Bloggers Happy Hour

We got an invitation from Rene' and Jeanette for a Happy Hour at their RV spot a couple of blocks away. He also invited Rick and Paulette who are wintering just down Dillon Road. They had two more visitors, Hector and Diane, non-blogging friends of theirs from Lantzville on Vancouver Island.

We were the last to arrive at just after 4:00. We quickly grabbed a drink and entered into the conversation and fun. There was lots of food and many topics as we exchanged stories around the patio. Before we knew it, it was 7:30 and the sun was down. Time to head home!

Rick, Paulette, Hector, Diane, Rene', Jeanette and yours truly. Paulette has her own Blog - "Sweet P" a very popular quilting blog.

Road Trip!

We just booked a two day getaway to Oceanside, CA. We found a reasonably priced motel one block from the beach for Friday and Saturday nights. We need a vacation from our vacation!

All Star Burgers

We have listened to fellow residents here talk about the great food at All Star Burgers, a little nondescript joint on the corner of Dillon and Corkill for a couple of months. Yesterday we decided to give it a try and was it ever nice! You order at the counter and they bring the food to your table. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their specialty is burgers but they also serve Mexican food. Norma had a patty melt and I opted for the fish sandwich, two large pieces of hand battered fish on a huge bun. The burgers alone are $5 - $6 each but we opted for the combo meals which included drinks and fries for an extra couple of dollars each.

When we got home I recalled reading about this place in Rick Doyle's old Blog. Sure enough I looked it up and discovered this was Rick and Paulette's favorite burger joint as well. Rick and I have a lot in common!

I Am Not Dead

I am still kicking, just taking a break from Blogging. Not much happening around here so as my mother used to say, "If you don't have anything good to say...".

We are over the flu or whatever it was. Still tired much of the time but generally over it. That last bug was not stopped by the flu shot, nor will the next one coming along. The bugs have figured out the formula.

The Big Game is now history. I guess the Seahawks do not need me telling them they blew the last play. As some famous player said, "If you throw the ball, three things can happen and two of them are bad". They should have given the ball to Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch and let him carry it across. But then they know that now. Next year!

Our time here in Desert Hot Springs is winding down. We are booked until Feb 18 and are trying to figure out what to do after that. If the weather continues to improve to the east we will probably head towards Phoenix with a stop at Hope, AZ to meet my old Blogging buddy Bill. After commenting on each other's Blogs for years, I have a chance to meet them!

After Hope we are looking at Eagle View RV Park at Fountain Hills above Phoenix but when I go on their reservation system, they are full for the time we would be there. A fall back would be one of the Cal Am parks in Mesa. At least one of them is Passport America.

I'm Not Going

Feeling much better, I thought I would check out ticket prices for the Big Game tomorrow. I found a ticket site and clicked on "Best Available". It came back with an offer of a ticket in the end zone for a mere $50,000. Humm... maybe I better set my sights a little lower. Well, the lowest price ticket available was $9,000 way up in the nosebleed section. I think I will watch from the comfort of my RV.

I am looking forward to the game, cheering on my Seahawks. I was a little disappointed with the antics of running back Marshawn Lynch "Beast Mode" at Press Day when he set an alarm clock for the five minutes he was required by the league to answer questions and then answered every question with, "I'm here so I don't get fined".

If I was paid eight million a year and my boss told me to attend a press conference and answer questions on some product, that is what I would do, no matter if I thought the questions were dumb or simplistic. I understand Lynch is shy but come on, for eight million a year he can answer a few questions. I will however allow "Beast Mode" to redeem himself with his play tomorrow where he can show he is not shy about breaking tackles and scoring.

I Think It's Over

Much, much better today. I actually managed to get a little "real" food (other than soup) down and stayed upright for an hour. I am not going to push things but I am over the hump. Norma is doing a little better than me and actually walked to the dumpster with three bags of garbage.

Crud - Day Three

Yesterday was Day Three of this flu - crud or whatever you want to call it. I was feeling a little better and actually spent an hour or two out of bed playing on the computer. Then last night about seven, Norma suddenly came down with the same thing! It was very sudden with her. She went from feeling fine and working in the kitchen to flat on her back hallucinating over the space of maybe twenty minutes. I turned off the lights and TV shortly after and we both went to sleep only to awaken at about ten, thinking it was morning. Neither of us slept well the rest of the night. My problem was a sore back from spending so much time in bed.

I got an email from our friends Brian and Sue saying they had both had the same thing and it lasted a week with two days being really bad. I hope those two days are behind me as one of us has to be able to heat soup for the other.

Well, lets see what today brings.

Galloping Crud

This is the best description I can give this headachy, congested, sore muscle thing I am going through right now. I got the first sign of it at the restaurant when I had to keep clearing my throat and it got steadily worse. I spent most of yesterday in bed and might actually feel a little better this morning. We shall see.

Dining Out In Palm Springs!

Our dining out budget this winter so far is about a third of what it was last winter. Last year we were in Cajun country and on the Gulf so we were out sampling the local fare on a regular basis. Here in Desert Hot Springs we are about twenty minutes away from "The Drive" in Palm Springs where all the restaurants are located and because it is Palm Springs, prices are reflective of the location.

Yesterday we made an exception. Norma's second cousin Jay was in town renting a condo for a few weeks and we had made arrangements to pick him up and go to dinner. We arrived at Jay's '50's style Palm Springs condo at about 3:00 and headed downtown. We parked and walked for a good hour until we spotted the Matchbox Restaurant with second floor balconies overlooking the street. It looked very inviting and we got a great table on the balcony.

Norma ordered pork, Jay the chicken and I gambled on the seared salmon. I always hesitate ordering salmon in a restaurant because they sometimes substitute real salmon with the farmed variety. This however was perfect! Nice wild caught salmon, perfectly cooked on a bed of spinach. I forgot to take a photo of the dishes!

Here are some I did take:

The Troublemakers, Norma and Jay:

Croft and Norma:

 View from our table:

It was a perfect evening!

I Fixed It!

My new Windows 8.1 computer developed a problem in the last week. When I went to Start-Shutdown and clicked the button the machine would restart instead of shutting down. This would happen every time. The only way I could shut it down was by holding down the power button.

I Googled the problem and found this page. It took a while but I followed their detailed instructions and now everything seems to be working again. I don't know exactly which of their steps fixed the problem but after turning off all the Startup and Services entries in msconfig and then turning them back on again one at a time, it now works properly.

This afternoon we are going downtown to meet up with Norma's cousin Jay who is renting a condo here for a month and going out with him for an early dinner. It will be fun to get together with family.