This n that week

January 21 to January 26 (Sunday to Friday)

Note to self: When you find something you want to buy, buy it! If you wait the item will either be gone, price went up, or the vendor is no longer there. We wanted to buy some metal flowers as gifts. We found some at Arizona Marketplace a few weeks ago but thought we should keep looking and maybe we'd find something nicer and/or cheaper. Since then we have been looking and found none we liked better and of course the original vendor had none left. We had her check and they had some 'back at the warehouse' and would bring them next week. Well after three attempts we finally got the flowers, never did get a deal, and chased around for three weeks and three other markets where this vendor kept promising they would have what we wanted.

With the upcoming Quartzite RV show we had sort of a long shopping list. We dutifully checked the markets and RV supply dealers in Yuma and recorded all their prices. When we did visit Quartzite the prices weren't any better and no new 'wonder' products to be found. We did end up bringing home a bunch of items off our list but didn't save any money and spent a lot of time running around checking items an looking for deals. What a waste of time. Hope I learned my lesson!

So this week were at three of the markets in Yuma. They are very entertaining to watch the people, both vendors and shoppers. Food vendors are good, and the musical entertainment is a bonus. We have really enjoyed these markets the last couple of months. 

I have been looking at a new hobby. Not sure I would be a good wood carver. The knives and chisels are sharp. Not sure I would survive. There is another aspect of woodworking that I saw in action at the woodworking show a few weeks ago. Woodburning is an art form that is used by the carvers, the gourd artists, and as a standalone art form. Things have come a long way since the woodburning kits we had as kids. The Recreation Dept of Yuma has classes for woodworkers and I stopped in on Monday to see about a woodburning lesson. I went Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. I may go back on Monday to finish up a project. It's quite a relaxing hobby. Not too sure how running a woodburning kit would work when boondocking, but they only output 45 watts at 2 volts so I doubt it draws much power. I might purchase a kit. We'll see. (Note to self: re-read the first paragraph of this post!!)

Tuesday we decided to give the Quartzite RV Show a look. We figured the crowds would be down a bit. We left Yuma at 7AM and were parked by the big tent at 8:15. We managed to get a parking spot real close to one of the tent entrances, ready to go when the gates opened at 9AM. The tent is 69,000 square feet of people and products. Outside are dozens, maybe hundreds of RV's for sale, and beyond the main show area is another dozen or so acres of vendor after vendor. Overwhelming for a newbie? Oh yeah! Did we buy anything? Oh yeah! Lots of stuff we didn't know we needed, plus a couple of things we did know we needed. I made four trips to the truck with our booty. Good deals? Probably not! It was interesting for sure and we'd go back another year, but once a year is enough for us. We are heading up to stay at LaPosa South on Feb 1 and it will be interesting to see Quartzite post-show. There is lots to see and do in the area and we are looking forward to spending two weeks in the area.

The balloons outside the big tent.

This is a single cylinder John Deere power unit driving an ice cream maker. Very interesting.

By far the busiest corner of the show. The bar!

The famous 'Beer Belly's Adult Day Care'. By the looks of some of the patrons I sure hope they had a ride home.

Acres of vendors

Thursday was Jazz night at the Yuma Palms Shopping Center. Tonight was the Yuma Jazz Society Quintet and guest singer Jennifer Wayman. They were very good. I haven't enjoyed jazz music as much as the last three Thursdays. We will miss these 'date nights', and the price was right…..free!  As we did last week we found a good spot, set up our lawn chairs, then walked over to Wild Wings for a beer and burger. A very fun night.

Jazz night at the Yuma Palms. What a great venue.

The gal singing, Jennifer Wayman is VERY good. The Jazz quintet is top notch.

So that's about it. We've been busy with shopping, working on the trailer a bit, and other chores like laundry. After two months parked we are getting ready to make a move next week. 

We love our Verizon JetPack, but at 15GB in the month the speed drops of significantly. Pictures download at a rate of about one every ten seconds at the beginning of a billing cycle, but after the 15GB limit is reached it takes about two minutes per picture (6MB files). This is supposed to be an unlimited data plan, which it is, but with such slow upload speeds it is a 'read-only' data plan once 15GB is reached in a billing cycle. I'm on a new cycle as of today, so the blog finally gets updated.

The sunsets this week were again wonderful. Here was Wednesday night......

Using sunset mode on my camera

using ISO 400, F8, normal mode

One thing I have learned about the sunsets here is not to give up on them. Just when you think they are done the sun illuminates the clouds in another colorful display. It seems to take a full hour for the sun to finish its decent.

Here is a couple from Thursday night at the Jazz concert from my cellphone....

....and that was Our View From Here!.......