Saturday, March 16 to Sunday, March 31, 2024: Pickleball, Preparing to Depart Casa Grande, and Easter Sunday

On my first walk of the dogs, there was a hot air balloon over our trailer.

It snowed in Williams yesterday. The dogs and I enjoyed a beautiful day in Casa Grande and walked the loop by the 10th hole.

Monday evening, SpaceX Falcon rocket was launched at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Monday, March 18 was my grandnephew's 2nd month birthday. Colter is such a happy baby.

On Tuesday, Tom and I went to Angry Crab Shack for dinner. We had cocktails before being seated.

The bar had a wonderful open window. There was a nice breeze.

Jon joined us for dinner. We all had the soft shell crab entree. It was delicious! It is always so nice when we see Jon.

We somehow lost the remote for our electric fireplace. We looked everywhere. No luck. Fortunately, Amazon has a replacement remote for only $20.00.

On Wednesday, a couple from the north end of Palm Creek came by our trailer on their bikes. They have been here since January and have one four year old Dalmatian named Ares and one three-legged dog, Annie, who is one-half Dalmatian. So, Kelsey and Jamie are no longer the only Dalmatians at Palm Creek Resort.

Donna and David are now back in California. They posted a photo of the two of them in San Diego.

Kelsey and Jamie posed for a photo at the screen door of our trailer.

On Thursday, pickleball friend Gina Porter --- from Alberta, Canada --- joined me in drilling for an hour. Gina drills several times a week. That is something I need to do, too!

Jim, the 82 year old mobile RV repairman came back to our trailer. Norris RV Supplies was contacted that the peddle to our toilet was not working. The peddle was working before Jim repaired the toilet a week prior. It turns out that Jim did not assemble the peddle correctly. Fortunately, he corrected the problem.

Donna and David celebrated their one year anniversary for becoming full-time RVers. Congratulations to them!

Our neighbors, Ron and Merilee McCartney, have a beautiful flowering cactus. Lovely!

Saturday morning, I had an appointment to give blood at Vitalent. The appointment is here in Palm Creek. Unfortunately, my iron level was below their acceptance level. So, I was not able to give blood. This is the second time this happened this year. I may have to stop donating. I'll talk to my doctor in May. I take an iron supplement and I ate a good dinner the night before.

That evening, Tom and I went to a Dance Party at the Two Palms Ballroom. The band was "Come Back Buddy", a group we really liked last year. They did not disappoint! The music is rock and roll from the 1950's.

  

At the end of the evening, I even got a photo with me, the lead singer and his wife.

At Palm Creek, all of the RV sites have a white brick with the site number painted in black. Our 924 brick was very faded. I bought a black marker and brightened up the number. Since I had the marking pen, I volunteered to freshen some of my neighbor's bricks. This was a work in progress brick.

Sunday, March 24, a number of my family members met in San Gabriel, California, for brunch. It was great getting a photo of the gathering!

Another winter storm swept through my town of Williams. It is nice having cameras set-up to capture the event. The snowfall was 3-5 inches.

Monday morning, Kathy and Mike Hartigan came to our trailer site. They are going to watch and care for our trailer while we are not at Palm Creek. They were referred to me by one of my Canadian pickleball friends. Kathy and Mike take care of eight or nine park model homes in Palm Creek. We will be their first RV site, but they own a 38' travel trailer --- so are very familiar with its workings.

The monthly fee for this service is $30.00. It is a nominal amount for the security of knowing that everything is okay.

Donna and David posted a photo on Instagram. They purchased a blow-up kayak.

I played Mentored Mixed 3.75 Pickleball Round Robin at noon on Tuesday. Afterwards, I had a very nice massage with Veronica.

Wednesday morning, David's RV Wash came to our trailer around 9:00 a.m. Tom was already on his way to Tucson. Jon had a 10:45 a.m. appointment at the V.A. for his first colonoscopy. Dave had a crew of four --- not including himself.

It took the team of five about an hour to wash and wax our RV. David said that my rig is starting to oxidize. He said that the next time they come to wash and wax, he would add an oxidation service before waxing.

Donna and David took their new kayak out on the water in San Diego.

Barbara Coad was on a Mexican Riviera cruise with her friend Paula. Barbara met up with our mutual friends, Gilly and John Foy, in Puerto Vallarta. Nice!

Friday morning, Tom and I made inserts for the trailer windows. Earlier in the month, we bought two rolls of insulation from Amazon. These inserts will help protect the trailer by deflecting some of the rays of sun.

At noon, I had an appointment with Dr. Jeffers, my optometrist. My eyesight is starting to be impacted by cataracts. I currently have 30/20 vision. At some point, I will need to have the cataracts removed. Dr. Jeffers will continue monitoring the situation.

Later in the afternoon, I participated in Cardio Pickleball. It is a great way to drill. There were sixteen of us and two coaches. We split up onto two courts. And drilled for several hours.

Saturday morning, Tom and I drove 30 miles to the city of Florence. We had lunch at the River Bottom Grill.

We dined at this restaurant last year too. I had the Old Blue Burger and Tom had a Cheese Burger.
I also enjoyed a Bloody Mary.

It was a very beautiful day --- low 80 degrees.

After lunch, Tom and I found four caches in Florence. The first one was "Yummmy." It was located near a fast food restaurant.

The second one was "What the HECK Time is it anyway."

With these four caches found today, I now have 260 finds! Florence has a very cute historic downtown. Florence is also the county seat of Pinal County.

 

Easter Sunday was early this year --- March 31. It was a rainy day in Casa Grande.

My Italian son Francesco and his partner, Thomas, are in Egypt. They sent Easter wishes to me from Giza.

My sister Wendy enjoyed Easter with her adorable granddaughter, Lily. She is such a happy baby!