I used to scoff...

When retired friends said that they were busier than ever and didn't have time to do all they wanted each day, I didn't believe it and I used to scoff. I'd scoff! Scoff at the idea of not having to go to work and still not being able to accomplish all the things on the "To Do" list. My work day used to be controlled by the clock and we lived a tight schedule. Up at 4:30 AM, leave home by 5:30, at the office by 6:30 AM. Lunch at noon in the office, same place, same time everyday. Then leave the office at 5:00 PM and get back home around 6:30. Defrost dinner and eating before 7 PM. Then 3 hours to "relax" and get all the personal stuff done before our dizzy heads hit the pillows. We were thankful for our 4 day work week, but still, our 3 days off were chock full of chores. And family responsibilities.

When we retired 14 months ago we stopped wearing our wrist watches. We do carry our cell phones and check them to confirm doctor appointment times. It didn't take long to get used to doing without the watch reminding me of the time.

I stopped by a friend's booth today at the arts & crafts fair and he asked why he hasn't seen us at the club lately. He's been retired for 20 years and had a good laugh with me about not having time to do it all each day. I can't believe how much there is to do! It's not a stressful feeling, not at all like having a job you don't enjoy. Not stressful like driving the gridlocked freeway for 3+ hours each day. Not stressful like having to meet a deadline even. In fact, it's not stressful at all. It's downright enjoyable. Maybe I'll share a typical day in my next post.

So many activities, so little time

If you wanted to be busy all the time, it's here to be part of. It seems every type of club, activity, sport, or hobby is offered. Truly, if you can imagine it, it's here. And there are some clubs we've become involved with. We tried to be selective, but we're so tempted.

There are classes and meetings happening in the Stitchery Room. This past Saturday there were about 20 women who each spent more than 2 hours cleaning the room, organizing supplies and performing maintenance on the sewing machines, sergers and embroidery machines. The Stitchery club room looks fantastic! Today we held a monthly meeting and discussed the season-ending offerings and what's planned for next year. It seems like a very nice group and somehow I was convinced to work on their scrapbook. It'll be a fun task.

We went to the Wood Working BBQ on Saturday where they cooked up some tasty burgers and hotdogs, with all the fixins. They are also a great group of (mostly) guys who turn out some beautiful items. The wood carvers are housed in the same building, sort of next door. Rick also does wood carving, something I've never wanted to do, or watch. Sharp knives and chisels.

The stained glass club shares the room with the wood carvers. We stopped in to visit with the glass group and see what they were working on. Some beautiful projects there! We've made some stained glass items before and I can see us getting into that next year. They also work with fused glass jewelry, something I'd like to try.

I haven't had much time to go to Arts & Crafts or the NeedleArt group gatherings. Tomorrow is the craft fair, along with a small RV show put on by a local dealer. Friday is vendor's day and it always has a huge turnout.

Friday night I went to Bingo here in our community for the first time ever. No, I didn't win, but the cost was little and fun was big. My neighbor across the street goes every Friday and sits with 3 or 4 other lady friends and they chit chat while hoping to win one of the jackpots. There were about 10 games that paid out $110 and 2 special games that paid out over $400 each. I believe more than 300 people show up hoping to win. I'll probably go a few more times before we head out in the moho.

We want to get back on the pickleball courts, but with all the trips to California and other appointments, pickleball has taken a back court. Time to put it back on the top of the list and play with the morning group. I think I'll play with the ladies group on Thursday.

In between club activities we've started to load the motorhome. We had one day of 90 degrees and it reminded us of how hot it will soon be. The weather cooled off a little after that and has been absolutely gorgeous. Arizona winters are the best in the country.

"Blue Boy?" you ask

Not 'The Blue Boy' by Gainsborough that hangs at the Huntington Library along with 'Pinkie' by Lawrence. I remember visiting there as a child and doing a school report on the two paintings. No, this Blue Boy is not so pretty or refined.

You can see Blue Boys in campgrounds where RVers don't have full hookups. We saw a lot of Blue Boys in Quartzsite. Lots! Being towed behind ATVs, jeeps, trucks and bicycles. On the back of homemade trailers and being pulled along by the Blue Boy owner. Eeeuuuu! Who else would tote a Blue Boy, but it's owner?

Last year when we were staying at Thousand Trails Lake Minden, where they have limited full hookup sites, we'd been there for a few days and needed to move the motorhome to dump the holding tanks. Rick had become friends with the neighbor and had seen him dumping his holding tanks into his Blue Boy, then he pulled it over to the dump station. After watching the neighbor, Rick said to me "Do you think the neighbor would let me use his Blue Boy to dump our sewer tank?" I just looked at Rick, and with one eye squinting and the eyebrow arched, I said, "I think there must be some type of campground ettiquette that doesn't allow the sharing of a person's Blue Boy." Rick quickly agreed and never brought it up again. We moved the motorhome to dump the sewer tanks.

A Blue Boy is the common name given to a container, blue in color, used to transport sewer waste from an RV to a dump station. Blue Boys usually are 15-20 gallons or more, with a couple wheels, a handle, an intake connection and an outflow valve. The smaller the blue Boy, the easier it is to manuever and store, but the more trips you'd need to make to empty it. The larger sizes hold more (yipeee) so you make less trips, but being bigger makes it oh so much more heavier.

One day while in Quartzsite I decided to follow a guy hauling his Blue Boy down to the Blue Boy dump station and catch a few photos on the sly. Never having used a Blue Boy before, I learned a lot just by watching. I'm sure the guy wondered why I was so interested in such a private moment.

Detours in life

Detours can be interesting. They take you off the main route you plan to take.

I've been away from Blogger for a few days and feel some sort of obligation to post when I don't. Not like a job type obligation, but more like an outlet for my thoughts. I enjoy it and miss it. And there are a couple people who tell me they miss me. Thanks for the nice comments and encouragement.

Rick and I have been back and forth to California a few times in the last couple months, a 6 hour drive through the desert, to visit family and take care of personal, private family stuff. We've had some very nice family gatherings, spent lots of time with our young nephews and nieces, and all in all, have had a wonderful time. As much as we like spending time with family, it's good to be home.

Lately I've been writing about life in the motorhome, but life happens outside of the moho. It's been 14 months since we retired and it's still new and amazing. Some days I wake up and marvel at the realization of freedom. It's been nice to escape to the motorhome, escape the TV news of gloom and doom. Can't wait to get in the motorhome and drive north to escape the summer Arizona heat that will surely be here by May!

I'd like to share my thoughts on retirement in a post. There are endless activities taking place here where we live that draw us in. And perhaps I'll share some of the family stuff that we all go through. Thanks for stopping by.

Keep it clean

One of the guys who camped with us in Quartzsite, Harry, has car washes in Arizona so I knew he would be a good one to ask about "keeping it clean". In fact, one day while we were there, without water, Harry cleaned the outside of his entire motorhome. It looked spotless when he arrived and it was even cleaner when he left the dusty desert.

Harry is a guy who likes to do all the modifications and upgrades to his motorhome himself. Judging from the finished results, he's very meticulous and thorough in whatever he does. My question for Harry was simple, one we're all faced with at one time or another. "How do I get the water spots off the shower glass?" I was most interested in cleaning the shower in the house and keeping the shower in the motorhome clean. Harry had a quick answer for me, "Eliminate" and it's available at Home Depot. Harry went back to his motorhome and brought me a bottle to use and keep. I've since bought another bottle of "Eliminate" for about $5. The smell is not too bad either. No harsh fumes like some caustic cleaners.

Harry said it was good for glass, faucets, sinks, and other areas. He said to spray it on and leave it alone for about 30 minutes, then wipe off with a cloth or sponge. No need to scrub. It's OK if you need to spead it around with a sponge, but then leave it to do it's job. It did a fairly good job of removing the hard water spots on the glass and did a really good job of removing the build-up on the shower door and the surrounding framework. Give it a couple of applications if necessary and remember to let it do the work. The 20 year old shower looks about 95% better.

BE SURE TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AND TEST THE PRODUCT BEFORE USING. There are certain surfaces you should not use it on and you need to be sure not to get it in your eyes. Keep it away from children.

De-clutter De-clutter De-clutter

We've been motivated once again to de-clutter our shed Rick's shed. When we retired 13 months, 8 days, and 6 hours ago we dropped off "stuff" at Goodwill and gave what we could to family. For a few days this past week, we worked with Rick's family to de-clutter his parent's garage. We had 3 fun days working with Rick's sister and her husband, and his parents, to organize and weed through their closets and cupboards. And boy, does their garage look good! Very motivating!

Well, since we've lived in the motorhome for a year and have now been home for a few weeks, we've got a whole new idea of what we need to keep for the motorhome and what we can leave at home. Rick took almost all of the stuff out of the motorhome storage bays and is organizing what we need for the next trip. He's building shelves, installing 'J' hooks, building compartments, and moving stuff around.

I know it's common to over pack for a trip and RVers are no different. Especially when you're going to live in the RV for a while. We both brought things along last year that were never ever used. Rick brought all the extra sewer parts, connections, and hoses that he owned, thinking that if he ever needed it, he'd really need it. That makes more sense than me bringing along the wire shopping basket on wheels. You know, the wheeled-basket with a handle that you take to swap meets to haul all your purchases. Or in my case, I thought I'd need it to haul dirty clothes to the laundry center at the campgrounds. We were always camped close to the laundry so I never got it out from under the bed. Yeah, it'll stay home next time. (What am I thinking? It needs to find a better home through Goodwill.)

Another thing that we kept under the bed with the wire wheelie-basket was a single oak TV tray. I thought it would make extra counter space for when I use the printer, but we've got the nice wooden table from Quartzsite now. So the TV tray stays home. And I definitely need to use the printer more often. Rick refills the ink cartridges and they dry up before I can use them. So I need to print more photos. With all that photo paper that I packed in the overhead cabinets.

We brought too many clothes, extra books that didn't get read, wood carvings that didn't get carved, and afghans that didn't get crocheted. Rick did tie lots and lots of flies to fish with and I hope to tie some myself. We've learned how to pack well and we have a motorhome that can carry much more weight (thank goodness). We'll probably take too much stuff again. I guess if we fished less we'd have more time for other hobbies and time to use all the stuff we bring along. But you know we aren't going to fish less. That's not gonna happen.

Our 2008 Monaco Cayman XL

One of our friends from Quartzsite took this photo as we were getting ready to head out. I think I might use it on our new business cards.

We had a blast and are looking forward to next year!

Wrapping up Quartzsite

Time to wrap it up and put it away. We've been gone from Quartzsite for awhile now, but the memories are still fresh in our mind. And in our habits.

We've moved back into the 'stick-built', but the routine of the motorhome is still at hand. Literally. When I plug in the hair dryer I think about which other appliances are also plugged in so not to blow a 30 amp fuse. When I start the microwave I stop to think about the amount of power I'm pulling so not to blow a fuse. Although we ran the generator while in the motorhouse, giving us 50 amps, I still was able to blow the fuse on the generator, and at least once blew the fuse on the inverter.

And being on limited water usage while boondocking, I'm still being very strict with myself about not running the water except as needed. And flushing the toilet with the foot pedal had become a habit. How silly do we feel when we reach for the pedal and it's not there?!?!

After the RV show had zipped up the tent flaps, we went into Tyson Wells and walked around. There were a few die-hards still selling, but it was like a ghost town where the swap meet vendors had once been hawking their goods. Once the customers had cleared out, the vendors were movin' on. If you click on the photo of the pink bus, you'll see the message on it's back end. "That's all folks"

Favorite find in Quartzsite

Last year our friends Tim & Crystal showed me a wooden table they had found while in Quartzsite. They use it in their motorhome for extra table space. It was made of different types of wood and it folded up for easy storage. I believe they purchased it from a guy from Yuma. I told them I'd like to have one if they ever found the vendor again.

Well... Crystal called us towards the end of the RV Show and said the wood table guy was there and they had some of his tables. And that they were saving one for me!! Yippeeee! I was able to choose the one I wanted and I love it.

The guy who makes them demonstrates how sturdy they are by standing on it! I guess everyone goes a little crazy when he gets up there and they are convinced to buy one. They fold up real skinny and I was able to put it under the dinette while we were driving. I think I'll make a cloth bag for it to keep it from getting scratched. I already have plans for Rick to make another table a little taller. I love the table! It's the best find of the entire show!

Odd sights of Quartzsite

We don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle anymore so we stayed on the gravel roads. I know we would have seen more unusual sights way off the road, but we still saw some interesting and comical people. Towards the end of the gravel road, a couple miles from the entrance, we came to a fork in the road and decided to turn around. We found out that this sign was a guidepost to the makeshift nudist colony. Yes, we turned around and went back.

This woman was camped not too far from us and we saw her ride her trike almost everyday. She went off road with her 3-wheeler.

It was also common to see the BLM rangers patrolling, pulling over, and ticketing the speeders on the main gravel road. A word of caution to you speed racers!

Been busy & lots to do

I've been absent from posting for a few days and hope to be back at it soon. I have a couple more comments to close out our experience in Quartzsite. What a great time we had with great friends! We're already looking forward to 2010. Rick accomplished so many modifications to the motorhome and he waited until QZ to get 'em done. I'll share the secret reason for that. Those of you who vacation or travel in an RV might find it interesting. I've got some photos also.

I almost forgot, but I also have photos of the best purchase of the entire RV show that I want to share.

We've been busy with visiting family and taking care of personal business, but I hope to have a few minutes this weekend to get caught up. Thanks for stopping by.

Get a hair cut!!

What's with the wild hair? I saw it everywhere! In all colors! What's come over them? What makes these normal, predictable men that I thought I knew, do it?!?!

I thought they were sensible, quiet and conservative, but NO! I saw the wild side! I'm surprised they don't want to go out and buy a bright yellow convertible sports car!

I don't understand what's come over them. Mid-life identity crisis? Thank goodness it's not permanent. Oh my! I guess they could have gone for tattoos! Or body piercing!

I actually think they're funny and fun! And the guys enjoyed them. The funky hair visors were priced as high as $20 each, but leave it to Rick to find the best deal. There was one vendor who sold them for $6 each or 2 for $10. Rick got a grey one and a brown one for $5 each. You could find them in a wide spectrum, from white faux fur to green to bright red.

This woman had the spiky hair look naturally, without the faux fur sewn on the visor. Good for her, she looks good!