December '08 Newsletter
December '08 Newsletter |
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Since many of our Black Canyon City friends were making successfully trips to the Border for prescription drugs and dental work, we decided to check it out last spring. Bob had a crown done and it seems to be doing the job. Susan had a problematic tooth pulled after way too many cappings to count. Trips to the dentist plagued our fall. Susan had some teeth crowned and a one tooth bridge made in Algodones, Mexico. We've spent so much time living in our truck in Yuma, sort of like street people, that it is starting to feel like a second home. Algodones is just a bit west and south of Yuma and is a Mecca for elderly snowbird goods and services, selling prescription drugs, dental, optical, and cosmetic surgery at a fraction of US prices. Dental fees in the good old USA have become particularly ridiculous so we felt it was worthwhile to explore other alternatives.
Algodones probably has a population approaching zero but it has 100 dentists in a couple of block radius, more optical shops than we have ever seen in one place, and a plethora of shops selling prescription drugs and one's favorite liquor. The prices on glasses were so reasonable Susan purchased polarized prescription sunglasses and a new distance vision pair on one of our recent trips. Glasses can be manufactured overnight but we found dentistry is not quite so quick. Fortunately we found a good dentist in the endless sea of possibilities. Not the cheapest but he had a large happy Yuma clientele in his office, something we considered important. It definitely isn't worth the trip for something simple but major dental work is a different story. You'll be glad to hear we are drawing the line at cosmetic surgery, preferring to glory in our excess blubber and gravity impacted skin.
Hiking and biking remains a part of our routine, though we slowed down quite a lot during the warmer than usual fall weather. Bob continues to have knees problems. They work great for the biking days but it is not so good when we go out and hike for five miles up and especially down hill. He is having increasing discomfort at night and stiffness during the day, so the possibility of knee replacement and rehabilitation time looms in our future. A recent Thanksgiving rainstorm dropped a bit less than 2 inches, breaking our spell of 87 days with no rain. We were delighted as fall rains are a harbinger of a beautiful spring wild flower season. The desert is already wonderfully green.
The Nation's economic woes negatively impacted most of our community's autumn fund raising events. The Veterans' Day parade, High Desert's Harvest Moon Dance, and the annual 7.1 mile Walk/Run were no exceptions. Since the dance is held on our outdoor tennis court, it didn't help that the night was cold and windy. We could have made a fortune on hot cider but the icy sodas didn't sell. The Walk/Run was under attended but still fun. Since Susan was out of town, on Veterans' Day, Bob photographed her clowns and helped them with their transportation. The economy seemed to have no impact on the money spent on fireworks and this year's were certainly as spectacular as ever. Thankfully, the Meals on Wheels soup suppers are still popular and bringing in the crowds.
Much of our late summer and fall was filled with Bob's campaigning for the local Fire Board. It became a particularly nasty campaign when a couple of locals that lost to him in 2006 ran a hate campaign (supporting no candidates but vehemently opposing two). With issues oriented campaigning, Bob won the battle, although it was a phyrric victory as his two running mates were not elected. Realizing the community had clearly spoken by confirming an existing incompetent Fire Board majority (two did not have to run in 2008) and rejecting the only competent Board member running, he chose to not be sworn in. In a totally unprecedented event, Susan flew out the day after the election to meet with her childhood chums in Santa Fe.
With so many tradesmen out of work, it seems a good time to stimulate the local economy by having some remodeling done. We have new neighbors on one side and will soon have a survey of our property line. If there is sufficient space for setbacks, we may add a carport to the side of our garage. We would also like to move the A/C unit and evaporative cooler off of the roof and into the shade. Bob does a great job of maintaining both units but his days of going up and down the ladder and working on our steeply pitched roof may be coming to a close. With cranky knees and lots of stairs, we envision installing a hydraulic lift from the garage to the kitchen; for groceries at first and for him when the stairs get to be too much. It is unlikely we will ever move from our perfect home, so we better customize it to fit.
Since we're planning more individual travel in 2009, Susan is taking a break from her High Desert Helpers' secretary responsibilities. There wasn't much response to our suggestion of a group China trip, so we booked one on our own with Outdoor Adventure Travel (OAT) in late April. It is a 22 day trip referred to as "Imperial China, Tibet, and the Yangtze River" that includes time in Beijing, Xian visiting the Terra Cotta army, shopping in Hong Kong etc. We haven't traveled with OAT before but have been receiving their catalogs for years. We'll let you know how it all turns out. If you ever plan a trip with them, mention our name and give them our customer number 001072443, as they give both parties a credit for referrals. We are also considering a return to Turkey on our own in the fall but will have to see if we are tired of gallivanting by then.
Even though some stores seemed to believe Christmas came before Halloween, we held off thinking about it until now. We plan to get our tree and lights up later today or tomorrow. Scott, Tennille, and our favorite grand dog Hudson will be dropping in for a visit in a few weeks. Susan is hosting the Christmas Bunco potluck this year and High Desert Helpers is again putting together food boxes and partnering with the Lions Club to provide and wrap angel tree gifts. Susan has already started food sorting with Bill, the head honcho of the Club. Breakfast with Santa takes place in less than two weeks and clowns disguised as elves will keep the kids busy singing songs and being silly until Santa arrives on the fire truck.
Wishing each of you and yours a joyous holiday season!
Santa Fe Getaway (11/5/08-11/10/08):
We don't normally take separate vacations; in fact we don't spend a lot of time apart except during emergencies. But Susan hasn't had much time with her buddies from grade-high school this year. Because of her father's illness, we were busy with family on our Minnesota visit this summer. An additional complication is one of her childhood friends now lives in Steamboat, so she hadn't seen her in four years. The four of them were last together when everyone visited here for Susan's 50th birthday and that didn't really count because Bob was here. This year they all turned 54, were born in 1954, and Susan had been agitating for a special girls-only long weekend for most of the year.
Our neighbor Helen dropped Susan at the airport and she was Albuquerque bound on a big aluminum bird. She arrived an hour earlier than the rest and picked up their rental car. Their plane was a bit late, so it was dark by the time they got luggage and hit the road for Santa Fe. Nonetheless, with good directions they had little difficulty finding the condo belonging to Rhonda's sister-in-law. After a nice dinner out and some grocery shopping, they ended up chatting until well after midnight that first night.
Trip highlights were a visit to the Georgia O-Keefe Museum, half a day at "Double Take" a high-end, western-flavored consignment shop, watching a pour at the Shidoni Foundry, glass blowing next door at the Tesuque Glassworks, and the Tesuque flea market - which Susan and Nancy investigated while Rhonda and Yolande blew a few bucks at a casino. Nancy was hunting for components for her Heart and Soul Beads and found quite a number of interesting ones. Yolande, who is not fond of hot water, elected to read at the condo, while the other three soaked and steamed high on the mountain at Ten Thousand Waves, a peaceful, relaxing Japanese spa.
The weekend went all too quickly and before they knew it, it was time to return to Albuquerque to catch flights home. Back at the ranch, Bob had not starved to death, although he may have gained a couple of pounds from excessive numbers of TV dinners or nachos meals. Even more surprising was the dirty dishes were not piled to the ceiling and the place hadn't been totally fragged.
Santa Fe has the reputation of having more galleries than New York, surpassed only by boutiques and shopping opportunities. While Nancy tried on clothes under Yolande's critical eye, Susan and Rhonda circumnavigated the square inspecting the street sellers' wares and gathering lunch recommendations. The wait was surprisingly short for a seat in famous Café Pasqual's, just one of the many well known eateries she sampled in four days.
Bob's knees were cranky for much of this trip but we managed shorter hikes to several groves of Washingtonian Palms and a stiff climb up Ghost Mountain. Soaking in the hot springs of Agua Caliente Regional Park for a couple of days eased his stiffness and helped both of us relax. Our main focus was unwinding from the months long election and this low stress vacation certainly helped accomplish that goal. It seems like we read a mindless fiction book every day of this trip. Initially we had planned to get Susan's crown installed and then go to San Felipe on the Gulf but Bob was burned out on Mexico and it is a couple of hundred miles south, so we went to Anza Borrego, intending to spend some time in Joshua Tree National Monument afterwards. It was fortunate that we didn't head south because a large porcelain chunk broke off the new crown and we had to return to get it replaced.
We were flabbergasted by the number of RV's inhabiting the roadsides between Yuma and the Imperial Valley. Like ants after a sugar spill, off road vehicles buzzed constantly from dawn to dusk in the sand dunes. Even the Border Patrol had sand rails to chase illegals. We camped one night just off the freeway in one of the ORV areas but were happy to leave it behind the next morning for more remote and quieter wilderness.
Anza Borrego is not particularly appealing in the fall as summer temperatures reportedly sometimes reach 121 degrees and of course this turns most of the vegetation brown. Rainfall there was scant in the past year, making this especially true. We're probably biased but we believe our higher elevation desert is more interesting this time of year, certainly a lot greener and blessedly closer. However, in a good year a veritable carpet of Anza Borrego wild flower blooms is documented by the visitor center photos and proclaimed as a sight to see. One of these years!
Park Headquarters was currently running an interesting video about the Marshal South home on Ghost Mountain, called Yaquitepec by the Souths. The Great Depression cut off Marshal's income as a writer, so he and his poetess wife, Tanya, turned to primitive desert living. They hand-built an adobe home and raised a family on top of Ghost Mountain. In what seems to be the middle of nowhere, they lived and dressed, or undressed, like the desert natives, built cisterns for their water but also carried much of it 1000' up the mountain to their home above the broiling summer desert below. They had three children and lived in this remote location for close to 20 years. South became a regular contributor to Desert Magazine, writing monthly articles about their desert life through the mid-40's. Apparently his wife eventually tired of the isolation, she filed for divorce and left with the children for a more civilized lifestyle. Perhaps his interest waned as well, as he was driving into cool, high elevation Julian more frequently and staying longer. We climbed up the excellent trail on a beautiful day, thankful we weren't carrying the 12 gallons of water he reportedly used to haul up each time. After 60 years, not much remains except broken adobe walls, an old double bed, and a couple of tanks they used for water storage.
We found Borrego Springs to be an interesting little town. Apparently the valley has plentiful water under it and is a prime agricultural area with lots of citrus, grapes, and date palms. Coincidentally, the population is about the same as Black Canyon City, 2000-4000 depending on the season. It was pretty quiet because their winter visitors hadn't arrived yet. The business district was small and it was almost impossible to find a place to get air in our tires. The two gas stations didn't have air but we eventually found a repair shop well off the beaten path. Susan particularly enjoyed the 
We will be sea kayaking in Belize in early March but are excited about the wet winter and snow in the high country. Since we will be home during the prime season, we're contemplating a Salt River raft trip next spring, especially if it has great flows. As always, we would like to do a two-week June trip on the Middle Fork-Main Salmon River if someone we know obtains a permit there. If you get one, we sure would like to go. If you obtain a permit and need help organizing your trip, you can count on us.
