January 23, 2002
Well, Happy 39th Birthday son Doug! Hard to believe I'm that old already. Seems like only yesterday I got started with life. Hope you have a great day visiting your Grandmother who will be celebrating her 91st birthday on the 28th.
Remember my joyful comments about Stan and Trudy that we'd run into at the post office? The people who had been so helpful in buying Moby Dick and had a lot here in Quartzsite and were willing to let us use their phone line so I could update the site while we were visiting them? Well, here's their home. The pea gravel covers the ground except for the pad of bricks they've laid for a patio. The lot is about 80' X 100' with hookups for 2 RV's in addition to having electricity, water, sewer and phone in the "garage". That's them in the "garage" on the right. Very attractive Mexican Brick wall with big sliding gates in front. Sitting in the "garage" talking to them made me a little homesick. For what, I'm not sure, but it was nostalgic to look at how neatly Stan has built the shelves, varnished them and everything. Maybe I was remembering my own shop before we sold the house.
Barb isn't really taking a nap, she's mildly protesting my taking another picture of her. While she may be the object of my affections, I was really just wanting to take another shot of Stan's impeccable handiwork. And on the right is a shot of a happy day full of relief. The red tank truck is pulling the contents of our holding tanks (whew!) and the pickup with the tank in the bed is putting fresh water into our tank. The fellow in the stripped shirt is Ray, and he and his wife Kay were the first official L.O.W. people to arrive. They posted signs on the "roads" so other could find us, and Ray helped people get parked, made arrangements (and drove a good deal on the pricing) to have the pumpers service the group. $.20 per gallon for water, and $15 to pump both tanks. Cost us about $23 for the visit, and we're ready again for their visit tomorrow.
And here's "everybody" all bundled up around the fire, and on the right is the way it looks during the daylight. Sort of. The motorhomes and trailers are kind of in a circle, with the fire pit in the middle. Potlucks are the order of the day for the evening meal, (except when the wind blows too hard and it's too cold and dusty) and then the fireside chat. Most of the people abandon the fire about 6 PM or 7 PM at the latest because of the cold. I wanna go south for the winter next year!! Of course, since we're not getting rained on and we aren't shoveling snow, I really shouldn't complain. But I will anyway, of course.