24/7 Chat About Anything

[laurasweeney63]

Happy Valentine’s Day… been stuck in Yuma with pneumonia… not the way I planned to spend my winter…
I hope everyone is doing well…

I hope you feel better soon!

 

[maki2]

I can see clearly now! OK not truly clearly, too much internal eye damage on my right eye for that. But my new eye glasses I got yesterday in Los Algodones, Mexico are a big improvement. Unfortunately for me this year there was no big cost savings difference in the prices of new eyeglasses from medical tourism in Mexico. They are now about the same price in the USA versus Mexico. Time passes and changes happen seemingly faster as I get older every year

 

[maki2]

Now that my eye strain is reduced it is time to get my living space cleared up and get my older computers that have the design 3D Cad software to create new kits to sell put into use. These longer days of springtime sunlight mean more incoming power! Unfortunately when I placed an Amazon order I forgot to add a cooling platform fan to put underneath my laptop. I guess I had better get on that right now so I do not have to make an extra trip to pick it up when my other recent Amazon order arrives. I have a rechargeable personal fan for cooling me in that previous order. The weather is heating up!

 

[Morgana]

I've been trying for ages to get a photo of a saguaro with a "nurse plant" but when I saw them it was always from the car on a narrow road with no shoulder so I couldn't stop. Finally lucked out (and/or paid more attention).
Sometimes a cactus seed lands near a plant that can keep it a little cooler and more humid while it's starting out. From what I've read, as they grow, sometimes one will choke the other out but often they are both able to thrive. One of the reasons why the desert sometimes looks like a flower arranger with a limitless budget went nuts!

 

[maki2]

It is looking as if the March winds are getting an early start in Quartzsite and other adesert areas in Arizona and just across the border in California. Nothing too major in Quartzsite, so far the afternoon gust will be in the upper to 30mph range.

I took a quick trip up to Parker, AZ this morning to pick up a few things I ordered from Amazon and got a few groceries from Walmart while I was there. The highway is in good shape. The only road work left for repaving is within the town of Quartzsite where there are multiple lanes so no major slowdown. A new 2000 miliamp USBc rechargeable fan is in the order. I wanted that for nightime use on its battery power. I also got a fan cooled base to put under my laptop. Hot weather is on its way. Although in the spring in April I do head north after enduring a few weeks of hot weather and then get back to those cold nights at higher elevation and sometimes even some occasional snow showers for a month or so.

 

[maki2]

This last week there has been some smoke in the Quartzsite area coming in from the Colorado River agricultural area where they are burning off the fields. Yesterday’s drive up to Parker, AZ and back to camp and sitting outside for a hamburger potluck dinner in camp meant I got too much exposure to the smoke. The smoke was a lot worse near Parker as it is closer to the river lands and fields. My sinuses and lungs went into overdrive from the smoke. This is my 5th year in Quartzsite and I never had this happen before. I guess it is something about the wind direction being different. I do not have any allergies but this sure makes me feel like I do. Fortunately this does not feel like a virus, no fever, just congestion. I will have to get to a dollar store this morning for some non drowsy allergy meds to see it that tames the reaction. Stores do not open early in Quartzsite so I have another hour to wait. Heading in any direction there are some agricultural fields likely to be burning. I will just have to wait it out where I am and hope for a change in wind direction.

 

[noordinaryspider]

My neighbour mentioned the smoke the other night. We were concerned that it might be unhealthy or from somebody losing their home or expensive part-time home.

Thank you for clarifying.

The weather seems a bit "off", but this is only my third season. I have pets, so I usually come late and leave early: 85F when Alice, my houserabbit, was alive but I pushed the envelope this year and came on down as soon as it was in the double digits.

"We" includes tiny dogs and a long haired adolescent kitten with Siberian Forest Cat blood in him. I'm in a minivan, outdoor kitchen, and various tents, so no a/c.

My mail forwarder is here so I'm doing some tech upgrades too.

 

[Morgana]

Hardest thing about Achilles tendon rehab (probably any rehab) is what you DON'T do. I soooo wanted to finish this trail... but by the time I got back to the parking lot I was very glad I hadn't. (still it's a lot more than I could have done last year)
From the depth of some of these washes it's clear that when there *is* water in the desert, there can be a lot of it and it can take quite a bite out of the landscape.

 

[maki2]

Cold, blustery and rainy day, the temperature is in the 40s and 50s. Not at all typical weather for Quartzsite. Today I am staying indoors snuggled up in my fleece pullover under a pile of blankets reading books, watching a few videos and napping. I am saving firing up my ceramic stove top/diesel heater for after dark. I am thinking I will bake some skillet corn bread. It has been a while since I made that cold weather treat. Premeasured packaged ingredients, add water stir, pour into the skillet. I can handle that much of an effort

 

[bullfrog !]

Started out in the mid 50’s in Tucson, by 10 AM it had dropped into the 40’s. Mid lower 60’s tomorrow though!

 

[maki2]

I am appreciating the sunny sky and milder winds today. More rain predicted for later in the week. The mountains in AZ did get some much needed snow…all at once….13 inches near Flagstaff.
I never did get around to making cornbread, to go with my soup. too tired.

 

[Morgana]

A wasted day in Phoenix for an x-ray appointment that got cancelled with an hour's notice. A 3-4 hour round trip drive! I swear, this rural health "system" is like something George Orwell would invent after a bad night out with Franz Kafka. It's the only part of the Paradise Tax that's hard to shrug off.

I did manage to get lunch in a great Mexican hole-in-the-wall restaurant. When I asked if they had coffee he said "no, but I can make you a cup of the instant coffee we keep for the staff if you want." Don't you love these "bring solutions, not problems" types! I like instant coffee fine (actually it was hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants that got me started drinking it). Got a small quesadilla and piled on salsa from the free salsa bar ... he wanted to charge me $4 for the whole meal, I left a $3 tip and felt like I got a mad bargain. Like the Before Times but with bigger flatscreen TVs

I should have noted the name of the place but every time I go all the way into Sodom and Gomorrah Phoenix I keep hoping it will be the last time. wishful thinking. It was in a strip mall somewhere on the north side of McDowell...

 

[Morgana]

Drove 40 miles through the desert in a downpour yesterday on a road that looked like a well-constructed swimming pool, thinking "I wish I could remember what you're supposed to do if your car hydroplanes." I looked it up later; the advice seemed confusing, but as far as I can tell, the answer is "what you would instinctively do, but much more slowly and gently than you will want to." As long as you have anti-lock brakes, it's OK to brake gently, and the goal is to still have some forward motion as you come out of the water.

At least, that ^^ is what I got off the interwebs.
Apparently, my car safety knowledge is in about the same condition as my car safety kit was when I checked it out a couple weeks ago. These things need topping up occasionally!

Also, you should not use cruise control when driving on wet roads. Who knew? everyone but me??

The mountains looked amazing, like something out of an old Chinese painting. But man was I glad to get home and parked.

 

[maki2]

I am glad that I had the option of staying in camp snug inside my little home on wheels during the wind and rain. Another afternoon of wind and rain coming my way today. It is March, this is the season for the ongoing series of atmospheric river weather systems out of the Pacific. But at least it is so far not as severe of winds as it was two years ago.