Catalina State Park

There are dozens of State Parks throughout Arizona and I doubt we'll have enough time in our life to visit them all. That being said, there are a few that draw us back year after year and this is one of them. Nestled along the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the park offers walking and hiking trails as well as babbling (and some not so babbling) streams and beautiful scenery all around. The sites are well maintained by the park hosts and the surrounding desert feels like, and basically is, wilderness. We're here for a few days before we push north to the Apache Junction territory. All is well here and my teeth have stopped hurting 😀. I wish you all a good day and hope you find beauty wherever you are. CJ

PS. always be careful where you poke your nose. This morning I pulled Maddie away from a large flat rock she was finding interesting and when I bent down to see what was so intriguing…. I was looking at the back of a rather large sleeping snake!! Needless to say we backed off a fair distance lest we wake the sleeping giant.

www.cjdaley.ca

New bridge….tick

Yup, all done. We pulled up stakes this morning and high-tailed it back to the border for the follow-up dental appointment. Given the timing and miles to be covered, we decided to book in to the Sleepy Hollow RV (not really a park… more like a parking lot). See photo. Anyway, it's right at the border, has full services including a clean washroom, and is a short walk to the border crossing gate.

Short story is; we came, we booked in, we walked, I had the new bridge installed, we went for yummy tacos and then we walked back to Ricky, Lucy and Maddie; all in good shape.

We're going to miss all the friends we met at Rio Bend… but the road is calling and we must respond. We head to Catalina State Park tomorrow and, hopefully, we'll get some good walks and hikes in while we're there. It really is a lovely park.

That's all for now. Just wanted to let you know I survived and the road trip continues.

Until next time. Adios amigos. CJ

To the dentist I must go… in Los Algodones

The drive was uneventful (except we forgot about the time change between CA and AZ). Luckily, being Capricorns, we'd left plenty early and arrived with time to spare. The walk across the border was smooth and quick (no questions… didn't even want to see our passports). Then things got busy. What had been peace and tranquility melted quickly away as we stepped out of the customs area and into the Los Algodones street. Cars, bicycles, people pushing carts overflowing with wares, hucksters and hawksters every where you turned: it was enough to make you dizzy. We had, we thought, an hour to have lunch before my appointment with the dentist at 1:00.

Walking up the street was like running a tactical marathon. Every two feet someone (mostly men) stepped out of doorways to confront us and challenge us. "Where you going? I can help you". Want a dentist? I will take you." "Need some glasses? I know the best one." And on and on and on.

After a few blocks of walking we found ourselves in the same block our dentist was supposed to be. There were a lot of doorways and many were under construction or renovation. We stopped and were considering our options when a woman, dressed like an office attendant came out of a door right beside us. It was a door with no title and the area around it was obviously under construction. She asked us if we were looking for Dr. Chavez and we assured her we were. That was when we realized the time difference. She went back inside, apparently looking for the Dr. and we waited outside. A few moments later a man came up behind us and asked us to follow him; to another door across the street from the first door. Needless to say we were getting a little nervous and wondering if this was a scam and we were being lured to the office of a butcher. That's about when the woman reappeared and we questioned both of them. To our relief it turned out Dr. Chavez's office was being renovated and he was using the office of a different dentist until his was ready.

We finally got sorted out and I saw Dr Chavez in the office across from the one being renovated. Turned out my crown could not be replaced and what was left of the tooth had to be extracted. It also turned out my gums were receding from the older bridge in the same area. There was a second option as well that involved bone grafts and an implant and even more work… we chose the first option and he got to work. Two hours later I was released and we made an appt. to return on Friday for the permanent bridge.

The return to our vehicle wasn't nearly as smooth as walking into Mexico. The line of people waiting to cross back into the U.S. was over half a mile long and moving forward very slowly. With no other option, we joined the shuffling line and about an hour later managed to pass through security without even a question. Back to Rio Bend we fled.

Not much more to this story but suffice to say, I m glad the worst is over and there is hope for my smile yet 🤓

May your teeth remain strongly planted and your day be filled with sunshine. CJ

www.cjdaley.ca
www.ruddyduckpress.ca
www.svshannon.blogspot.com

Stuff happens in threes… right?

I think we're there. First there was the accident… then there was an earthquake. Remember last summer when our sail to Desolation was rudely interrupted by my toothache; and our speedy return to home where I underwent not one but two root canals on said tooth - which involved working through the crown to conduct the root canal. Well…… yesterday, while enjoying some lunch with friends, the &@#$!! crown came off. The good news? I didn't swallow it. The bad news; now I have to go to a dentist.

There is one positive to all this. I'm pretty sure I'll be needing some implants in the years to come and I'm absolutely certain my savings account won't be big enough to cover the cost of having them in Canada. But, as we sit here in El Centro we are very close to the Mexican border in general and Algodones in particular. So, IF the crown had to fall off… this is the place where I would have wanted that to happen. A good friend of ours has seen one of the many dentists in Algodones for years and his dentist has been very good (and his implants have presented no problems). So, while I don't need implants at this time 🤞I will be meeting Dr. Chavez on Monday at 1 PM. The plan is, we drive to the border (about one hour away) and park. Then we walk across the border and to his office; a short walk. I'll let you know how it goes.

The pics I've included are of one of our morning 'fly byes' (the Blue Angels are training for an upcoming show and they practice in our skies… a terrific show) and of another creature of flight, I caught at the small lake in the resort.

I hope your skies are blue, your sun is warm… and your teeth are firmly planted 😀
Have a good day. CJ

In case you hadn’t heard…



You may remember not too long ago I posted  information about the 1950-1990's purge of 'suspected' homosexuals in the Canadian military and the RCMP on the Blog. At the end of that post I cautioned us to not take our current respectful freedoms for granted. They were and are vulnerable and constantly challenged by those who are either afraid of or biased against those of us who are different.

Well, here we go.  Please read the attached information and think deeply about what you read before casting your vote in the upcoming elections and our future.  The choice is yours; our voices need to be heard… and there is a lot at stake.

Thank you.  Proud to be free 🌈 CJ

CBC News: CSIS warns that the 'anti-gender movement' poses a threat of 'extreme violence'

CSIS warns that the 'anti-gender movement' poses a threat of 'extreme violence' | CBC News cbc.ca

Earthquake!!! What’s next ???

Sound asleep… all three of us tucked in… It was 0036 by my watch and I felt a thump. Not your usual kind of a thump (whatever that is) but a thump that went through every fibre of Lucy (the trailer) and pulsed deep into my bones. It was enough of a thump to jolt me from my dream and throw me straight into wide awake! Not seconds later our dear little Lucy began to wiggle… and then sway… back and forth, shaking everything from bed mattresses to dishes…and with a deep-throated rumble that felt deeply embedded in our cores. "What's that?" was the cry; and that's when we heard the siren of an alarm coming from one of our phones. That's also when we called out at the same time- Earthquake!!! The tremor we felt the most, the first one, lasted probably a minute; but it felt like 30. The after-shocks were short but rumbled on, one after another… we felt at least three.

Yes, we had an earthquake last night. Not the kind you read about, some distance away…. but one that felt like it was coming right up through our floor (or at the least, right beside us). Turns out the epicentre was approximately 8 kilometres away, right beside the El Centro Costco. It also turned out the major quake was a 4.8 and it was followed by up to 100 after-shocks.

We are fine, Maddie's fine (when the quake struck she lifted her head and asked…"should I be worried?". Reassured all was well, she flopped back into her covers and went back to sleep) and we lay there reminiscing about earthquakes from our childhood.

The quake has been the talk of the town today but we've yet to hear of anything more than minor damage (lost pictures, etc) and no injuries. Phew! Dodged another one.

Let me see now: hmmm Dec. 7th accident, Feb. 11th earthquake, forgive me if I sound a little nervous wondering about #3. Guess we'll just have to be extra special careful and hope #3 doesn't find us.

Hope your pictures are secure and your tables are high enough to get under. Stay safe and aware. best always… CJ

www.cjdaley.ca
www.ruddyduckpress.ca
www.svshannon.blogspot.com

Earthquake!!! What’s next ???

Sound asleep… all three of us tucked in… It was 0036 by my watch and I felt a thump. Not your usual kind of a thump (whatever that is) but a thump that went through every fibre of Lucy (the trailer) and pulsed deep into my bones. It was enough of a thump to jolt me from my dream and throw me straight into wide awake! Not seconds later our dear little Lucy began to wiggle… and then sway… back and forth, shaking everything from bed mattresses to dishes…and with a deep-throated rumble that felt deeply embedded in our cores. "What's that?" was the cry; and that's when we heard the siren of an alarm coming from one of our phones. That's also when we called out at the same time- Earthquake!!! The tremor we felt the most, the first one, lasted probably a minute; but it felt like 30. The after-shocks were short but rumbled on, one after another… we felt at least three.

Yes, we had an earthquake last night. Not the kind you read about, some distance away…. but one that felt like it was coming right up through our floor (or at the least, right beside us). Turns out the epicentre was approximately 8 kilometres away, right beside the El Centro Costco. It also turned out the major quake was a 4.8 and it was followed by up to 100 after-shocks.

We are fine, Maddie's fine (when the quake struck she lifted her head and asked…"should I be worried?". Reassured all was well, she flopped back into her covers and went back to sleep) and we lay there reminiscing about earthquakes from our childhood.

The quake has been the talk of the town today but we've yet to hear of anything more than minor damage (lost pictures, etc) and no injuries. Phew! Dodged another one.

Let me see now: hmmm Dec. 7th accident, Feb. 11th earthquake, forgive me if I sound a little nervous wondering about #3. Guess we'll just have to be extra special careful and hope #3 doesn't find us.

Hope your pictures are secure and your tables are high enough to get under. Stay safe and aware. best always… CJ

www.cjdaley.ca
www.ruddyduckpress.ca
www.svshannon.blogspot.com

Our new shed, and a little help with the set up…

Strolling down the lanes of our Rio Bend community, one cannot help but notice the numerous yurts, shade rooms, lean-tos and other systems designed and created to somewhat organize the clutter that can quickly accumulate in such a life. As you might imagine we too have managed to collect an array of stools, tables, buckets and golf clubs that wander about our camp site looking for a home.

Meet the new 'shed' hereafter known as 'the shed'. Very original I know but there you have it. Tucked in the new shed are two golf carts with bags and clubs, the cooler, the 'sewer' bin (don't ask) and the propane bucket. .. and our site is now tidier than it's ever been.

Just thought you'd want to know. 😄

Weather is slowly improving and we managed to get to the driving range today (for the first time in months) 😱 lots of work needed there. Hope you are all dusting off your paddles, racquets and clubs in anticipation of an early spring . Ttfn. CJ
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California Coolers…

Just a quick note to say, yes it's cool here and we've had a few showers but the terrible weather you may be reading about is in northern and coastal California. We are fine; enjoying pickle ball and working on little tweaks to the (new to us) trailer. One thing is certain… it's a lot warmer here than at home 😃

California Coolers…

Just a quick note to say, yes it's cool here and we've had a few showers but the terrible weather you may be reading about is in northern and coastal California. We are fine; enjoying pickle ball and working on little tweaks to the (new to us) trailer. One thing is certain… it's a lot warmer here than at home 😃

Life is pretty good here …

Yes, we have no complaints (I think that's likely poor grammar and even has a label, but I'm on vacation so…).

Our days have been filled with lots of walking (getting a lot more steps in as we don't have bikes with us this year… and steps are good for you 😄); pickle ball (we're not that good but we're holding our own); hoping the wind dies down (so we can go golfing); and working through small projects on the trailer (thank goodness El Centro has Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Walmart and Costco). A few photos for you… two of a beautiful sunset from the patio/pool bar at Happy Hour, one of the historical wagons here at the resort and the view of the mountains from our campsite… pretty special.

Please know my friends, we think of you often and really hope your days are going as planned and, if they aren't, that you have the support of friends and family surrounding you.

Bye for now CJ and Kathy
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