’s to windy with highs in the 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s/low 30’s. It is interesting to see the diversity of how people dress around here and you can certainly tell where people come from. You see everything from people in down coats, hats and gloves to people in shorts and t-shirts all out and about at the same time!

Aside from our normal water, waste water, line dancing (Barb) and laundry routine, we had a quiet week. With the weather being like it was we stayed inside much of the time. I did manage to repair the blue boy with some JB Weld, hopefully we won’t have any more leaks. Between the rain, wind and dust storms the rig got a nice layer of dirt on it but with the help of the California Duster we bought last year it was back shiny in no time.

Dakota had a rough week. We got her spayed this week. Could you imagine going through a heat cycle and having pups in a 5^th wheel? One of the challenges of being a pet owner on the road is finding reliable veterinary services. Barb jumped on the internet and used Yelp and Google Reviews to quickly determined there was nothing locally that we wanted to entrust Dakota to. She did find a reliable vet in Yuma but they wanted to do a pre-exam several days in advance of the surgery meaning an additional 180 mile round trip. So she went on to Phoenix where she found a reasonable ($115) vet who got good reviews. So she set up the surgery along with a microchipping ($35). After the surgery, they also got us for an additional $25 "abnormally large uterus fee" who knew.....

This worked out well as she wanted to go to Phoenix to do some Christmas shopping anyway. So 5am Tuesday morning they were off to Phoenix. I don’t know all where she went but I did see a Cabela’s bag in the truck when she returned! She also had a liquor box full of booze from TotalWine and More. Although the liquor prices in Parker and Quartzsite are not horrible a bottle of Apothic wine was 6.97 at Total Wine, $2 cheaper than around here and a 1.75 bottle of Captain Morgan was $4 cheaper at 19.99.

Dakota was traumatized and sore but is now quietly recovering here in the rig. We just have to keep her quiet for 7-10 days and the stiches dissolve.

Daisy, with her sister out of commission and cold and windy outside, cuddled up with a blanket and a book......

Looks like another....."You will pay for this" look

Dakota recovering from the anesthesia

Speaking of Dakota, we finally came up with a middle name for her! We were looking for something that was a natural, like…Daisy Mae. It came to us by “accident” but it is the perfect middle name for her. She is such a clumsy klutz. The other day while standing by the front door she got startled, jumped up the stairs and slammed into the door again tumbling over backwards. Barb said, “Good thing we did not name her Grace” It was at that moment we knew we had the perfect middle name for her!

That’s it for this week…….To all our friends, family and blog readers, Merry Christmas!  We really miss the friends and family time we traditionally attended this time of year, one of the downsides of this lifestyle. But know we are thinking of you and wish you nothing but the best……

Merry Christmas Everyone!