Sunshine, warmer and visiting with friends,

Where are we today ?

Catalina Spa Resort Desert Hot Springs California.

          Morning walkabouts here are amazing!  Down the road a few hundred yard into the desert. So quiet and desolateI just love it! Nothing but peace and quiet and the desert.But have this tall shadow that keeps following me.

my shadow and me in the desert !

heading back home 

         After some emails, shopping, facetime, hangouts and chats decided to get do our laundry today get it out of the way. Cause our plans could, and will be making a big change.

uppr pool they are palying volleyball

      Got the laundry done while Suzie cleaned our house and confirmed some plans. They are written in chalk as you know.

      After laundry I dropped over to visit Allen and Lolitta bloggers and followers from forever. Such a super couple we met last year finally. They have not posted for a while for various reasons but love the lifestyle. We had planned a happy hour together but our plans went sideways today . Such is life when we live this lifestyle.

such a nice couple  Allen and Lolita

         Then back home to get stuff done and whip up a bite to eat for supper. Grilled Bratwurst and a tossed salad did the trick. Stop over and visit Betty for a bit then take it easy for the rest of the night.

tasty did the trick

             That was our awesome day how was yours?

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Winter.

A wonderful start to a brand new year!

Where are we today ?

Catalina Spa Resort Desert Hot Springs

      The tail end of my post for 2014 couple of pics I took yesterday and did not post. One of my morning walkabouts in the wind I spotted this "creature" that I saw on the road. After a very close inspection I think it was a stuffed toy? Blowing around n the wind.

almost looks real

       And again yesterday afternoon this coach below pulled in (wind again) their Rubber roof was flapping in the breeze.  Another reason we do like rubber roofs. (ours is metal). Thats going to cost them, big time to have repaired !

      Then because of the cold night predicted a few rv's pulled that were obviously playing in the desert with their toys.

dune buggy

lots of atv's too

      That was New years eve. Now today is New year's day. And it looks like an amazing start for the New Year!

       First walkabout at 6:30 am cool yes, but  no wind at all. Love it!

nobody in the pool yet, but its ready, look at the steam. 

Still snow on the mountains, with Palm Springs 
right below that peak.

         More walkabouts enjoying the sunshine and no wind. No humidity and and fresh air really love it.

love these trees, totally naked,
they shred their bark

        Nowhere we wanted to to go today, just gonna hang out and enjoy each others company. Now this is awesome! Did a facetime with daughter number one, SIL and  our grandaughter. She would talk all day with us if her mother would let her. So nice to keep in touch.
        Afternoon sun on our site was very nice temps also 70f. Took off my shirt and trimmed my hair and beard, course Suzie does the final touch up for me.
        Then its so nice I wandered over to the hot pool/spa to enjoy the soothing hot water. Now that was sooo nice. Betty stopped by while I was gone and chatted with Suzie for a bit. Then we enjoyed our e-readers outside for a while longer.
         For supper tonight gonna grill a couple "Shrimp Burgers" I found at walmart in palm springs the other day.

this be them

Of course our Weber Q does them perfect

add a salad and we really enjoyed tonight's supper

        What great way to start a brand New Year. Sunshine, blue skies , no wind and warmer temps. For us it does not get any better.

        Glad you could stop by and join us today, Hope yours was a good one too!

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle.

 Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Winter.

New years eve day ( we saw SNOW) and a HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Where are we today ?

Catalina Spa Desert Hots springs California

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

        Was kinda cool last night great for sleeping, but we toasty warm. Up before the sunrise as usual and when it did come up we saw snow! (up in the mountains) lotsa snow. Good place for it to be. What a way to end the year with a snow fall. Perfect next year (tomorrow) will be much warmer and its all uphill from there.

looking towards Desert Hot Springs an the snow up there

      Got a few walkabouts done today and picked up a few groceries. Too windy to read outside so relaxed for a bit and actually were reading inside and a knock on the door. It was a fellow Blogger Allen of Allen and Lolita. Met them last year at Desert Pools resort here in DHS. They were supposed to arrive today at a resort around the corner but their trailer is still in Mountain Lakes California.  Much higher elevation, covered in snow, so they could not move it today. Just stopped in to say hi and will be here probably tomorrow and we will visit.

      A couple more walkabouts and reading then fire up our Weber Q. Gonna grill a cornish hen and add that to a tasty salad for supper.

My homemade wind screen around the Q works well

love chicken

      Next to go to the clubhouse for a New Years Eve Party, snacks , DJ dancing etc. and drop the Ball at 9 pm with Times Square at 9 pm in New York. Sounds perfect for us. BUT. The DJ was sitting with his female friend, the music was recorded and nothing that we recognized, nobody dancing, some play cards, and the clubhouse was very cold.. hmm. Three years ago we had one heck of a new years party here, great DJ dancing the place was packed. Things change.....
       May as well go home we can have more fun there. So thats what we did. We enjoyed the Times square party right here in the comfort of our own home, it was one of the best new years eve's we have had.
       Now if you are a Blogger and and RV'er and are in Quartzsite this January need to check this out. Jeri from "Just Wanderin'" suggested a BLOGGER-FEST at Q. Sounds like a great idea looking forward to it hope you can make it.
        Thanks y'all for stopping in today and want to wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year. May it be the most exciting year of our lives so far, it only gets better every day.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Winter.

I broke it and I fixed it, success!

Where are we today ?

Catalina Spa Desert Hot Springs, California

         Well heck, was another wonderful cool night so nice for sleeping gotta love it! Not humid, no wind, no snow and not freezing.
          This morning early walkabouts and the sunrise here is so wonderful. Can see the sun on mountains over Palm Springs to the west and the low lying clouds looks so cool.

        After a quick run for some fresh veggies, my project today was to flush out our hot water tank. Like to do that every year or so to remove the lime and hard water buildup. So I removed the plug and used this adapter to give it a good flushing, works wonderful,

use this tool for flushing out our hot water tank

        Then I did a really dumb thing. Put the old nylon plug back in. It looked real good so thought there would be no problem. WRONG!. turned on the water and it was dripping so I tighten it up a bit and leaked even more. HMM.

           Better take it out and guess what it broke off in the heater ! I got drenched with warm water and said a couple bad words. Did this same thing a few years ago in Georgia, spent a couple days trying to resolve the problem and eventually took our coach to a dealer to fix the issue. Hundred dollars later the problem was fixed. Don't want to do that again.

       I ran (drove) to Blair Station down the road and bought 2 new nylon plugs and asked for advise. Blair is pretty knowledgable. Sent me to the Hardware store on DHS on Pierson looking for an easyout. 

       The very knowledgable staff recommended this tool below. A Nipple Extractor only $6.50. So back home with great hopes and guess what, worked like a charm!! No damage to the treads put in the new plug, filled the hot water tank heated it up and no leaks!!!! Yahoo, success...

this tool did the trick
a nipple extractor 

       By now my clothes are dry, hot water tank working, (not leaking) and we all all happy.

no leaks

       Ok, got this done but the sun has gone away and getting cooler. Not a problem we have a plan. Suzie would like some carrot cake. Good day to bake inside. Happen to have a mix here so just fired up the oven, mixed it up and baked 8 small carrot loafs. Smells so good baking  on a cooler day.

carrot and raisin small cakes

        Managed to sit outside for a bit and read but the cloudy weather was not the best. No problem have few more things to do.

cannot even see the mountains for the cloud cover

      So my next project was twice baked potatoes for supper. Baked up a huge one on our Weber Q.

cut in half

carefully scoop out the flesh

       Mash the tater and I added garlic, spices, cheese, then re-stuffed it and added cheese, salsa, onion bacon bits, parsley, whatever.

      Now to fire up our Weber Q. Taters in a foil pan until heated through (45 minutes or so), fresh mushrooms, red pepper and onions in foil. Last few minutes I put on two bacon wrapped fillet mignon steaks. Not something we normally do anymore, but have been in our freezer for a long time, gotta use them up.

a fresh bun with garlic butter too

add that to a small salad we had a great meal

          But you know its been so long that we have had beef, really did not sit well with us. Tasted good not very much anymore.

         Thanks for the visit today. We love this area and even the weather, not too much sun , not too hot, not much humidity and great for sleeping at night. Great sunrises, great sunsets and very peaceful. Not only the the great hot springs just put it over the top.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle.

 Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Winter.

Hey we did..... not much other than enjoy the sunshine.

Where are we today ?

Catalina Spa Desert Hots Springs California

        Was cool overnight, but another good one for sleeping Got a few walkabouts done early this morning, quick trip to town for a few supplies and home shortly after 9 am. Like to beat the rush.
        Sun shining and was quite nice outside. So packed up our Christmas decorations, more walkabouts, chat with a few people stopping by then time for a Turkey sandwich for lunch.
        Grabbed our e readers to enjoy some very nice warm sunny weather, no wind today so 60f F feels just wonderful! Gotta love it.
        But then had to wander over and soak in the hot pool for a while and enjoy the very warm swimming pool as well. Yep we getting spoiled. 

this be our site, right inside the entrance site number 1.

           While reading what do we hear?  Lawn mower cutting the grass. Annoying not. Remember its Dec. 29th, back home  they shovelling snow! Yep will take in the noise and smell of fresh cut grass. Works for us here in the desert.

cutting grass

blowing the grass from the walkways

        Looked to our right from the campsite and see the smog over Palm Springs coming through Banning Pass from Los Angeles, no wind (just a slight breeze)and this is the only way it can leave that area.

smog over Palm Springs

clear blue cloudless skies here = perfect !

        As the sun sets about 4:10pm temps drop real quick, so inside to whip up a salad and ready a couple salmon burgers to grill.

salmon burgers and grilled red peppers

we really enjoyed this

       That was our exciting day just the way we like them.

       Hope your day was a good one too. 

       Thanks for stopping on by again.
        Oh by the way if you around the area feel free to drop on by anytime, no invite needed.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Winter.

Cooler, but sunny and wandered about the College of the Desert Street fair.

Where are we today ?

Catalina Spa, Desert Hot Springs, California

      Well heck we having cool weather. Wonderful during the day when the sun is shinning, even though we may wear long pants a sweat shirt. But hey we liking it. Extra blanket at night with no heat on, window open and cool dry fresh air, great for sleeping. About 40f overnight and in the high 60's today and mostly sunny, we will take it. Do we have a choice? Nope still love this area.
      So this is Sunday morning and we can wander on down to the College of the Desert in Palm Desert about 30 minutes away, bright and early 9 am beat the crowds. And beat the crowds we did. No website for the street fair anymore but it's free to wander about.

        We parked right close and got a few miles of walking and looking at things.

the fair is close to where we parked

        This vendor's sign below says it all. "Cool Stuff you didn't know you needed"

this sign says it all

       We looked and we browsed, people watched checking out things we don't need and are always overpriced here. But still a fun outing in the fresh air.

now would this not be a cool towed vehicle?
Suzie said not!

lots of nice entertainment

not too busy yet

jewellery ?

clothes?

purses

paintings?

more music

a sail boat?

more music?

over priced food?

how about games?

produce? no great deals

I like black liquorice  so bought a small pack

I also like dates so bought 6 only .50 cents

and of course artwork

       Couple hours wandering about here and heading out as the crowds began to arrive. Don't like crowds. Then down the road 2 blocks to the Mall. Suzie wants to check out Dick's Sporting Goods. She is looking for a deal on a vest! Similar to  mine, can you believe it? Well she found a cheap one for a good price, mission accomplished! Did not get a picture of it but will at some time when she has it on. Then back home for lunch.

you know this is a high end shopping mall when
 they have VALET parking!

         How about this to keep the men occupied while the women shop. A putting green right in the centre of the mall.

putting green in a shopping mall?

        Now home for lunch and puttered around for a while and had wonderful facetime with daughter number 2 and grandsons 1 and 4. So nice to connect again with them again over Christmas. 

        Before we knew it was getting late in the day after reading outside for a while. Really no time for the hot pools today. Really funny how the days just slip on by when you are retired.

nice sunset in Banning pass towards
Los Angeles this evening 4;15 PM

        But with my nightlight turned on fired up our Weber Q 100 grilled a turkey breast and some cauliflower, broccoli and onions in foil for a few minutes.
          While the turkey was cooking I whipped up a batch of fresh cranberrys with orange zest. Really love this, tasty cranberry sauce, you can check out the recipe if you like by clicking here.

turkey breast low and slow about 45 minutes 175f internal temp,
and the veggies in foil about 15 minutes

so moist and tasty, and lots of leftover turkey for sandwiches

       That was our fun day here in the desert, even got quite a few walkabouts done as well.

       Hope you had a great one too. 

       Thanks for stopping by.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle.

 Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Winter.