Jan 2nd to 5th - Yuma

Jan 2nd - Sat - Yuma
P&R joined us for breakfast (pancakes, sausage, eggs, biscuits & gravy, juice & coffee) here at the park this morning before they left for Wellton. They will be moving around southern Arizona before going to Mexico for 2 months. Bob & Karen from Chewelah (we met them in Alabama last spring) arrived yesterday. Karen stopped to see if she could borrow a laundry card and a bit later Bob stopped as he was passing by on a walk.
We decided to make a wind screen so we can sit outside more often. We picked up Karen & Bob and went to the Swap Meet for supplies and a quick lunch.
The wind screen is constructed of metal poles and screw-on fittings so it is portable. We could not buy the right size of sun shade material for the screen so we have to cut the fabric and put in grommets. Hope the neighbors are tolerant of the hammering.
Bob & Karen came over for happy hour. The cool wind caused us to move inside very quickly. Charlie & Julie hammered on the door and joined us later so dinner was quite late.

Jan 3rd - Sun - Yuma
We made a trip to the Swap Meet to get some more pieces for the wind screen and got one panel laced to the frame. It looks like the grommets are not going to hold so I will sew tabs on the second panel - another day! It was after 1:00 by the time we finished and we hadn’t eaten yet so I was too cranky to get the sewing machine out.
We started on a bike ride and realized there was live music at the cantina. So we continued on the Bob & Karen’s spot to see if they wanted to go. They had just returned from the dog park, had been told about the music and were planning to go. We spent a relaxing couple of hours listening to old time music and drinking “$5 a pitcher” beer.
We rode a couple more miles, stopped at Charlie & Julie’s and they invited us to share a big pot of soup for dinner. We finished just in time for us to drop off our bikes and get the truck to pick up Charlie & Julie to go to Card Bingo here at the park. Bob & Karen were saving seats for us and C&J were able to complete another table.
Charlie, Terry & I each won a game and Bob won 2 games. There were 48 players so our group did pretty good.
I finished up the day with a nice long phone call with sister Marg.

Jan 4th - Mon - Yuma
We got out the sewing machine and spent most of the day sewing another wind screen panel. This time I sewed pockets to slide the poles through. This was a fairly tricky job considering that we have to be able to insert poles & connections from both directions. One end had to have tabs for lacing since it uses the corner pole with the other screen. Then my sewing machine kept snarling the thread so I was very happy when we were done. And it looks great. Even with just one screen our chairs do not blow over.
We grabbed our cooler and headed to Charlie & Julie’s for happy hour which by now we really needed. Home for a late dinner.

Jan 5th - Tues - Yuma
We took a short (3 mile) bike ride before picking up Bob & Karen for a trip to Algodones. Charlie & Julie and Mike & Jewel were also going so we all stopped first at the casino for 2-for-1 breakfast buffet. Beautiful, short sleeve weather. It was a challenge keeping the group together but fun watching each other negotiate prices. We stopped for a large margarita before stopping at the liquor store and lining up to get through customs. It took us about 45 minutes to get through.
Our group stopped at the casino on the way back. We were there for about 1 ½ hours. Terry broke even, I lost my money, Karen got a run of good luck at the end to recoup her losses and Bob lost some. Terry probably broke even only because that’s where he was when we had to leave so B&K could rescue their dog from the motor home.
Speaking of rescue, our golfer that flies on our flagpole was gone this morning. Terry peeked over the fence behind us and could not see it. When we went to pick up K&B, we drove past the park models behind us and I spotted the golfer on the edge of a garage roof. Terry was able to snag it with an extendable squeegee.