HTDH! (and his lovely wife Vicki)

Harry the Dog Hater (HTDH) and his lovely wife Vicki arrived on Saturday, screeching to a stop amidst a cloud of dust. “There goes the neighborhood” Steve said. Once the dust settled and Harry hobbled out of the pickup Steve said, “You know there is a 15mph speed limit here!”. In typical Harry fashion he replied “I know, but there was a puppy crossing the road so I sped up to see if I could scare the little bugger. You should have seen the look in the little guy's eye’s when he saw my big ole Chevy bearing down on him. I have not had that much fun since I blew my air horn at the All You Can Eat Prune event at the Senior Citizens Center!”

Vicki just shook her head and said the three words we hear anytime we got together, “I’m sorry guys”. Oh, if she had a dollar for every time she said that phrase, she’d have enough money to drop that old coot off at the aforementioned Senior Center. That is, if he wasn’t banned for life. So, she is stuck with him and just carries on apologizing.

Barb and I went over to Steve and Dianne’s for happy hour while they got set up. A few minutes later we see Harry walking towards us through the desert. As he walks by a little old lady walking her equally old wiener dog, he stops. The woman is struggling trying to pick up a doo doo that her dog just deposited. Barb says, “Oh look at Harry Baby (HB), he is going to help that little old lady” I say, “Why do you keep calling him Harry Baby?” and turn in time to see him kick dirt at both the dog and the little old lady as he makes his way over to us.

“Where’s Vicki?” Steve asks as Harry sets up his chair after grabbing a beer out of Steve’s cooler. “She’s unhooking the 5^th wheel and setting up.” “Does she need any help?” Dianne asked. “She’s fine, she ain’t got nothing better to do” was Harry’s response as he crushed his now empty beer can and threw it at Zoey who was hiding under Barb’s chair.

20 minutes later Vicki comes over with her chair and sits down. She silently looks each of us in the eye and says, “I’m sorry guys”.

And so begins our weeklong adventure with HTDH (HB to Barb) and his lovely wife Vicki.

HTDH and his lovely wife Vicki 

We had not seen Harry and Vicki since we were all down here in January of 2020, so it was really nice catching up with Vicki again. Poor Vicki. We hung out until well after dark talking and laughing. Some people you just get along with so well, you do not want the night to end. But end it must, and we all eventually retired to our rigs.

Sunday, Barb and I headed over to the Grubestake in Quartzsite to meet up with our friends Dave and Maxine and watch the Superbowl. Dave is an over-the-top KC fan who can recite current and historical facts about every KC player, coach and pivotal game in Kansas City history. At one point KC was going for a field goal and Dave says “Oh, I hate it when he kicks from the right hash, he always misses them”. Sure enough, “Doink”, the ball bounces off the upright and misses. Dave does know his Chiefs!

Much of the game Kansas was losing and not playing the best, so Dave was a little on the downside. Then they pulled it off in the end and he and Maxine were a couple of happy campers!

Monday night we got back together with Steve, Dianne, HTDH and his lovely wife Vicki for our annual (not so annual) beer tasting! We had a lot of ground to make up having missed the last couple of years! (Thanks to Dianne for a few of the pictures!)

Steve pouring what ended up being our least favorite beer.

 It was a good event, but we are either getting old or were off our game as we only tested 19 beers between the 6 of us. Hell, Dino can do that before noon on any day that ends in a "Y"!

Harry showed off his dance moves from his chair with this somewhat dyslectic version of YMCA.

We put the beers in order starting with our favorite on the far left up front. We all have such different tastes, that it was hard to really come to a consensus, but this is what we came up with. We all pretty much agreed on the best and the worst, the middle is a little cloudy. My favorites continued to be the German Hefeweizens.

Tuesday, 2/14, was Zoey’s 2^nd birthday! We had planned to have a party with the neighborhood dogs, but it was so cold and windy I don’t think anyone left their rigs all day. You can see from this picture that Zoey was sad that her friends were not able to come over for the party.

Just to annoy HTDH I thought I would include this precious video.

Wednesday we packed up and went back to Yuma for my final dental work the next day. We spent the night in the casino parking lot. Barb wandered inside the casino returning an hour later $85 richer!

My worst fears were being realized the next day when I had a slight cough and congestion. Nothing more fun than having dental work done when you cannot breathe. I had a couple of coughing fits while they finished the root canal and put in the permanent crowns, but I got through it.

The line back to the U.S. was another one of those 2 hours lines so that was fun, but 5 hours after leaving the girls in the parking lot we were reunited and on our way back to Q! Steve and Dianne had texted us while we were gone telling us that a spot opened up along the wash and did we want it? I think they just wanted us a little further away, so they moved our table and chairs to this new spot.

 We are now right along the wash which is nice for walking the dogs but closer to HTDH and his lovely wife Vicki so that is the downside. Harry keeps throwing rocks at Dakota and Zoey when they are outside but luckily, he throws like a 4-year-old little girl and they are falling well short of their targets.

Friday, we went to see more of our friends when Debbie and Steve drove down from Parker for the evening. We all met them at Silly Al’s for pizza. 

Me, Barb, Dianne, Steve, Steve, Debbie, HTDH and his lovely wife Vicki

Barb also had a yummy looking Bloody Mary!

After that we all headed back to Steve and Dianne's for a few hours of socializing, beer tasting and a few other libations. I thought I was feeling better than I actually was, but hit the wall having to call it quits early. Steve and Debbie were on their way to places unknown, but it was good catching up with them for a few hours. 

When we got home from Steve and Dianne's I discovered our water pump was not working. It was too dark to deal with it right then, so I looked at it in the morning. After some troubleshooting, I determined that it was the pump that was bad, so we went into town to get a new one. After getting that installed it was time to head next door where Vicki was having a Mint Julep event. 

They were delicious and just what the doctor ordered for my cold. By now, Barb was starting to get a cold too but we again powered through. HTDH even spruced up his hat for the occasion. More like creosoted up his hat but you get the idea. 

Barb also made some beer margaritas using a recipe that Deb from the infamous Tom and Deb gave her. They too were a hit! The sun went down, the firepit came out, the juleps and margaritas continued to be poured.... We even had lighted glasses!

Sunday, our last day here, we laid low all day feeling about 85%. Getting things ready for moving on, reading and saving our energy for one more happy hour. Tonight's event included most everyone from the area as several of us were heading off into the sunset. We played Core Crash and roasted hotdogs over an open fire. 

Barb taking her turn at Core Crash

Steve up with a crowd of hecklers in the back

After the Core Crash games it was time for the pups to come out and play. There is another Jim in the neighborhood who has a dog named Buddy. Buddy and Zoey were soon best friends and were zooming around everywhere. Everything came to a screeching halt though when Dianne came out with treats in her pocket!

We had a great 11 days here catching up with old friends, making new ones and just hanging out. It was really great to see everyone (except HTDH). But now we must move on. We now head east to catch up with two more friends we have not seen in a while and then north into the frozen tundra. But we have one more surprise stop up near Denver before we finally get home, one I have been looking forward to for quite a while!

In the meantime, feel free to comment, sending HTDH your thoughts on what a mean a cruel person he is. 

Don't let the smile in his pictures fool you, behind that smile is a heart as black as coal and one really ornery and cantankerous old man. Or perhaps you can post a comment to his lovely wife Vicki, a true angel for putting up with him all these years. As we pulled out of our spot, Steve, Dianne and Vicki waved goodbye. HTDH could not help himself and threw one last rock at our truck, again landing well short. As we turned the corner and headed to the highway, I could have sworn I heard Vicki's voice saying, "I'm sorry guys"!

Thanks again Dianne for the picture of us!