BLM WILD HORSE ADOPTION, INDIO, CA

November 20 – I saw a little blurb in the paper that the Bureau of Land Management was having a Wild Horse Adoption at the Indio Fairgrounds. I saw this as a rare opportunity to see some wild horses up close and personal!! We drove over on Saturday afternoon.



MYRTICE AND CHUCK!!
As we were getting out of our car, who should we see coming toward us but Myrtice and Chuck!! They have a winter place nearby and said they had come over to the Adoption several times. It was great to see them again after so many years. The first thing Ken said to Myrtice was “How’s your Lob?” They used to lease a site at TT Palm Springs and Myrtice played Pickleball while Chuck biked. Myrtice was famous for her Lobs!! Her opponents hated it. Myrtice was pretty effective with that Lob!!

As we were catching up, I grabbed a passer-by and asked him to take our picture. About that time, one of the wranglers came over and offered to take our picture. (You’ll see Cowboy Art approaching in this picture.)

He never did take the picture but we enjoyed talking with him. He has been herding wild horses for the BLM for many years. He told us of the areas where the herds still exist. He said this weekend they had 120 mares and several burros for adoption for only $250 each – first-come-first-served. However, only one mare had been adopted as of Saturday afternoon. He said under the program they used to have all of the horses adopted the first day, but not anymore. This is due to the economy and change of interest to ATV’s instead of horses. If the horses are not adopted, they are taken to a ranch where they now have about 1000 wild horses.

We really enjoyed our conversation with Art and I was thrilled to meet a Real Live Cowboy!!

WILD HORSES

We then went to the corals to see the horses. This is the mare who will be going to a new home – the sorrel with four white socks.

Some of the other horses.

I don’t know why no one adopted this little Black Beauty.

B-F-F's

One horse managed to get her front hoof in the water trough.

Some of the burros.

These two horses are considerably larger than all the rest. Don’t know why. They must have come from Texas!!

We went back over to the coral with the adopted horse for more pictures. While we were there, the palomino was obviously beginning to get agitated!!

It was so fascinating to watch these wild horses being wild!!

Now ALL of the horses are angry!!

What a great experience that was!!

SATURDAY MORNING PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT

November 20 – We had to get up early Saturday morning to participate in the weekly Pickleball tournament!! There were twenty participants.


Prior to the event, players had signed up as either an Aggressive or a Non-Aggressive player. There were ten players in each division. The format was round robin, luck-of-the-draw, with each player playing six games.

After a fun-filled morning of play, the winners were announced.

Ken tied for First Place with Susan. Each of them had only one loss. I myself did not do so well with only three wins. But, one of my wins was against Susan which gave her a loss so Ken was able to tie with her. I think i should be entitled to half of the candy bar he won!! HA HA

The impressive serving motion of a winner!!

And now, the winners of the Non-Aggressive group – Third Place – Bob; Tied for First Place - Susan and Ken.

And the winners of the big strong Aggressive group – Third Place – Jim; First Place – Dennis; Second Place – Larry.

Congratulations to all participants. Thank you, Rick. It was a fun tournament!!

WATER AEROBICS AT TT PALM SPRINGS

November 19 – Just so you know, I'm still into Water Aerobics!! We have a large group doing Water Aerobics this year. It starts at 10 AM every morning. That’s too early for me but I sacrifice!!

Here is the group this Friday morning. Donna, our leader is great, fun and very knowledgeable!! She is in the large white hat on the front row.

THIS IS AMAZING – HIGHWAY RUNNER BLOG MAKES IT BIG!!

November 18 – I was so amazed when this happened!! Read on!!

I need to see an eye specialist to have the pressure in my right eye checked. My Cornea Specialist in Richmond, VA was going to send me the names of doctors he recommended, but I have not yet heard from him.

I decided to go on Google to fine the names of Cornea Specialists in the Palm Desert, CA area. Those of you who use Google know that when you key in a subject for search, a long list of options appears on your computer screen. Anyway, I went on Google and keyed in “Cornea Specialists, Palm Desert, CA”. As expected, a long list of options appeared on my computer screen. As I scrolled down the list, I was surprised to see one particular website entry – Highway Runner!!

I was puzzled and said to Ken – “Ken look at this!! Someone must have the name Highway Runner!! I wonder who it is.” I clicked on the name and our Blog "Highway Runner" appeared. What a shock!!

Why would our Blog be on the list? Then I realized I had last posted articles from TT Palm Springs and wrote under “Where Are We Now” that we are in Palm Desert, CA. Some time ago I had written an article about upcoming eye surgery. In the article I mentioned that my Cornea Specialist was going to remove my cornea. . .!! Google had picked up on those key words. Can you believe that!!

You people with Blogs, have you ever had anything like that happen to you???

CREATING A PICKLEBALL LADDER AT TT PALM SPRINGS, CA

November 18 – This morning we tried something different at TT Palm Springs. Under the direction of Rick and Linda, we are creating a Pickleball Ladder. We were not certain exactly how it will work, but we decided to participate anyway.

Groups of four were formed based on arrival and sign up. Each group of four played three games at some point during the morning. For each game, the players in the group played with a different partner. At the end of each game, scores were reported. At the end of the morning, scores were tallied and the ladder was formed.

Here is some of the action!

On one court we have Neil and Larry


Don't know the name of the player with the red cap and Don.

Neil and Larry watch the Lob into the sun.

On another court Rick and Edie

I think Edie carried this team!! Sorry Rick!

Played against Rick's wife Linda and Larry.

Candid shot of the guys enjoying the match -- Bob, Ken and Dennis.

Later in the morning, Phil and Jim

Took on Roy and Dennis.

Watch out Roy!!!!!

It's time for the girls, Barb and Pam to take on the guys!!

Pam's husband Bob and Lynn.

Joe carried me in this game. He had a heavy load!!

Ken and Dottie made a great team and took us easily.

Dennis and Jim played together in this match.

Bob and Pam cutting up after their match.

The plans are to continue the Ladder each Thursday morning during the season. We'll see what happens as the weeks go by.

HAPPY HOUR AT THE ELEPHANT BAR, PALM DESERT, CA

November 17 –Our new friends, Pam and Bob we met at Wilderness Lakes, came into TT Palm Springs today. It turns out they also know friends Pam and Joe. We had made plans to go to Happy Hour with Pam and Joe so we invited Pam and Bob to join us. We ended up again at the Elephant Bar.

Island Fans were in constant fanning motion above the bar.


Ken and I ordered their platter of Nachos and Calamari. We had the same order the last time we were at the Elephant Bar. UUMMMM!!

The group around the table. Ken, Faye, Pam, Joe, Pam, Bob. (I forgot to turn on the flash!!) See if you see a touch of Richard Geer in Bob's smile!!!

We all though the Elephant Bar Happy Hour is the greatest!!

DIAMOND VALLEY LAKE VIEW POINT, HEMET, CA

November 14 – Sunday morning there was no one playing at TT Wilderness Lakes so we drove over to Diamond Valley Lake Recreation Center to play with the group over there. There were a lot of different players than on our previous times playing with them.

After Pickleball we drove to nearby Diamond Valley Lake View Point, the Jewel of California Lakes. The 4,500 acre Lake is 4 1/2 miles long and 2 miles wide. With a capacity of nearly 260 billion gallons of water, it is Southern California’s largest freshwater reservoir.

WINCHESTER CHEESE COMPANY, WINCHESTER, CA

After some picture taking at the Lake, we stopped by the Winchester Cheese Company a couple of miles away. All of their cheeses are Gouda Boeren Kaas cheese, made in the traditional Dutch fashion using ancient recipes brought directly from Holland by the founder.

We tasted samples of their Gouda Cheese Assortment including Sharp Aged Gouda aged 6 months; Medium Aged Gouda aged 90 days; King Tut Gouda aged 5 years; and their signature cheese Super Aged Gouda aged a minimum of one year. We noticed that the longer the cheese aged, the dryer and more crumbly it was. All of the cheeses were wonderful!!

Ken chose Habanero Gouda Cheese that had a hotter flavor than their Jalapeno Gouda or other brands of Pepper Jack Cheese. My choice was the Fenugreek Sharp Aged Gouda which was a limited edition cheese made especially for their Cheese Club. When it is gone, it is gone!! There were only two packages left, I bought one of them.

FUN PICKLEBALL AT TT WILDERNESS LAKES

November 12 – Since there was no one playing Pickleball at TT Wilderness Lakes this week, we were in the car ready to drive over to Diamond Valley Lake Recreation Center to play with the group over there. Just as we were leaving, we noticed a couple playing singles on our courts. We decided to see if we could play with them instead of taking the 15 mile drive to the Recreation Center.

We are so glad we made that decision because it was then that we met Pam and Bob. They are a really nice couple and a lot of fun to play with. We played several more times together before we left Wilderness Lakes.

We discovered that Pam and Bob have a home on Camano Island, WA where they have a Pickleball court in front of their RV garage!! We jokingly invited ourselves up to visit them this coming Summer. And they said “Come on up!!”

VETERANS’ DAY DINNER AT TGI FRIDAY’S

November 11 – Today is Veterans’ Day. Many restaurants and other businesses around the country are honoring Military and Veterans by offering FREE or discounted services. Ken decided to go to TGI Friday’s in Temecula.


We chose the Iron Steak with onion rings and salad. It was grilled to perfection -- delicious!! Not only was Ken’s entrée covered, Friday’s also gave him a $5 Coupon to use on our next visit to that restaurant chain.

We discovered that our waitress, Amber, had just spent the weekend at the Marriott in downtown Richmond, VA. Her boyfriend is in the Marines and they were having some kind of gathering in Richmond so she flew in for the occasion. We just had to have her picture.

Thank you, Friday’s and all the other businesses that honored our Veterans on this day!!

WHAT!! AWNING PROBLEMS AGAIN!!!

November 08 – We had new awning fabric installed on our automatic WeatherPro Awning at Camping World in Kissimmee, FL back in April. Since that time the awning has not closed properly and we have been to Camping World (CW) two times to try to solve the problem. At CW in Rogers, MN, we were told that the fabric had been cut crooked and the fabric would have to be replaced. Since we were not going to be in that area long enough to order the fabric, we decided to have the fabric replaced at CW in Burlington, WA where we would be spending at least a month. However, CW in Burlington said the problem was that the awning had to be adjusted on the apparatus, which they did.

However, after a few weeks we were having the same problem. We made an appointment with Camping World in San Bernardino, CA to see if they could solve the problem.



Jerry at Camping World came up with the original problem!! The awning fabric was cut crooked. They took all kinds of measurements and said they would contact Dominic to order the new fabric. Then we will set up another appointment to have the new fabric installed, we HOPE!!

In the meantime, while we were at Camping World, we had a couple of new motor home batteries installed!! UGH!!!


PAPA JOE’S PIZZA

Since our appointment at Camping World was early Monday morning, we drove to San Bernardino on Sunday afternoon. When we arrived at CW, it was dinner time. Ken decided he wanted Pizza from Pizza Hut. Our GPS indicated the closest Pizza Hut was 25 miles away!! So we just asked for any Pizza. The resulting list included a Papa John’s Pizza just two miles away. We followed the directions and that is how we found Papa Joe’s Pizza on Washington Street.

They had our New York Style Pizza loaded with five toppings (onions, jalapenos, mushrooms, black olives, and tomatoes) ready to go in 13 minutes!!

Delicious!! The price = $10.99!!!

MORE PICKLEBALL FRIENDS AT DESERT POOLS

November 07 – On our last day at Desert Pools, our good friends from the past, Marion and Tom, came over for a few games of Pickleball. They really cleaned our clock!! But when we mixed it up, we had some good games!! It was great fun seeing Marion and Tom again even though our time together was brief!! We’ll be seeing them again, that’s for certain!

Marion, Faye, Tom, Ken wearing his new hat that he picked up at the Air Show.


Here we are at our site in Desert Pools.