Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas to all my Blogging friends and followers.  I hope you will all be with the people you love tomorrow.  Or, if not, that you are happy spending the day as you wish.

I have my Christmas songs playing on my computer as I type this.  Elvis, Johnny Mathis, Neil Diamond, The Beach Boys, all the good oldies, and a few newer artists.

What would we do without our computers?  I use mine to listen to my music, I listen to Sirius XM on-line, play some of my audio books, watch TV shows and movies, surf the web to look things up, stay current with the news, play games.  About the only thing I don't use it for is to read books, although I could.  I find my Kindle easier to read.  I have a library card from the Quartzsite library, and have checked out a few books.  They allow visitors to have free library cards with just a photo ID, which I think is very good public relations on their part.

The group here is going into Quartzsite for Christmas dinner.   It's nice to be with people who are social - seeing people sitting outside in the afternoon, or around a campfire in the evening, is nice.  I don't always join them, but it 's nice to know they are there.  And it's nice that I can join them if I want.

All my Christmas things were sold in the estate sale, but I saved this Christmas Angel that my son's family gave me one year.  She is so cute, and so small I can store her easily.  She is hanging over my couch.

I love her long legs and big feet!

When I've been in town I looked for a small tree to put on my dinette table.  I want something around a foot high, and different looking.  Something pretty and colorful, but I couldn't find anything I liked.  I want something I can save from year to year.  I think I'll keep looking, and check out the occasional Christmas Store that is open all year that I see from time to time.

Things have been very quiet around the campground lately.  I went for a ride with Delores the other day.  She was heading out to get some ice cream at an old fashioned ice cream place in Vicksburg (I think), and  we ended up having lunch and then hot fudge sundaes for dessert. Wow, they were great! We then drove on to Bouse where there are boondocking areas then back to Quartzsite.

My generator is still not working right.  I took The Palms back to Bob's Generator Thursday and he tested it again.  My microwave started clicking again Wednesday night.  He tested everything, and occasionally the volts would show higher than they should.  He's convinced it's a generator issue, but for the most part it works perfectly when I'm there.

He had me go up to the hardware store and get a simple plug-in volt meter to keep plugged into one of my electrical plugs.  He said to monitor it when the generator is on.  I've tripped the breaker for the microwave and only turn the breaker on when I want to use it.  The volt meter did spike once, and I turned the generator off.

Bob spent some time on and off on Thursday morning checking it with his meters, adjusting the generator settings.  It was windy and cold out, and his wife, Colleen, came by to see if he wanted a hot chocolate, and she brought me a big one, too, with whipped cream on top.  That was so sweet of her.  It really hit the spot on a day like that.  They are gone for Christmas and he will only have one day in the shop next week, then will be gone again until after New Years, so I'm hoping everything will be good until he gets back.

  Katie this morning, "I'm not ready to get up yet."

There is definitely something wrong, but I can live with it for now, since I have solar for power and heat that doesn't need power.  I can start the engine to charge the batteries if I need to.  The weather outlook is pretty much full sun for the next week.  I'm hoping Bob can get to the bottom of the problem.  He is the expert here, and I don't think I'll find anyone more knowledgeable about generators.

I was telling a couple of volunteers here about my generator issues, and asked them about the place I originally had an appointment with - the place I had a bad feeling about.  They said they have heard nothing but horror stories about that place, and they would NEVER recommend them.  Thank goodness I listened to my gut feelings.  They bring their rigs to the shop that Bob works out of, and feel they are the best in town, so I lucked out going there.

 Our pretty Quartzsite sunsets.

Although I don't want clouds because they impact my solar efficiency, they sure do give us beautiful colors in our sunsets.  The last couple of evenings have been completely clear, so we've had pretty pink skies, but nothing dramatic.

I don't want to jinx myself, but we have a good buyer for my condo.  If you were reading my blog last June, you'll remember I'm doing a short sale, and the mortgage company has to accept the offer and terms for the sale to go through. We've had two offers that were rejected.  This one was a full price offer, with the seller to pay some of the fees, and the mortgage company refuses to pay the fees, so the buyer came back with a lower offer and no fees paid by the seller.  It works out the same for the buyer, and the mortgage company will actually net more than they require, so I'm hoping to hear soon that it's a go.  If not, we also have a back-up all cash offer standing by with the cash-out net required, so it looks like the condo sale will be happening.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  That will be a great Christmas present!   :)))))))

Have a wonderful Christmas tomorrow - I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for!

From Me and Katie, happy Saturday, everyone!  :)